Pournelle," Drake screamed. "You were not authorized to use nuclear weapons!" Secretly though, he approved of the action and knew he would have done the same thing if he could have. "Don't you-"
His mouth felt like it was below his neck when he watched the small ship called Enterprise swing out of the hellfire apparently undamaged. He could barely make out the shining protective bubble surrounding it and his blood ran cold. Then, Drake saw two exceptionally fast objects spew from the starship in retaliation. The Pournelle responded by trying to use their interceptors to stop the oncoming projectiles. He could imagine what Captain Hawthorne was doing.
Seeing the projectiles coming for his ship, he would order evasives and emergency counter batteries to fire. He knew that Hawthorne had seen the two balls of light with emanating energy pulses, homing in on his ship at one half the speed of light and accelerating. Hawthorne's own mouth was dry now as he imagined the destructiveness of what these things would do in retaliation, since he'd first fired five-megaton nuclear missiles at the white warship. He would be focusing every defensive measure he had in order to stop those things from hitting the Pournelle. And it would be too late. Even the computers on full auto could not have reacted in time given the closeness of the missiles homing in on them.
Two high-yield photon torpedoes impacted the Pournelle, which cracked open like an egg, then disappeared in a blinding flash. For a second Drake thought that the alien ship had also used nuclear weapons, except that the radiation profile didn't fit a nuclear detonation. But what ever that weapon was, it had simply erased the Pournelle from existence.
His proud fleet had been reduced to almost nothing in less than three minutes and now reports came in of a second ship in the area which had disabled both the breeching pod and the Lenmark. Quickly, he calculated that it would take a fleet of at least eight heavy ships to deal with the larger alien vessel-which was less than half the size of his own. He looked up and saw that the Enterprise-D was coming for him and there was no back up support left. Critical weapons systems were over-heating and some of them had died already.
"Orders?" his XO asked, tension evident in his voice even as he coughed in the contaminated, arid smoke filling the ship.
Sitting in his command chair, Captain Drake nervously wiped the sweat from his brow as the alien starship eased to within two kilometers of his Destroyer. A five-minute battle was not what he'd imagined ten minutes ago. The Nimrod and half of its Furies had broken contact with a battered Alexander and begun to advance on the Enterprise-D until hi-intensity beams of unbelievable power, ionized space less than a kilometer in front of it by the second alien ship.
The warning shot had made its point. The advance was stopped dead in its tracks. The communications officer quickly called for his attention. "Visual is working this time, Captain."
Damnation.
He knew who it was. "Open," he whispered. This time he did have visual and his screen opened to reveal a bridge unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was larger than he thought and every person-and alien- he saw carried the look of seasoned warriors, even the young kid at what must have been the helm. And Picard, it had to be him…
"This is Picard," the man confirmed. "Your fight is over. I have every one of my weapon systems locked onto your vessel. I suggest you leave while you can. This is your last opportunity."
He was Human! Drake saw coldness in Picard's eyes and he understood immediately what was about to happen. He looked towards Targeting Control, which acknowledged the lock on. If the alien ship fired there might be a few stray atoms of his ship remaining but that would be all. Even if he could fire first, that energy shield of theirs could negate every attack.
It was time to leave.
But he couldn't. He couldn't go back to the President humiliated in such a fashion. He didn't have a choice. He did not want to die with his crew in a fight he couldn't win.
With his bile threatening to make him vomit, he gave the order. "Retreat." His mind raged as never before, so intensely he thought it would consume him. THIS IS NOT OVER YET PICARD. SHERIDAN YOU TRAITOR! I WILL SEE YOU DEAD! Even as his ships prepared to depart the area, he was thinking how to capture one or both alien ships. If not, then he would take great pleasure in destroying Picard. But he would need help and not here, near Babylon Five. Next time, and there would be a next time, he would pick the time and place. This fight was just about to get much larger.
The two remaining Destroyers and a small mob of Star Furies turned towards the jumpgate dove in upon activation and disappeared into hyperspace.
Babylon Five's Command and Control erupted in cheers. Not as much for the victory as for the ending of the fighting. The station had been damaged but it still functioned and it was still theirs.
John was just as overjoyed, but these strangers were an unknown quantity with the potential to cause more damage than anything Earth Destroyers could do. Who were they and why did they help the station? He needed to know. "Lieutenant Corwin," Sheridan ordered. "I want to talk to those ships; to Captain Picard."
"Yes, sir. The second ship is hailing us, a Captain Garrett. I-"
He sputtered for a second as four jump points formed almost on top of the station. Three Minbari cruisers and the White Star commanded by Ambassador Delenn appeared and moved towards the Picard's Enterprise-D.
"This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari." John's heart leaped upon hearing her voice, then fell flat as she continued the transmission. "Babylon Five is under our protection…leave or be destroyed."
