10: Dawning Alliance
by Chaoseternus
When Enerina is sent to investigate why every gate in an area of space will not establish a wormhole, she finds something totally unexpected...
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Ten
The Minbari were the first to find out that the Centauri had new allies, and they found out the hard way.
A small fleet, some ten Sharlin's was the first Minbari probe into Centauri space. They found the four Ha'taks under Mordens command instead. All four, Mordens original Ha'tak plus the requested reinforcements were fully upgraded with the best technologies Anubis had available.
They outmatched the Tau'ri vessels and then some, and the Minbari vessels, for the most part, were even less advanced.
The result was an almost inevitable defeat of the Minbari, especially when the Ha'taks used the surprise advantage supplied by their cloaks to launch the first attack.
Six Sharlin's were torn apart in the initial barrage, almost no weapons fire being aimed at the Ha'taks , the surprise was that total. But the Minbari rallied, and quickly realising the extent to which the Ha'taks were shielded, began preparations for pinpoint jumps, aiming for the energetic disruption of the jump vortex to tear through the Goa'uld vessels.
A seventh Sharlin died before it could jump and an eighth span off, uncontrolled and crippled but the final two jumped, and arrived spot on target.
The shields on the Ha'taks were the latest model, improved beyond those used by Tanith during his assault all those years ago on New Tollana, they were able to withstand the energies of the vortex for a full second and a half, bending the hyperspace disruption waves around the shield perimeter of the two effected Ha'taks .
But, inevitably the shields failed, literally just as the vortex closed.
Finding themselves unshielded, the two Ha'taks attempted to retreat behind their fully operational comrades under a blanket of fire. The Minbari weapons fired with a vengeance, firing at an incredible rate and with unexpected power, as if the spirit of the ships themselves was aiding them, fighting for its own continued existence.
The fire caught an unshielded Ha'tak, tearing the armour of the hull to shreds in seconds but the ninth Sharlin paid the price. Realising they were unsupported and facing technologically superior enemy, the tenth Sharlin retreated into hyperspace, heading swiftly back towards alliance territory.
It wasn't long before word reached the ears of Enerina, the Goa'uld Commander of the Tau'ri taskforce assigned to the search. Cursing the necessity, Enerina was quick to redeploy the USS Prometheus and the USS Stingray to head up an Alliance Fleet tasked specifically with destroying the Anubis Fleet tasked to assist the Centauri.
They were joined by fifteen Sharlin War Cruisers two Tinashi War Frigates as well as Narn warships, two G'quan heavy Cruisers and five Th'nor Cruisers.
Enerina also carefully ordered her own Ha'taks to maintain IFF's and contact procedures at all time, she didn't want a friendly fire incident.
It took five weeks for the taskforce to find the Goa'uld ships, five weeks in which the Centauri seized three Narn colonies and were rebuffed violently from a fourth. Five weeks in which the Minbari began a massive hit and run campaign, covering the entire frontline of the war, causing heavy disruption behind Centauri lines and forcing the Centauri Navy redeploy once more, five weeks in which the scattered remnants of the League Navy finally assembled themselves all together, and went on the offensive, their first unified move to retake a Vree Colony, one of the few with an operational shipyard.
With the eight hundred ships that was all that survived of the Leagues Navies in orbit over this one world, the Centauri dared not attack either, their own Navy was too scattered, too thinly spread to be able to gather up enough ships to threaten that mass, even if many were second rate even by Centauri standards.
They knew that it might prove to be a fatal mistake, the League Navy was using the shipyard top replenish and repair but they didn't have much of a choice.
Morden chose then to ask them what they wanted, the Centauri were all too happy to answer. The next day, Morden ordered his fleet to League Space, the day after Taskforce Omega followed, thanking an on-the-ball Minbari Spy planted within the Centauri equivalent to the Admiralty.
Of all the ships headed towards the sole system under League control, the Dauntless II class USS Stingray was unquestionable the fastest. Racing ahead of the taskforce, they arrived at the Vree Shipyard a mere three hours before Morden was anticipated to arrive.
Three hours warning, three hours for the entire League Navy to prepare for battle.
It was more than enough time.
