Chapter Four
"Black Night, Shining Stars"
The Babylon Five Space station:
Ambassador Delenn, desperate for her friend and for the fate of Babylon Five exited the massive space station in her private yacht and headed directly for the jump gate. Once in hyperspace, she intended to get to her people and convince her fellow members of the Minbari leadership, called the Grey Council, to help fend off the Earth Alliance Ships sent by President Clarke to take over Babylon Five, no matter what the cost. And that cost would be high, she knew but she didn't have a choice. She didn't understand the details, not completely, but Babylon Five was important, so important that it would be needed in the war to come. It would be their last best hope for peace. So far, it was failing in its purpose, but maybe it could become something more–if it were given the chance.
Her ship almost entered the jump gate when her scanners detected something small and she veered off. Whatever it was it was in stealth mode, barely visible even to her ship's sophisticated scanners. The readings were extremely unusual and the stealth mode at first appeared similar to her people's technology, but it wasn't. It was definitely alien in origin. She couldn't lock onto it. Curious, she vectored towards the target to examine the small probe in more detail.
"Of all the times for the Universe to play games," she said to herself. She went after the probe, which immediately pulled away. She chased for a moment trying to destroy it. The class V probe accelerated to unbelievable speed and disappeared.
"Delenn! Are you all right?" the voice asked over the comms. The voice had a very stressed, worried tone to it.
"Everything is okay, John." She didn't mention the probe. He had enough problems and she'd wasted six minutes she didn't have. Six minutes wasn't much, but if John and Babylon Five were to be saved, every minute counted. Quickly she reversed course, entered the activated jump gate and was gone.
Those six minutes were destined to change everything.
"Reduce to warp three, " Picard ordered. It was his intention not to simply appear on their doorstep, something that just might matters worse during a first contact situation, especially now when trigger fingers were itchy. Communication was suggested, but it had been decided by both Captains that they should let the probe do a little more work before they entered Babylon Five space. The plan decided upon would be determined by the conditions when they approached. If peaceful, then both ships would come in together. If not, then a pincher movement would be the action implemented.
The fact that the probe had been detected a few hours earlier came as somewhat of a surprise. The stealth probe, following established programming, went full stealth and went to warp to escape its detector. Then it returned, continuing its observation.
To the crew, the images that it sent back weren't very inviting. The B5 station was armed and active. Several larger warships and a multitude of smaller single manned fighters were cruising the area. Two more large warships suddenly exited the 'stargate' and the images were captured and transmitted back to the Fed cruisers.
"It must be two more friendlies," Tasha said to Commander Riker while continuing her detailed scan. Their transmissions have changed…I believe its they're changing to a 'friend or foe' recognition code."
"Do we have the code"? he asked, looking at the data himself.
"Yes, sir," she answered. "I have it locked and passed it on to the Ambassador."
"Good. Captain Picard to the Bridge."
Picard left his ready room, straightening his jacket as he came out. Sitting in his chair, he straightened it once more and his eyes locked onto the large view-screen in front of the bridge.
"Status."
"They're preparing for something big. We may be too late."
"Sir," Tasha said. "The object we saw earlier is definitely a stargate jump system. Two of their warships just appeared in B5 space."
"Interesting. I wonder how it works and can we track or detect the ships using such a technology?"
Data turned to answer that question. "It may be possible to track ships utilizing that type of faster than light methodology, but it will take some time to calibrate the sensors to detect such movement accurately."
"A project for the immediate future, Mr. Data and Mr. Crusher."
"Yes, sir," they both said in unison. He could see the boy smiling at the prospect of that project.
"Sir," Tasha said. "Captain Garret is hailing us."
"On screen," he ordered. "Yes, Captain?"
"Check your probe."
Her image dissolved as the images transmitted from the probe resolved to show a large fleet of ships exiting the stargate. A few moments later, weapons fire was everywhere.
The enemy ships looked identical to the defending ships, but having their own unique 'friend or foe' identification transmissions.
"That's our queue. How long?"
"Fifteen minutes at warp eight."
Picard almost sighed. Fifteen minutes might be too late. He was going to have to push it.