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard," the Captain responded. "I don't believe that Babylon Five is not yours to 'protect'. Stand down. Do not engage us, Ambassador."
"Why not?" she countered. "Only one Human Captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."
"Human ships may not have survived previous engagements, Ambassador," Picard answered quietly. "But there is a first time for everything."
Two pair of eyes locked onto one another's and neither intended to blink.
"Sir," yelled Lieutenant Corwin. "The Minbari have just locked on to the Enterprise." A second later: "Sir! The Enterprise has locked on to all four ships. I didn't believe that was possible!" He was awed. No Human ship was supposed to do that. And the energy readings surrounding the Enterprise were increasing- significantly.
On the view screen Captain Sheridan and Lieutenant Corwin saw Picard's face, as it became ice cold, the consummate professional soldier taking over. It was instantly clear to Sheridan that Picard had assumed that the Minbari were trying to take advantage of the situation.
"Oh, hell!"
This was bad.
John Sheridan grabbed the communications link before the lieutenant could finish. "Get me Delenn, now!" Neither side knew what they were in for. The fact that the Enterprise had managed to lock on to the Minbari despite their ship's stealth abilities spoke volumes about this ship's technology. They both had to be stopped before it was too late.
Delenn had re-entered a Babylon Five space and found it littered with the remains of Earth Force ships and Human bodies. The first thing her ship's sensors detected were two fairly small, light gray battle cruisers with Human writing etched on them. She assumed the worst, that President Clarke had somehow developed a new technology to subdue Babylon Five and possibly wage war on the other races in the name of Human purity. A partial scan, which was all that could be managed, determined that much of the crew was Human. But there were several other species completely unknown to the xenocat databases. What allies did Clarke now have and what did it mean for the coming war?
"Lock onto the closest ship," she ordered. "Prepare to open fire if they are foolish enough to stay." This Picard was obviously very confident and very foolish.
"Delenn," her scanner officer said. "The Human ship has locked onto us!"
"That's impossible," she said, surprised at the comment. No Human or alien technology, with very few exceptions, could do that. "Break the lock."
"I have twice and each time they have re-acquired it." Even as he spoke, he again broke the lock-on, and then frowned once more as his ship was re-acquired. Rarely had their stealth technology been so completely breeched.
"Continue to break the locks." This frightened her. How did they develop such technology? The answer: impossible by themselves. Were the Shadows involved with this?
"I am trying Delenn," the other Minbari said quickly. "But they can hit us, and their power readings are disturbing." This was an understatement if ever there was one, he thought.
"They're not leaving," she said firmly fully aware of what was about to happen. "Prepare to fire."
"Yes, Delenn." The stealth controller answered. This was going to be a hard battle.
It came as a rude surprise as three independent hyperspace distortion apertures opened up almost on top of top of the Federation starships without them detecting the energy openings in the first place.
Onboard the Enterprise-D, Picard pressed hard for a confirmed lock on the four ships approaching him and Lieutenant Yar feverously worked to get that sustained lock. Even though they had no defensive shielding they were three times the size of his ship, carrying a lot of firepower and together they might punch through the shields if given the opportunity. Evidently this species wanted to take over the station, waiting until after the conflict to sweep up the remains. They also had the ability to re-enter normal space independently of the stargate. As soon as this was over Picard would have Data and Engineering find a way to detect this. Now, however…
"Lieutenant, augment with subspace and energy emissions to supplement sensor lock." That was a favorite tactic of his when hunting cloaked vessels. "I want phasers at maximum power."
"Done, sir. We have a sustained target acquisition." The energy emissions emulating from these alien ships was something she'd seen before. They used a quantum singularity power source similar to those used by Romulan warbirds. That she could lock-on to and she did. "The Ambassador is battle ready and flanking our port side. We're feeding target data to them for coordinated strikes."
"Acknowledged. If they don't leave, prepare to fire, on my order. Do not fire unless fired upon. Secure for attack pattern Delta."
John spoke faster than he thought possible. This shooting match would be a disaster. And it was unnecessary. He couldn't imagine what he'd do if Delenn were hurt or killed and that was an all to real possibility here.
"Delenn, Enterprise and Ambassador, hold your fire! I repeat do not engage! Everyone stand down," Sheridan, practically yelling, said through communications. "Everyone is friendly, I repeat stand down! Do not open fire!"
"Captain Sheridan, this is Jean-Luc Picard of Enterprise. We will not fire unless fired upon."
"John," Delenn reported in. "They're Human. What is going on?" Her face was a portrait study of worry and fierce determination and a bit of confusion thrown in for good measure. Nevertheless, it was clear she had every intention of firing on the Enterprise and Ambassador.
"They just saved our butts here. Stand down. Everybody."
