Chapter Four

The Legend Comes To The Rescue


Earth Alliance Space Station Babylon 5

January 23, 2271

11am Earth Standard Time

Captains Elizabeth Loughley and Susan Ivanova had been inside their Thunderbolt fighter for hours now, save for a brief break back on the Titans for a brief two hour rest and refuel. They had made their way to Sector 14 to monitor the situation and all that they had found was the signal from the Yamato repeating over and over. That, and the fact that the temporal rift that Ivanova and the others took to go back in time to defend Babylon 4 from the Shadows was wide open. Draal had said that he was trying to close it, but his efforts were not having any effect.

Loughley activated her internal comm unit and spoke to Ivanova, "How much longer do you want to wait out here?"

Ivanova paused briefly to think it over and said, "We probably should give it at least another couple of hours, just in case. Maybe this is just some anomaly..."

"Then why the dreams, Susan? Why did it tell me to wait for a ship to come through the portal? I'm sure the woman in the dream didn't mean a jumpgate, so this has to be what she was referring to!"

Ivanova shrugged inside her space suit, "Well, it's your call, Liz. But we can't stay here forever because the brass back home will start asking questions."

Loughley just had time to let out a sigh when her console began to beep. "Hang on! I've got something!"

Ivanova sat back up in her co-pilot's seat, "Any idea what it is?"

"Not sure, but whatever it is, it's big.," replied Loughley, who then switched over to the comm system for her squadron, "Loughley to Alpha Squadron. Follow me to the temporal rift so we can check out what is coming through."

Her wingman, Patricia Harletpool, responded, "Affirmative, Alpha leader."

Earth Defense Force Space Battleship Yamato

March 22, 2203

7pm

"If my sensors are reading this right, Wildstar, this appears to be a rift in the space time continuum.," said Stephen Sandor, chief science officer.

Derek Wildstar looked over the readings himself and then out at the rift right in front of the ship. "Do you think we still should go in?"

"It's worth the risk, Wildstar, because we're not sure if that enemy will come through and try to attack Earth. We need to know the make up of their forces at least and try and do something about it should they be planning to come through."

Wildstar stood up and looked at his friend and Yamato co-pilot, Mark Venture, and gave a brief command, "Venture, take us into the rift."

Venture looked up at his commanding officer, giving Wildstar a second to reconsider, but all Wildstar did was give a brief nod. "Yes, sir! Taking us into the rift. Activating main and auxiliary engines."

The ship's engines came to life and began to move towards the rift.
Derek got up from his post and made an excuse to go to his communication officer's post to scan the room. He was relieved that his crew, while nervous, looked determined. He had his own doubts as to doing this, but the enemy that had attacked the station came through the rift, he didn't know if Yamato and the rest of the Earth Defense Force could handle it.

Venture spoke up, "Time to rift...10...9...8...7...6...5."

Derek looked to his fiancée, Nova, and she looked back at him and gave him a nervous smile. He looked back out the window on the bridge and gazed deeply into the spinning, shiny veneer of the rift.

"4...3...2...1...contact!"

On board Thunderbolt fighter

January 23, 2271

10:45pm Earth Standard Time

Captains Loughley and Ivanova were looking up at the immense structure that was the flight deck of the Yamato, and waited for the airlock to recycle so she could meet the crew. When the signal blared that the atmosphere and pressure were back to normal, they took off their helmets and looked towards the doorway.

"You nervous about this," asked Ivanova.

"Yeah, you?"

"I haven't been this nervous since meeting that first one ship out at Sector 957.," Ivanova replied, then noticed that the door was opening.

Coming out were several humans who appeared to be wearing a variety of uniforms, most white, but a couple that were yellow and others that were brown. They looked to be daily shift uniforms and not dress uniforms. The leader was at the head of the pack, and his white uniform had red piping.

Ivanova decided to introduce themselves. "I am Captain Susan Ivanova of the Earth Alliance starship Titans, and this is my colleague, Captain Elizabeth Loughley, commanding officer of space station Babylon 5. May I ask you why you are here?"

Wildstar looked blankly at her for a moment, then snapped to attention. "I'm Captain Derek Wildstar of the Earth Defense Force ship, Yamato. We came through when we heard your distress signal and decided to lend aid."

Ivanova nodded. "I know. That signal came through to us too. It's from several years ago, and the events that took place didn't happen."

"Didn't happen? Then the ships attacking your station?"

Ivanova held out a hand and stopped Wildstar, "It's a long story. Those ships are gone now, but we have another enemy to worry about now. Earth Defense Force, you say? What year is it back where you came from?"

Wildstar looked back at his crew, and replied, "2203. What year is it here?"

Ivanova's face went pale, but she managed to reply, "The year is 2271 here."

Wildstar's jaw visibly dropped, and there was a loud murmur among his crew. "2271, you say? Then what happened to Earth when we left?"

Ivanova looked to the floor briefly, feeling awkward and trying to comprehend all of this, "Captain Wildstar, to the best of my knowledge,
there has never been a Yamato in Earthforce that I know of, and this ship's design is unknown to me. So we've got a lot of things to talk about...," Ivanova was interrupted by her link. "Ivanova here.," she replied.

"Captain, this is LaCoste. We just got a message from Minbar. There's a huge Drakh force headed there to attack, and, Captain, they have a Shadow planet killer."

Ivanova's face went pale again, then she snapped back to her professional side and spoke, "Set a course for Minbar." She then looked over at Wildstar and then spoke back into her link, "Send star charts and coordinates over here to the Yamato. I'll see if they're willing to lend assistance."

"Yes, captain. LaCoste out."

Ivanova walked up to Wildstar and asked, "Captain, if you don't find it presumptuous..."

Wildstar held out his hand and said, "Just help us plot a course and we'll be there for the fight, Captain. If you'll come this way..."

Ivanova and Loughley made their way to the elevator tube with the rest of the crew, wondering if they were making the right decision to bring this unknown ship into the fight.