"Make it so," he ordered. "Maximum warp. Red alert. Battle stations."
Captain Picard?" It was Garrett. "We'll be two point five minutes behind you. Let's follow the plan and good hunting."
"Thank you," he said turning away from the screen. "Let's see if we can save some survivors, Mr. Crusher. Engage."
Hyperspace jump gate next to Babylon Five:
Senior Captain Terrell Drake, commander of the Evanston, and Group Leader for the second attack wave looked increasingly agitated as the battle for Babylon Five continued. Being assigned rearguard seemed somehow shaming to him especially since it was assumed that B5 would fall rather quickly, being overcome by the first wave of four Destroyers and support craft led by the Agrippa. His task force was assigned as a backup for any unforeseen problems that B5 might have up their sleeves. They were about a half hour behind Task Force Alpha, coming in hard from their pacification of Proxima III. The fight for B5 had been worse than anyone expected and he intended to end it here and now. The traitors on the Alexander were still alive but the Churchill had just rammed into a Destroyer destroying both ships. The point of fact was that the first strike team had failed in their pacification of Babylon Five with all of the line ships being destroyed. The breeching pod attempt had been judged a failure since the station was still defending itself. On top of that, reports had indicated a strange whitish-looking alien ship had stopped just short of the battle a few minutes before his task force would make the jump, as though watching some sort of spectator sport. It had been tentatively identified as one of the same ships the Rochester and Pournelle had been tracking, heading for Babylon Five. Their standing orders were to disable and bring the alien ship for further study if possible. Those two EAS Destroyers had joined his little armada just before they reached the jump point. He welcomed them although this was now overkill.
President Clarke was correct about the aliens in general. They were like scavengers, just waiting to snatch some scraps from the battle. Well, that wasn't going to happen on his watch. He intended to make an example for all to see. If only they'd gotten there sooner, they wouldn't have lost so many ships over a space station. On the other hand, when Earth Force chased down the small ship it would send a message for all to see that Earth was no one's plaything.
The five EAS ships and Breeching Pod exited the jump gates and a moment later, the Captains found themselves appalled by the devastation. Their whole fleet had been scattered or destroyed. The Agrippa and the Roanoke were gone. But the other side had suffered as well, and was in no condition to fight a second round against fresh ships.
Saddened and enraged that his people had suffered such loss, Captain Drake contacted the B5 taskforce. "Babylon Five, under the authority from President Clark, you are ordered to surrender the station. All senior officers are under arrest. If you resist, we will use force." He closed the communications link.
He hoped that they put up some type of resistance. It wouldn't be much but he planned to make an example of these people, as per Clarke's suggestion. Resistance had to be stamped out and this takeover would solidify his power and those meddling aliens would never interfere with Earth again.
In Babylon Five's command center, Lieutenant Corwin had been surprised that they had withstood the attack by President Clark's war machine. The Alexander had survived but the Churchill had been severely damaged then crashed into an enemy Destroyer demolishing both ships. Captain Sandra Hiroshi's last words had been that primary systems were hit and there were fires on all decks. The majority of enemy Thunderbolt Star Furies had been disabled or destroyed and the station itself was still intact. The first Breeching Pod had attached itself to B5 but the invaders had been checked and defeated by the Narn and Security forces. Like everywhere there had been heavy fighting and many, many deaths. It was a brutal slaughter on both sides.
He thanked God that Commander Susan Ivanova had been able to eject from her damaged Star Fury in time and was still alive. He also thanked God that the fighting was over because his forces couldn't have lasted much longer. Scans had detected a frigate-sized ship of unknown configuration sitting at the edge of the fighting, apparently scanning the Churchill just before it crashed. He had no idea as to how it got there without his detecting it. One moment there was nothing there and the next a very large ship was at their front door. It just simply appeared. He was about to order a detailed scan when all of a sudden the jumpgate activated and several more of Clark's warships slipped into normal space. He'd muttered a quick 'Oh no,' without even realizing it. He looked towards his Captain silently awaiting orders. Captain Sheridan sighed, thinking hard as to what his next plan would be. He had the look of a desperate man, which of course was exactly what he was.