"This is Captain Garrett of the Ambassador. We will stand down. But if they fire-"
"They won't," John answered. "The Minbari are on my side."
After a few moments: "Standing down."
The Ambassador's shields went down and the ship eased to starboard. Seeing this, the Minbari closed their gun ports and began de-powering their weapons systems with the Enterprise following suit. Finally, the White Star did the same. Only then did John released his breath he didn't know he was holding. There had been all too much killing here for one day.
"Thank God."
"Yes, Corwin. Thank God."
"Captains," Sheridan said. "I would love to meet you, but right now there's so much damage and so many people trapped and injured that I would like to request that you help us with the wounded. In the spirit of good will of course."
It was a test, both Federation Captains realized. "We would be honored to help." It was something that both would have done in any case.
He couldn't contain it any longer. This last moment save shouldn't have happened even in his wildest dreams. "Who are you people?"
"Just travelers a very long way from home," Picard answered cryptically. "We will talk later." The signal closed.
"Sir, can we trust them?" The young lieutenant asked. "They helped us but we know nothing about them, other than the fact that their Captains are Human."
"And that those ships are powerful enough to take out Earth Destroyers without breaking a sweat. You're right," he said after a moment. "They are an unknown quantity and as we've all seen nobody does anything for free at this station. But as of right now they are willing to help us and I am curious about them." He waved a little smoke away. "First things first, let's find out how the station is and help our people outside. We will render humanitarian aid to those poor people out there. We won't be able to depend on others in this fight. We got ourselves into this mess and we will be responsible for getting ourselves out."
Outside the view port he could see several shuttlecrafts emerging from both of the whitish ships headed unerringly towards ejected pilots and survivors of the battle. Even their shuttles were unusual. There were no obvious thruster ports on them either. His scanners could barely get a surface lock on either ship. He was betting that the Minbari couldn't either. For them it was a standoff for the time being.
Once Earth Gov got wind of this stealth technology coming from a vessel of human origin, they'd be slavering at the mouth. I believe these new friends have just opened up a whole new can of worms for us he thought darkly.
It was wise, Picard thought that he and Garrett would use the shuttles instead of the transporter whenever possible. For the critically injured, they did transport them directly to sickbay-unconscious of course. There were so many people; security would have their hands full until they could separate friend from foe. His people knew their jobs well, that wasn't a problem and so he allowed himself to really get a bird's eye view of this station. It was five miles long with a rotational section creating simulated gravity. Given the state of the technology it was, all in all, fairly impressive, Picard thought. There were several different environmental sectors present also, for the various life supports required. It was complete with multiple nuclear cold-fusion reactors.
Scans revealed so many different species onboard that he was surprised the Terran government here would dare to endanger them in a fight. So far, there were no analogs of aliens, other than Humans, comparable to his own universe. It was so different here. If the station had been damaged or destroyed, how many wars would that have started? Did these people even think of the long-term consequences, or did it even matter to them? Or was there something else going on here? As Riker had said earlier 'the stakes here must be extremely high.'
The Minbari cruisers orbiting the station were a dangerous unknown. They were constantly probing his ship, even though the Enterprise was deflecting the majority of their scans. His ship had done the same and although remarkably different he was impressed by their ability to block specific scans. But twenty years of war with an enemy that disappeared at the drop of a hat, had taught the Federation a lot. And the best people in Starfleet were on it-on both ships. There was ample evidence that these people had been in space for a very long time. He'd find out more about them later but first he needed to set up a meeting with this Captain Sheridan.
Captain Garrett eased the Ambassador next to the ravaged Lenmark. Although it was less than half the length of the Hyperion-class heavy cruiser Ambassador clearly dominated the immediate area.
"This is the Federation starship Ambassador, EAS Lenmark can you read me?"
"Ambassador," came the reply. "Cease hostilities," the tired-hurt voice said. The channel was full of static. "We have many wounded and our life support is almost gone. We surrender, Ambassador."
"Are you the Captain?"
"She's dead," he responded. "I'm Commander Glenn Wilson, the first officer."
"Well Commander Wilson, prepare to abandon ship. Our shuttles will come to pick you up," she ordered. "Your survivors will be eventually transferred to Babylon Five. No weapons, of course. Any resistance and we will vaporize your ship and send you home in a box-a very small one. Am I understood?"
"Perfectly, Captain."
"I am so glad we had this talk," Garrett said. "You will be joining Captain Bryzski shortly." This was such a waste she thought. Such a waste.
Onboard the Enterprise-D, Dr Beverly Crusher continued to work on her patient. There were so many! But with the Ambassador the pressure wasn't as intense as it could have been. And her son was still safe.
Her patient stirred and Crusher was about to sedate her when the woman waved it off. "Stay still," Beverly advised gently. "You're safe now."
