No Beast so Fierce
Chapter 4
By Verbosity
Delenn of Mir stared out the window of her rooms aboard the Valen'na. She gazed absently out over the planet below, her mind mulling over the revelations of the Vorlons. When Lenonn had suggested that she visit Dhukat's sacred place she had thought he simply had a sort of pilgrimage in mind for her. Discovering the two Vorlon's there had been shocking. What they had revealed to her, even more so.
The humans were supposed to be their allies against the coming darkness. The Vorlons had said that they would be key to the approaching conflict with the Ancient Enemy. And here her people were: exterminating them.
It must cease. The war had to end. But how? There was so much rage. So much momentum to this avalanche of blood and destruction that she had started, and no longer knew how to stop.
She turned away from the window and walked slowly and thoughtfully out of her chambers. Head bowed and hands clasped behind her she paced slowly along the corridors, oblivious to the respectful gestures her passing evoked from the crew.
The murmur of voices washed over her, but something in the tone of the conversation drew her attention outward once again. Looking up she recognized the Captain of the ship speaking to one of the crewmembers.
"Captain?"
The man turned his attention to her and bowed respectfully, as did the crewmember. "Satai?" he said.
"What is happening?"
He hesitated for a moment and said, "We are not certain. Our sensors are detecting a faint energy flux, throughout the ship but we are unable to determine a source."
* * *
"Captain. I believe the Minbari have detected our scans."
Jon turned to T'Pol as she spoke. "Are you sure?"
She raised an eyebrow at his question and said, "As certain as I can be dealing with an unknown race. Their sensors have become more active and they are scanning the area."
"Do they show any capability of detecting us?"
"No. While the scans are quite powerful they are non-supraluminal. They cannot register our presence at this distance."
Jon nodded and looked from T'Pol to Malcolm. "Have the two of you completed your scans?"
The two glanced at one another and T'Pol said, "Yes."
"All right. Travis, put us back on course in Earth's general direction."
"Aye, Sir."
Jon stood up from his chair. "T'Pol, Malcolm, I want a complete report from each of you ASAP." He stepped near to T'Pol's station. Looking at her he sighed. He knew she could feel something of what he was thinking, but she merely waited for him to speak. "T'Pol, I'm going to have to ask something else of you. There may come a time when we must contact the Minbari. Judging from the current situation, they may not react too well to me or other members of this crew."
"You wish me to act as a representative?" she asked, raising a single eyebrow.
"In a sense," he said. "I want you to represent the Enterprise as an unknown quantity; it may not be the best of ideas to let them know most of us are human, at least at first."
"You wish me to." she paused. "Omit, the presence of Humans, in contact?"
He could feel she wasn't comfortable with the thought of lying, or prevaricating rather. But he could also feel that she would do her best for the crew.
"I will do my best," she said.
"It may require you to learn the major Minbari tongue."
He felt an echo of what might have been amusement in the farthest depths of her mind as she said, "That should not be a problem. My memory is extremely well trained. With Ensign Sato's assistance it should take little time."
* * *
Jon finished up his plate and set it aside. Malcolm sat at his own place already finished with his meal, while T'Pol was still working through her plate of vegetables. He glanced at her as he sipped his glass of water. Like everything else she did, her eating habits were precise and fastidious. A moment later she set her fork aside and returned his gaze.
"Sure you don't want to finish?" He asked.
"Chef has a tendency to prepare in excess of my needs," she replied. "I believe his words were that I should put more "meat" on my bones."
"Ah," he said. He smiled into his drink and then said, "All right, Malcolm. What have you found out?"
The tactical officer straightened. Jon had asked that he receive a verbal briefing before reading the written reports and he knew that Malcolm had expected to deliver it before dinner. But Jon had had the feeling that the information wasn't going to do any good to his digestion.
"Bluntly speaking, Sir, we wouldn't want to have to get into an even fight with the ships we took the scans of."
"Hoshi called them Sharlins?"
