Chapter Five

The Servants of Darkness' Plans Go Awry


Aboard the EDS Yamato

January 24, 2271 6pm

Earth Standard Time

"C'mon, you have to be kidding me on this, Wildstar?"

Derek Wildstar laughed at Captain Susan Ivanova for asking about the origins of Yamato again. "It's true, Ivanova. This ship was the old Yamato battleship sunk off the coast of Okinawa at the end of World War II centuries ago.

Loughley stood there with a puzzled look on their face. "Let me get this straight: back in 2199, Earth was a radioactive wasteland, all the oceans had dried up and all human life had migrated to underground cities. Then, as a last ditch effort to save Earth, your government decided to take the rusted hulk of an ancient battleship, remodel it,
and make it space worthy. Am I missing something here?"

Derek smiled and said, "Nothing so far."

Ivanova spoke again, "Do you know how impractical that sounds? I mean, wouldn't it have been easier to just find somewhere where the Gamilons weren't and gather the materials to build a ship in space."

Sandor, sitting beside Wildstar in the mess, looked across at the two strangers and said, "Well, desperate people do desperate things, and we were pretty desperate back then. We had only one year before the radiation would have wiped all the humans out underground. So we had to come up with this idea, and it worked out better than we could have ever imagined!"

Derek looked towards the entrance to see IQ-9 come into the mess. Being an intelligent machine, he would sometimes drop by the mess when things weren't busy to socialize and improve his programming. He rolled up toward the table and spoke to Derek. "Wildstar, Venture has completed his calculations and says we can warp to Minbar whenever you are ready."

"Thank you, IQ-9. Head on back to the bridge and we'll join you there shortly.," replied Derek, and IQ-9 rolled out of the mess hall.

Ivanova shook her head, still looking towards the entrance. "Back on Earth...our Earth, robots like that aren't around because human-form robots are illegal."

Derek smiled and said, "It's a shame, because IQ-9 has been invaluable to us. He's saved out hides many times aboard this ship."

"That may be the case, but, between the four of us, it might be a good thing to be careful who has access to him from my side of the street,
because they'll be people who will want to snatch him up and use him for their own purposes, and others who would want to dismantle him because they are afraid of him."

Derek and Sandor were aghast, and Loughley was quick to reply, "Things are a bit different in this universe. We're a bit more cynical, to say the least. One of these days, if we have the time, I'll try and explain it all to you."

Derek nodded and stated, "I look forward to it, but now, we need to go to the bridge and get ready for the warp."

Ivanova was quick to reply dryly, "This should be interesting."

They made their way to the bridge and Sandor showed the two guests to their chairs on the bridge. Ivanova looked up once again at the portrait of Captain Abraham Avatar above the captain's station. In her military side of her brain, she chided Wildstar for not taking that position because it clearly could give him more information about the ship and any action it becomes involved with than his combat chief station. However, her Human, especially her Jewish side, realized the need to leave it untouched as a tribute to this man.

Nova came over to her station and explained the process of warping the ship again. Ivanova, when she first learned of the way that Yamato traveled faster than light, remembered an old Earth vid series called Star Trek, where the ships in the various shows would warp space and travel faster than the speed of light. However, after warping twice to make sure the star charts matched in the computer, they were now someone used to it. They both smiled at the blond woman, who had gone out of her way to make them feel welcome, and, since there were so few women aboard the ship, Ivanova figured that Nova appreciated the company of some more women.

Venture announced to the crew that warp would begin in less than a minute. Both Ivanova and Loughley both inhaled and slowly let out a nervous breath, trying to not seem overly nervous to the crew.

However, the process bothered Ivanova, because the warp process stimulated her latent telepathic abilities. In her first warp experience, she had had a strong vision of the past during the warp. It was back when she was a little kid and her mother had come down to watch her play. Her mom had watched her intently for a moment, then sent Susan over to a cousin's house to play for a while. Hours later, her dad had come to get her and told her that her mom had died. She found out later that her mom had committed suicide, mainly due to the drugs that were injected into her on a weekly basis to suppress her telepathic abilities so she could continue to live with her family. However, over the years, the drug's side effects had taken their toll on her mind and body, and she was slowly going insane.

The second warp had brought back memories of when she was on her deathbed on board Babylon 5. She had begun to accept that she was about to die, and slowly began to fade away when she thought she heard the voice of God telling her that He loved her. She was feeling like she was floating above her body, but, as the voice got stronger, she began to feel pulled back into her body, and the voice had turned out to be that of her close friend, Marcus Cole, who she knew was in love with her. Once she regained consciousness, she tried to pull off the alien device that was transferring his life energy into her off of her wrist, but she was so weak from her injuries that she could do nothing. So she watched as the man she loved died in front of her to save her.

Venture once again spoke to the crew, "Warp in 10...9...8...7...6...5."

Loughley, who had grabbed hold of Ivanova's hand in the previous two warps, now grabbed it again, and the two of them briefly exchanged the same kind of look they had done before a warp. Ivanova could tell that her friend was just as nervous as she was, but she had yet to ask if she had had visions of her own.

Venture called out the countdown, "4...3...2...1...warp!"