Onboard the Evanston, the communications officer expected and received an answer to his Captain's hail. But he was looked perplexed and somewhat surprised by what came over the radio link.
"Sir? We're receiving a hail."
"So. What is it?" he snapped. "Are they surrendering?" He hoped it wasn't true because he was already feeling vaguely disappointed.
"We're having trouble with the video feed, but it's from the white ship." Comms piped it thru.
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard onboard the USS Enterprise," the voice said. "Babylon Five is under our protection. You will stand down and leave Babylon Five space or we will open fire and evict you from this area. Respond."
How dare they interfere with this mission! Irritated, Captain Drake punched his comm-link. "Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to fire on you, Enterprise." That was an Earth name he realized. Earth Intelligence was correct in their assessment. This may very well be a Human-run vessel. Who was this 'Captain' Picard? Logic suggested that this was one of Sheridan's secret weapons.
To his navigator and weapons officers: "Proceed and target that ship if they even twitch." Interference would not be tolerated.
"Affirmative, sir."
As the Captain requested readout of the ship from tactical, he found the analysis impressive, but strange. How Sheridan's people managed to build a ship of that size without anyone getting wind of it was a mystery. But one thing was clear; that configuration was something no Human mind would produce. It was designed as a large saucer with three pylons, one large and two small connected by struts of various sizes. The overall saucer shape suggested a cobra with its hood spread. The lettering was clearly in English, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. There appeared to be no thrusters and how it moved was a mystery. The overall mass of the ship was four hundred meters smaller than a heavy Hyperion-class destroyer. It was six hundred forty-one meters in overall length and there appeared to be no visible weapons ports open that they could tell. Some sort of distortion field was reflecting his Omega class Destroyer's deep scans. Its Captain sounded Human but it was clearly some type of deception, most likely by Sheridan's people. If he was Human, then he was another traitor. Well, it was not going to work. Already his Breeching pod was heading towards the Babylon station and other than this one little alien ship, a battered B5, the remains of the Churchill and a few Star Furies there was nothing to stop him and his five Destroyers from accomplishing his goal.
He opened the comms channel again. "Enterprise, you will surrender your vessel immediately or we will disable or destroy it." He decided to make this Picard sweat by calling his bluff. Without waiting, he switched to inner-fleet comms. "Open a channel to our fleet," he ordered.
"Channel open, Sir."
"To all ships," Drake announced. "The Evanston and Rochester will neutralize the Enterprise threat. To the Nimrod and Pournelle, subdue the Alexander, and Lenmark escort the Breeching Pod to B5 and give it cover. All ships will converge on B5 after we have completed our initial tasks. Let's make this happen people."
"Lieutenant Hung, steer us to that Captain Picard's ship. I want it out of the way as soon as possible." The Captain of the Evanston fully expected the ship to turn tail and run. And if not, then two to one was never good odds for someone to play with. "Fire as soon as you get into range."
"Targeting."
"Sir," the radar officer said, his voice raised to indicate the threat he was not perceiving. "They're moving towards us."
Captain Drake looked at the small ship growing larger in his window by the second. "So be it. Lock on and fire as soon as we're in range." It was a shame that they would have to shoot holes in such a pretty ship, but when you played with fire, you got burnt.
A small fleet of Star Furies prepared to engage the Alexander, its defenders and B5. Another group of the small one-man fighters flew towards the Enterprise ship with the support Destroyers and prepared to shoot it to bits. If there were anything left then the science labs on Earth would have a good time researching the pieces. Fifty-two millimeter pulse cannons and twin heavy lasers blasted from the Evanston, impacting on the Enterprise-D's shields just before the Federation battleship began to move more rapidly than it had any right to.
When Captain John Sheridan, head of Babylon Five saw the next wave of attack ships enter B5 space his heart sank. There was no way to win this one. His ships had been depleted, its crew exhausted. The Churchill had been lost and B5's weapons needed time to cool and recharge. The internal fighting had been quelled but it would be impossible to continue the battle. He was being forced to call upon help from the Great Machine of Epsilon III, which was something he didn't want to do.