"Yes, Sir. In the analysis between the Sub-Commander and myself we believe we have come up with a far idea of their capabilities. And they're extremely impressive sir. No two of them seem precisely alike, it is as if the builders were putting individual artistic touches into all of them. They average about sixteen hundred meters in length with a mass of forty- four million metric tones. Their main power source seems to be some type of artificially created singularity."
Jon set his cup down, abruptly, saying, "A singularity."
"Yes," T'Pol said. "They appear to be able to generate and focus gravatic fields with the precision necessary to create a micro singularity with which to annihilate matter. The matter is fed into the singularity and then gravitational fields are terminated. This results in the evaporation of the singularity and the release of its consumed mass as energy. It is a highly developed and efficient system. Far surpassing even Vulcan means of power generation."
She stopped and looked back to Malcolm.
He cleared his throat and started again, "There were a great many unfamiliar energy weapons. We registered over one hundred weapon mounts on each of the vessels along with several indeterminates."
Jon took a deep breath. He'd been right: this wasn't doing any good to his digestion.
Malcolm continued. "T'Pol analyzed the video footage that was broadcast of one of these ships attacking a human base. The type of energy discharge is unfamiliar, but she estimates that the power discharge is in the megatons per second range. These ships are capable of delivering a massive amount of firepower."
He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts then said, "The defensive capabilities are where the technological anomalies start to crop up."
"Anomalies?"
"Yes sir. Despite their tech level they don't appear to have any type of active energy shields. Their defensive systems consist of two main parts. One: the hull armor. It averages ten meters thick in the main body of the ship and is composed of some sort of polycrystalline material. The sensor readings seem to indicate that it is extremely effective at refracting directed energy discharges. However, it seems to be relatively brittle when compared with many modern alloys. The second part of the defensive system is a gravatic stress field that is generated around the ship by the main engines. The field has the property of blunting physical impacts and diffusing energy passing through it. The combined system is quite effective."
Jon poured himself another glass of water as Malcolm continued. "Their drive system is, in theory, more advanced than ours, being completely gravatic. Which, by our theories of conservation of inertia and momentum, should be impossible. Of course that simply means that they have better theories. However, their inertial compensation is far less efficient. Simply put, sir, we could run circles around them at impulse."
He fells silent as Jon settled back into his seat. After a moment Jon said, "What's our tactical situation Malcolm?"
"We can't fight them on any kind of level playing field, sir. Against the energy levels their weapons are using to destroy the Earth ships our hull plating will hold up for a very short while. But, from our sensor scans, it looks like they are using their weapons on the lower end of their power output, and if they start raising their power levels. They'll punch right through even the improved hull plating."
"What about us damaging them?"
"We may have several things working for us on that front. First is the nature of the energy emissions used in phasers; it doesn't have the same characteristics as, say, particle beams or lasers. The working principals are different. So we believe that the phasers, at high power, will be able penetrate their defenses. The photon torpedoes will be less effective. However," he glanced at T'Pol. "We think we can use the transporters as a weapon delivery system."
"Oh? How?"
"Their defenses are either passive or gravitationally based, and thus won't impede a transporter beam. We can simply deliver a torpedo warhead, to a sensitive portion of a ship, set to detonate on materialization. We don't believe that they would have any defense against such an attack."
T'Pol spoke up, saying, "It would appear that our development of subspace technology has been component to the development of our ability to manipulate matter and energy. They never developed subspace science and are consequently less advanced in those areas. The full description of our technological differences is in the written report."
* * *
"Jump to normal space."
The order was issued by the Captain of the Valen'na. Delenn glanced around the circle at the other members of the Gray Council. Their attentions seemed fixed on the holographic view that surrounded them. Exiting the jump vortex the red and black shifting wash of hyperspace was replaced by the pure black of normal space. The other Sharlins spread out ahead of the Valen'na, moving to engage the Humans.
Delenn contained her emotions, sickened by the slaughter that she knew was about to commence. The Human colony was small, barely more than a few thousand people. Not that it would have mattered had it been millions; the outcome would still be the same. They could not fight her people.