Venture pulled down on a lever at his station, and suddenly a white light engulfed the ship. She could feel the pressure changing slightly around her, and suddenly felt a sight push into her seat. Then, another vision came over her.

She was inside a Minbari temple, looking up at a statue of Valen. She looked around and saw a figure coming up towards her in a dark brown robe with a hood over their head.

"Hello, Susan."

"Jeff? Jeff, is that you," Ivanova asked, recognizing the sound of the voice of her former commanding officer on Babylon 5, former Commander and later Ambassador to Minbar, Jeffery Sinclair.

He removed the hood from his head, and Ivanova let out a slight gasp as she noticed the bone crest on his head. Sinclair smiled and said, "So, how do I look bald?"

Ivanova chuckled and said, "It's good to see you again, Jeff. Or should I call you Valen?"

Jeff smiled again, "If it makes you feel more comfortable, call me Jeff. God only knows that I haven't heard that name in a long while."

Ivanova would have loved to spend hours talking to her old friend, but she knew she had a short period of time. "Why are you here?"

"To bring you some comfort and to tell you that you are doing the right thing. You are needed in the coming fight. There are plans in the works to prepare for the conflict. Just be ready when I return."

Ivanova's jaw dropped, "You mean...?"

Jeff nodded and said, " 'Valen would return in Minbar's hour of greatest need.' Trust me, this is a very dark hour upcoming for Minbar. But you're on the right ship, Susan. Trust Wildstar's instincts."

Ivanova was about to speak, but Jeff held out his hand to silence her. "So long, Susan. I'll see you soon!"

"Wait, I have one question: did you ever find her?"

Jeff inclined his head and said, "You'll see soon enough."

Tuzinor, Minbar

January 24, 2271

9pm Earth Standard Time

John Sheridan and his wife, Delenn, were being whisked to the spaceport on a transport. They set down near two Whitestar ships, advanced destroyers, which were a fusion of Minbari technology and the technology of the ancient race called the Vorlons. Before getting on board, they had a moment to embrace and look into each other's eyes, realizing this may be the last moments they spent together.

"Where's David," asked John.

"Safe. I had him evacuated from the city and he's on a religious caste ship heading away from Minbar."

John looked deep into his wife's eyes and told her, "I love you, Delenn."

Delenn looked back into his eyes and replied, "I love you too, John. And, no matter what happens, I'll be there where no Shadows fall."

John smiled, remembering the first time she had uttered those words, and departed to go aboard his Whitestar. Delenn took a moment to watch him go, then she turned and boarded her ship.

Delenn swiftly made her way to the bridge, feeling the ship take off from the ground and making its way into space as she walked through the corridors. She got up onto the bridge just as the bright blue sky of Minbar turned into the darkness of space.

She made her way to the command chair and asked the officer on duty about the status. "It's not good, Delenn. The fleet is massive and they should be here within the hour. We don't have near enough ships, unless the Earth Alliance is sending ships to aid us."

"They are, but it's a matter of when they can get here. All we can do is do the best we can. Faith manages.," replied Delenn.

Her Whitestar, along with over three hundred others, were speedily making their way to where they would meet the fleet, along with dozens of Minbari cruisers and destroyers. The space outside her window was also filled with countless Minbari fighters, and she had a brief horrifying memory of the Battle of the Line back during the Earth/Minbari War, but she shoved it back down into the depths of her mind as she readied herself for what was to come.

It was then she noticed the fleet, and a sudden flash of light in front of it. She didn't pay much attention to it until she noticed that it was some sort of ship coming into the battle. "In Valen's name! They must have jumped at the wrong co-ordinates! They're right in the path of that fleet, and we can't get to them in time."

It was then she noticed the flashes of light coming from the ship.
Instead of the red color of Drakh weapons, it was white flashes filling space. She then noticed that the Drakh fleet was taking a pounding. "In Valen's name," she whispered.

Space Battleship Yamato

January 24, 2271

9:30pm Earth Standard Time

Yamato had turned her five main guns towards the fleet and was giving the Drakh forces its broadside, and Ivanova watched on in stunned silence as she watched this one ship shred the massive fleet with volley after volley.

Derek Wildstar looked over to his fiancée, Nova Forrester, and asked how much longer until the Minbari fleet join the fight.

"Estimate two minutes at current speed, but they are speeding up so it'll be a bit sooner."

"Good. Dash, stand by port side missiles. Prepare them to fire on my mark."

Dashell "Dash" Jordan replied, "Aye aye, sir!"

Shortly thereafter, the ship shuttered slightly as volley after volley of missiles were fired at the oncoming fleet.

Nova then spoke up, "Captain, huge unidentified object directly behind the Drakh fleet!"

"Put it on screen, Nova.," commanded Derek, and, after a moment, the massive object filled the screen.

Ivanova got up out of her chair. "Oh my God! A Shadow planet killer! We thought they didn't have anymore! We don't have near the forces to stop that thing!"

Derek looked at her. "We don't need them. We have the wave motion gun!"

Ivanova shook her head, "I'm sorry, what? What's a wave motion gun?"

Derek smiled and, instead of answering her, went over to Mark Venture's station. "Venture, turn the ship to face the fleet, then go to full speed and begin to divert power to the wave motion gun when we get behind their fleet."

Mark nodded briskly and said, "Yes, sir!"