This was nothing like the Earth-Minbari war where who fought whom was clearly defined as 'us verses them'. This was 'us versus us'; everyone you killed was someone you knew, just as Major Ed Ryan commander of the Alexander had said earlier. These were people who wore the same uniforms, ate the same food, laughed at the same jokes and upheld the same Constitution.
The five new Destroyers had broken formation to converge on the station and the Alexander from different directions when a powerful radio beam cut thru communications.
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard onboard the USS Enterprise," the voice said. "Babylon Five is under our protection…"
Sheridan watched intently as the video feed showed an image of a bald-headed, very serious-looking Human male, in an obviously military uniform he'd never seen before presenting an ultimatum. Who was this person? And that ship had lines that he'd never imagined. Where were the engines? A few moments later, the enemy Command ship and a fellow Destroyer were locked in combat with the strangely beautiful white ship. And it was clear they were going to have their hands full. He didn't know who this Picard was but this possible ally had just helped his odds a little.
That took some of the pressure off and Sheridan immediately ordered that B5's defensive batteries support the Alexander and all functional Star Furies were to aid also to blunt the enemy attacks on the crippled Alexander. It was clear however that another problem was rapidly making itself known. The second breeching Pod was making it's way towards the station along with the support of a small Destroyer providing escort.
Captain Anita Bryzski angled the newly designed, Invader Two class Breeching Pod to a point away from the first failed strike area. With any luck, her marine's contingent would hit a less well-defended area, taking the pressure off of the primary strike team and securing Babylon Five. The Lenmark was an older Hyperion warship but it was doing its job protecting her fast-moving ship from B5 counter fire. She was responsible for the safety of her one forty-five men and women and she took her job deadly seriously. Even as she headed for the space station, her eyes moved towards the saucer- shaped alien ship. She smirked slightly, and then gasped in appreciation of the spectacle, as the Evanston and Rochester unleashed a brutal volley of plasma beams and missiles towards it. Better it than her, she thought.
A second later, she involuntarily gasped again. That ship had withstood the assault, in fact had moved so fast that she wasn't even sure if the EAS weapons had struck it and was now returning fire of its own. The Rochester had been brutally hit with some type of energy weapon and was starting to list before she lost visual. Over the radio, she heard frantic instructions for counter strikes on the alien and requests for the Pournelle to break off from the wounded Alexander and help the Evanston against this alien vessel.
Bryzski was two thousand kilometers from her target site when her co-pilot reported a second unidentified target bearing down on them from out of nowhere at close to three quarters light speed, decelerating hard on their tail. Nothing moved that fast or slowed down that quickly, so she at first assumed that that report was from equipment failure. Anita was about to have her Tactical Officer confirm the report when moment later, she was jerked out of her seat by something that felt like a grappling hook.
"What happened?" she demanded, even as she increased thruster power.
"Something grabbed us!"
"There's nothing in the area that could do that without tearing out their entire grappling apparatus from their ship!" she countered. Then she saw it-a second alien ship, just barely visible in the distance and her blood ran cold. Scanners indicated that it was slightly smaller than the other one but it was obvious that this ship was a powerhouse, too.
It had to be a magneto-tractor beam of some type, but the power of the pull astounded her as her ship's momentum dropped from eight thousand KPS to zero even though the thrusters were still firing.
Somehow it was pulling them away from the station despite her shoving the thrusters to full power in order to break free. How they were doing this, she had no clue. No one could detect any sort of cabling or magnetic force beam influencing the Pod.
"Sir," her co-pilot said. "The Lenmark's Furies are engaging the second ship. They're firing now." The co-pilot also locked onto the enemy ship with its small laser defense system. When the Lenmark had a clear line of fire then he would give whatever help he could to disable that ship and free their vessel.
The Furies opened up with everything they had. Nevertheless, to their dismay, the beams never even touched the ship. The crew of the breeching pod listened in shock, then horror as one after another, each panicked pilot fell silent. Their ships faded from existence every time the Federation ship fired its energy beam. Their frantic evasive patterns did nothing to keep them from being hit. It never missed, not once. Both crews watched, horrified, as the second white ship used its beam weapons to vaporize all six of the Lenmark's Furies and the other nine supporting fighters in a matter of seconds.