Her people. Whom she could not find a way to stop, lost as they were in rage, grief and madness. Her own anger had turned to ash; all that was left was grief, grief and shame. Shame that she had started this, shame that she could not stop it.
The colony was easily seen in the holographic view. It floated in space, a spinning wheel a kilometer across. Several ships, Human military hung in space nearby. Shuttles could be seen speeding away from the station toward the waiting ships.
The sensor readings confirmed that they were full of Humans, desperately trying to escape the coming holocaust.
* * *
"Sir!"
"You heard me Lieutenant, combat readiness."
"Yes, Sir. Charging hull plating and weapons."
"How far out are we Hoshi?"
"Four minutes sir."
Jon looked at Malcolm. The man shook his head saying, "The Sharlins will be in firing range of the Earthforce ships in one and a half to two minutes."
Jon hit the communicator. "Trip, can you give me any more speed?"
"Cap'n, we're already pushing six point four. But I'll see what I can do."
A shudder went through the enterprise and Travis announced, "Warp six point five."
"Hoshi?"
"It's going to be close, Sir."
Jon braced himself in the chair and hit the com again. "All hands prepare for combat."
"Phasors: charged. Hull plating: standing by, it will go to full power when we exit warp. Transporter weapon: ready and waiting." Malcolm delivered his status report steadily. Then looked up at the Captain and said, "Sir, are you sure we want to be doing this? Those are five Sharlin cruisers."
Jon looked at him and said, "Lieutenant do a scan of those shuttles. What kind of people are you picking up?"
There was a momentary pause then, "Civilians, adults and children."
"Can you stand by and watch them be killed?"
"No, Sir."
"Neither can I, Lieutenant, neither can I."
"Travis, drop us out of warp right between the Minbari ships and the earth vessels. If the firing starts, take your cues from what Malcolm is doing, but keep us moving. With the weapons on those ships we don't want to be a sitting target. Malcolm, once it starts, fire at your discretion. Take them down as fast as you can. Surprise is the only way we're going to survive this."
"Aye, Sir."
"Aye, Sir."
Chapter 4
By Verbosity
Delenn of Mir stared out the window of her rooms aboard the Valen'na. She gazed absently out over the planet below, her mind mulling over the revelations of the Vorlons. When Lenonn had suggested that she visit Dhukat's sacred place she had thought he simply had a sort of pilgrimage in mind for her. Discovering the two Vorlon's there had been shocking. What they had revealed to her, even more so.
The humans were supposed to be their allies against the coming darkness. The Vorlons had said that they would be key to the approaching conflict with the Ancient Enemy. And here her people were: exterminating them.
It must cease. The war had to end. But how? There was so much rage. So much momentum to this avalanche of blood and destruction that she had started, and no longer knew how to stop.
She turned away from the window and walked slowly and thoughtfully out of her chambers. Head bowed and hands clasped behind her she paced slowly along the corridors, oblivious to the respectful gestures her passing evoked from the crew.
The murmur of voices washed over her, but something in the tone of the conversation drew her attention outward once again. Looking up she recognized the Captain of the ship speaking to one of the crewmembers.
"Captain?"
The man turned his attention to her and bowed respectfully, as did the crewmember. "Satai?" he said.
"What is happening?"
He hesitated for a moment and said, "We are not certain. Our sensors are detecting a faint energy flux, throughout the ship but we are unable to determine a source."
* * *
"Captain. I believe the Minbari have detected our scans."
Jon turned to T'Pol as she spoke. "Are you sure?"
She raised an eyebrow at his question and said, "As certain as I can be dealing with an unknown race. Their sensors have become more active and they are scanning the area."
"Do they show any capability of detecting us?"
"No. While the scans are quite powerful they are non-supraluminal. They cannot register our presence at this distance."
Jon nodded and looked from T'Pol to Malcolm. "Have the two of you completed your scans?"
The two glanced at one another and T'Pol said, "Yes."
"All right. Travis, put us back on course in Earth's general direction."
"Aye, Sir."