"Where am I?" the woman asked. Her voice was raspy, the result of inhaling too much toxic smoke and dust.
"Onboard the Enterprise."
"Which ship is that?" she moaned. If this was an Earth ship, and it sounded like it was, then she had to be a prisoner. Was it the EAS Enterprise? No, it didn't feel right. Why she was alive, she didn't have a clue. "I'm your captive I guess." The words came out as a bare whisper.
"No, you're not. But relax. You've been severely injured. What's your name?"
My name is Captain Hiroshi, Sandra," the woman responded. "I can't-can't remember. How did I get here? The last thing I do remember was that we were about to crash into the Roanoke." She thought about it for a second. "How many of my people were saved."
"Only sixty-two. I'm sorry."
Only sixty-two! "But how?" she asked. The ship was on fire. She remembered her legs being broken as the ceiling caved in. She remembered the smells and screams and the burning, melting plastic covering her face. She remembered going blind. She…
"It doesn't matter right now," Dr. Crusher, said deflecting the question since she and her surviving crew had been transported off the doomed vessel. "You've been badly injured. You have nineteen broken bones, a concussion and internal damage to your spleen and intestinal tract. Then there are the second and third degree burns and lung damage and searing of your corneas. You're going to be out of it for at least three days, with another ten for additional treatments and rest. Then, I might let you out of sickbay."
Sandra would have laughed if it didn't hurt so badly. "You're amusing, Doctor…?" Nineteen broken bones! People would look at her with pity. She would never be the same again.
She could see, even if not clearly. She remembered burning plastic flowing into her eyes. How could her eyes had been so damaged and then healed so quickly?
"Dr. Crusher," she answered. And no, I'm not."
"You-you're serious?" She looked around at a medical bay that upon first inspection almost defied description. Then her eyes blurred once more.
"Welcome to the Enterprise," Beverly said, just before she administered the sedative.
Ten hours passed before Sheridan, Picard and Garrett could arrange a meeting. Both Federation ships took up station keeping some ten kilometers away from Babylon Five and in that time, Picard decided to diffuse some of the tension with the Minbari Captains by inviting them over to the Enterprise. It was a calculated risk, but one he chose, at Guinan's prompting.
Surprisingly, one of the Captains accepted. The shuttle eased into the Enterprise bay and four of the Minbari slowly exited the craft, surprised at the presence of artificial gravity onboard. Picard met them at the bay watching with appreciation as the gracefully designed shuttle handed effortlessly onto the landing bay.
"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard," he said warmly, allowing the universal translator to do its job. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise."
But interestingly, their Captain spoke English. "I am Menroi, Captain of the BrightStar. It is a honor to meet you outside of battle," the matured Minbari male said. He realized he meant it, too. The trip from the shuttle to this Human, if that was the right word; space ship had been itself enlightening. The design spoke of power and organization; completely different in design from anything he'd seen before. And the stunning revelation of passing thru the force field separating space from the interior of the ship spoke of knowledge taken for granted.
"It is I who am glad that we have chosen to meet in peace instead of war," Picard said.
As they walked thru the ship, Menroi and his people were startled at the number of aliens onboard, none of which they could identify. This was definitely a ship of war, but it wasn't an experimental vessel as they had first assumed. Everything about the ship suggested a time worn experience. The technology wasn't new and untried. This ship had hundreds of years of improvements infused in it. The Humans and Humanoid species interacted with one another with an ease that also suggested generations of contact. This was a ship of Good or extreme Evil depending on who was in control.
In Conference Room Two, first contact proceeded smoothly. There were several dishes that the Minbari found edible and Menroi was rather pleasantly surprised that he and his people rather enjoyed the visit. These people weren't exactly what he expected. The tenseness he expected to experience was not present. Instead there was a relaxed atmosphere-another surprise since they almost shot at one another's ships. And the Vulcans were an interesting people indeed. They seemed extremely… practical.
"I am most impressed by you and your ship Captain, Picard," Menroi stated once again taking in everything. "It is most fortunate that you chose not to involve your ship in the war."
"We would have preferred not to involve ourselves in this affair but it would not have been prudent to allow the Terran government to take over the Babylon station," Picard answered. "A diplomatic response would have been a more desirable solution rather than firing at one another."
"I was referring to our war with your people," Menroi corrected, commenting on the Earth-Minbari war. "We would have had more of a challenge if you had been present."
Picard looked puzzled. "I am not aware of a conflict between your people and Earth," he said carefully. "When did this war occur?"
The Minbari were shocked. "You have no idea of what I am talking about, do you?" Menroi and the others could see it in his eyes and the eyes of the others. "You really are from very far away."
"More than you know," Picard said smiling wistfully. "We're not from this area of space. We've come a very long way. Now, could you tell me about the conflict between the Minbari and the people of Earth?"