Onboard the Ambassador, Captain Garrett smiled grimly at the fifteen prisoners trapped and unconscious in the specially designed, darkened brig. It was evident that these people had never developed transporter technology and she wanted to literally keep them in the dark about it as much as possible. Anesthetic gas overcame them the instant they materialized in the brig so they would have no real clue as to what had happened to them. Their spacesuits lay next to them, separated by the transporters during transit.
"Captain," Commander Sisko said. "The smaller ship is going to blow their engines if they can't get free. The engines are redlining now."
"Target their engines and disable them, just enough." She had intended to swing them away from the station with their engines intact, but that was not possible now. The phasers touched the Pod and the engines went out like a light.
In the meantime the other warship was closing in fast on the non-moving Federation vessel. Energy weapons powered up and scans locked onto the Ambassador's saucer section.
"They're firing," Sisko reported. He had locked phasers onto their attacker.
The ship fired a combination of heavy lasers and missiles all of which hit near the bridge section of her ship. The Enterprise-C rocked slightly from the particle beam blast, its shield dissipating the heat and energy easily.
"No damage. Shields reduced three percent."
Seeing that its attack had no visible effect, Garrett continued to watch the Lenmark prepared to swing around for another volley from its main weapons even as its secondary batteries were firing on the Starship.
"Tell them to stand off and surrender," Garrett said.
The Lenmark responded by firing a salvo of missiles at her ship.
"Target engineering and weapons only," she ordered. "Fire."
Bright beams of phased energy, reduced by thirty-percent, connected briefly from ship to ship. The phaser weapon sliced off a small portion of the Lenmark's engines. The unshielded vessel lost power and began to drift almost immediately. Several small explosions were seen and soon the ship was dead in space. Internal lights winked out. Several ejection pods were seen exiting the ship.
"Nicely done. Thank you, Commander." Garrett viewed the screen with a whimsical satisfaction. The destroyer was seriously damaged, but life support still functioned although precious little else did. It was so delicate!
"They have causalities throughout the ship. Shall we offer assistance?"
No," she answered. "Not until this is over."
The Ambassador used the tractor beam to sling the Pod back towards the jumpgate. There was no weapons fire from the Pod.
Captain Drake, bleeding from several superficial wounds and choking on smoke from damaged systems, gritted his teeth and ordered gunnery to continue firing on the Enterprise-D. The Rochester had fired at the same time as his people and instead of hitting the alien ship, it had simply moved out of the way with a grace that frankly, stunned him and his entire crew. He was sure that at least one of his missiles had hit however target aquisition had been unsure. But they were all sure as to what happened next. The alien ship had fired its beam weapon at the Rochester, gutting it from stem to stern. There was an ugly, ugly gash, which began venting atmosphere and debris-and things he didn't want to think about. Almost immediately it lost lateral motion and started to drift as the engines sputtered and died. He was unpleasantly surprised that the Enterprise wasn't even concerning itself with the Star Furies.
Then something slammed into his ship and everyone went reeling. There was smoke, momentary darkness and screaming throughout the bridge. Somewhere there was fire, people yelling for fire suppression. He could hear the stress of metal tearing. A large number of his ship's systems were redlining. It was like fighting a Minbari ship he imagined.
To his relief. the Pournelle came in hot, all weapons firing hitting the Enterprise-D squarely amidships as it turned to meet the attacker. In fact, Drake was surprised-and pleased-at the intensity of the Destroyers assault. They were throwing in everything, even as the Evanston managed to fire several laser volleys. High-energy beams and missiles slammed into the port side of the starship with no apparent effect, having been deflected by some sort of energy field. To Drake's shock the Pournelle then fired two additional high-speed missiles with nuclear-tipped warheads. That was an illegal action in an area so close to a civilian transport lane. Clarke wanted B5 functional, not radioactive.
The entire area went white as the Enterprise-D vanished from sight inside the manmade inferno.