Jon stood up from his chair. "T'Pol, Malcolm, I want a complete report from each of you ASAP." He stepped near to T'Pol's station. Looking at her he sighed. He knew she could feel something of what he was thinking, but she merely waited for him to speak. "T'Pol, I'm going to have to ask something else of you. There may come a time when we must contact the Minbari. Judging from the current situation, they may not react too well to me or other members of this crew."
"You wish me to act as a representative?" she asked, raising a single eyebrow.
"In a sense," he said. "I want you to represent the Enterprise as an unknown quantity; it may not be the best of ideas to let them know most of us are human, at least at first."
"You wish me to." she paused. "Omit, the presence of Humans, in contact?"
He could feel she wasn't comfortable with the thought of lying, or prevaricating rather. But he could also feel that she would do her best for the crew.
"I will do my best," she said.
"It may require you to learn the major Minbari tongue."
He felt an echo of what might have been amusement in the farthest depths of her mind as she said, "That should not be a problem. My memory is extremely well trained. With Ensign Sato's assistance it should take little time."
* * *
Jon finished up his plate and set it aside. Malcolm sat at his own place already finished with his meal, while T'Pol was still working through her plate of vegetables. He glanced at her as he sipped his glass of water. Like everything else she did, her eating habits were precise and fastidious. A moment later she set her fork aside and returned his gaze.
"Sure you don't want to finish?" He asked.
"Chef has a tendency to prepare in excess of my needs," she replied. "I believe his words were that I should put more "meat" on my bones."
"Ah," he said. He smiled into his drink and then said, "All right, Malcolm. What have you found out?"
The tactical officer straightened. Jon had asked that he receive a verbal briefing before reading the written reports and he knew that Malcolm had expected to deliver it before dinner. But Jon had had the feeling that the information wasn't going to do any good to his digestion.
"Bluntly speaking, Sir, we wouldn't want to have to get into an even fight with the ships we took the scans of."
"Hoshi called them Sharlins?"
"Yes, Sir. In the analysis between the Sub-Commander and myself we believe we have come up with a far idea of their capabilities. And they're extremely impressive sir. No two of them seem precisely alike, it is as if the builders were putting individual artistic touches into all of them. They average about sixteen hundred meters in length with a mass of forty- four million metric tones. Their main power source seems to be some type of artificially created singularity."
Jon set his cup down, abruptly, saying, "A singularity."
"Yes," T'Pol said. "They appear to be able to generate and focus gravatic fields with the precision necessary to create a micro singularity with which to annihilate matter. The matter is fed into the singularity and then gravitational fields are terminated. This results in the evaporation of the singularity and the release of its consumed mass as energy. It is a highly developed and efficient system. Far surpassing even Vulcan means of power generation."
She stopped and looked back to Malcolm.
He cleared his throat and started again, "There were a great many unfamiliar energy weapons. We registered over one hundred weapon mounts on each of the vessels along with several indeterminates."
Jon took a deep breath. He'd been right: this wasn't doing any good to his digestion.
Malcolm continued. "T'Pol analyzed the video footage that was broadcast of one of these ships attacking a human base. The type of energy discharge is unfamiliar, but she estimates that the power discharge is in the megatons per second range. These ships are capable of delivering a massive amount of firepower."
He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts then said, "The defensive capabilities are where the technological anomalies start to crop up."
"Anomalies?"
"Yes sir. Despite their tech level they don't appear to have any type of active energy shields. Their defensive systems consist of two main parts. One: the hull armor. It averages ten meters thick in the main body of the ship and is composed of some sort of polycrystalline material. The sensor readings seem to indicate that it is extremely effective at refracting directed energy discharges. However, it seems to be relatively brittle when compared with many modern alloys. The second part of the defensive system is a gravatic stress field that is generated around the ship by the main engines. The field has the property of blunting physical impacts and diffusing energy passing through it. The combined system is quite effective."
Jon poured himself another glass of water as Malcolm continued. "Their drive system is, in theory, more advanced than ours, being completely gravatic. Which, by our theories of conservation of inertia and momentum, should be impossible. Of course that simply means that they have better theories. However, their inertial compensation is far less efficient. Simply put, sir, we could run circles around them at impulse."
He fells silent as Jon settled back into his seat. After a moment Jon said, "What's our tactical situation Malcolm?"
"We can't fight them on any kind of level playing field, sir. Against the energy levels their weapons are using to destroy the Earth ships our hull plating will hold up for a very short while. But, from our sensor scans, it looks like they are using their weapons on the lower end of their power output, and if they start raising their power levels. They'll punch right through even the improved hull plating."
"What about us damaging them?"
"We may have several things working for us on that front. First is the nature of the energy emissions used in phasers; it doesn't have the same characteristics as, say, particle beams or lasers. The working principals are different. So we believe that the phasers, at high power, will be able penetrate their defenses. The photon torpedoes will be less effective. However," he glanced at T'Pol. "We think we can use the transporters as a weapon delivery system."
"Oh? How?"
"Their defenses are either passive or gravitationally based, and thus won't impede a transporter beam. We can simply deliver a torpedo warhead, to a sensitive portion of a ship, set to detonate on materialization. We don't believe that they would have any defense against such an attack."
T'Pol spoke up, saying, "It would appear that our development of subspace technology has been component to the development of our ability to manipulate matter and energy. They never developed subspace science and are consequently less advanced in those areas. The full description of our technological differences is in the written report."
* * *
"Jump to normal space."
The order was issued by the Captain of the Valen'na. Delenn glanced around the circle at the other members of the Gray Council. Their attentions seemed fixed on the holographic view that surrounded them. Exiting the jump vortex the red and black shifting wash of hyperspace was replaced by the pure black of normal space. The other Sharlins spread out ahead of the Valen'na, moving to engage the Humans.
Delenn contained her emotions, sickened by the slaughter that she knew was about to commence. The Human colony was small, barely more than a few thousand people. Not that it would have mattered had it been millions; the outcome would still be the same. They could not fight her people.
Her people. Whom she could not find a way to stop, lost as they were in rage, grief and madness. Her own anger had turned to ash; all that was left was grief, grief and shame. Shame that she had started this, shame that she could not stop it.
The colony was easily seen in the holographic view. It floated in space, a spinning wheel a kilometer across. Several ships, Human military hung in space nearby. Shuttles could be seen speeding away from the station toward the waiting ships.
The sensor readings confirmed that they were full of Humans, desperately trying to escape the coming holocaust.
* * *
"Sir!"
"You heard me Lieutenant, combat readiness."
"Yes, Sir. Charging hull plating and weapons."
"How far out are we Hoshi?"
"Four minutes sir."
Jon looked at Malcolm. The man shook his head saying, "The Sharlins will be in firing range of the Earthforce ships in one and a half to two minutes."
Jon hit the communicator. "Trip, can you give me any more speed?"
"Cap'n, we're already pushing six point four. But I'll see what I can do."
A shudder went through the enterprise and Travis announced, "Warp six point five."
"Hoshi?"
"It's going to be close, Sir."
Jon braced himself in the chair and hit the com again. "All hands prepare for combat."
"Phasors: charged. Hull plating: standing by, it will go to full power when we exit warp. Transporter weapon: ready and waiting." Malcolm delivered his status report steadily. Then looked up at the Captain and said, "Sir, are you sure we want to be doing this? Those are five Sharlin cruisers."
Jon looked at him and said, "Lieutenant do a scan of those shuttles. What kind of people are you picking up?"
There was a momentary pause then, "Civilians, adults and children."
"Can you stand by and watch them be killed?"
"No, Sir."
"Neither can I, Lieutenant, neither can I."
"Travis, drop us out of warp right between the Minbari ships and the earth vessels. If the firing starts, take your cues from what Malcolm is doing, but keep us moving. With the weapons on those ships we don't want to be a sitting target. Malcolm, once it starts, fire at your discretion. Take them down as fast as you can. Surprise is the only way we're going to survive this."
"Aye, Sir."
"Aye, Sir."
