"Aye, Sir."
Chapter Fourteen.
"You though Jesus was a hippy…"
Drala Fi
Shargotti Class Warship
Thirty Hours Post Battle.
Deep in the tides of hyperspace the colossal warship known as the Drala Fi was making its way back to friendly lines, the damage had taken from the battle was evident across both flanks of the ship. One of her two lower fins was missing from a direct hit by a small-scale explosive missile from a corvette while smaller pockmarks and tears from the plasma fire that had plastered it from the Earthforce ships.
The smaller Tinashi that had managed to escape with them had fallen back as her gravitational engines had failed and the ship had been caught by a tidal current pulling it even deeper into hyperspace and away from the much larger ship. The ship would never be seen again. No ship was ever recovered from hyperspace.
The engines of the Shargotti had been cripples as well with, damage to the fins and rear drive section. They were operational but at a very low power causing the Minbari vessel to travel in days what would have only taken hours under normal power.
The losses to the Earthers had been almost total with the battle. The Humans had been able to accurately hit every ship in the attack fleet even with their less advanced weapons. Somehow they had seen through the jammers the Minbari ships utilized and destroyed those ships with fewer losses than the Minbari would have thought possible.
The most surprising thing concerned the group detached to destroy the newest of the Earther's shipyards. They had been destroyed to a ship by a group of fighters and two unknown ships. How either had done so was beyond the ken of any of the surviving warriors of the Drala Fi. The view of a single bolt destroying an entire Sharlin had crushed moral on the ship's crew as much as the retreat had.
The losses on top of the destruction of the sixty ships by the human bases and against this new ship were enormous. While the fleet was many hundreds of ships strong the loss of almost one hundred in so short a time was startling. Some of the best and brightest of the warriors had been killed in the war against the barbarians, more so now that their ships had been able to lock onto the Minbari ships.
For the first time in one thousand years the Minbari found themselves facing the an enemy that could fight them one on one. The space and resources the Minbari commanded was much larger than the Earth Alliance could, but the Earth ships were big blocky monstrosities that could be built faster and in larger numbers. And if the news of the newest ships in their inventory were true then the Minbari may be up against true Equals.
"Shai Alyt, the Satai is awake and requests your presence immediately."
"Thank you."
The Shai Alyt left his command centre and headed to the Satai's quarters, his head still bandaged with smaller cut and bruises on his face and hand; injuries taken when his ship was hit by Earther weapons fire. He approached the closed door of the stateroom and keyed the controls opening up the door and letting the light seep into the darkness of the room.
On a bed in the centre of the room was Satai Hedronn, face pale and his headbone cracked in several places. The man had been under a station when it had fallen during the battle almost killing him straight out. Their doctors had done all they could to keep the warrior stable until they could get to a command station and the medical infirmaries there.
It was to little avail. The lone doctor approached the Shai Alyt and told him the news he had already guess. The man was dying of serious internal and external injuries. The Satai would not live long enough for help to arrive or for the ship to make it to a friendly system.
The doctor left through the door allowing the two warriors to speak in private.
"Shai Alyt."
"Satai, it is good to see you awake."
"Don't try to lighten this old friend, I can feel my end approaching."
"I will not live Hedronn. You are not well enough to survive the rest of the voyage back to our own space, your injuries are too severe."
"Thank you Sharonn, for treating me like a warrior."
"You have been an inspiration since the beginning Satai. You will be missed by all warriors regardless of rank or heritage."
"Sharonn, I wish for you to replace me as Warrior Satai of the Grey Council, this request is amongst my personal effects."
"I will try my best to succeed you Satai. I could never replace you."
"Thank you, old friend. What happened to the fleet?"
"Two of our ships made the return to hyperspace Satai, the rest were destroyed by the Earthers. We lost our escort soon afterwards as they drifted further into hyperspace. The Drala fi is now the only surviving vessel of the fleet."
"How did this happen?"
"The Earthers must have had help from somewhere, perhaps this new ship that destroyed the 'Blood of Valen'."
"Perhaps, perhaps. Please leave me now Shai Alyt. I need to rest."
"Yes Satai."
The warrior turned from the pale face of his mentor and friend and moved to the door. Opening it once more he heard the weak voice of Hedronn address him for the last time.
"Good night, Satai Hedronn."
"Good Night. Satai Sharonn."
The door closed on the darkened room of the warrior Satai, he would not be seen alive again.
Fleet Shipyards
Beta Durani
Battle Plus Seven Days
Since the end of the battle of Beta Durani the shipyards had ramped back up to full production, in some areas faster and more intensively than before. There were fewer things more effective than a good scare put into a person to get them working faster, and the attack had done just that.
The shipyards themselves consisted of a network of dry-docks, slipways, construction lines, cargo containers and personnel control rooms scattered around them. The Durani yards were the largest in the outer sectors. While smaller than the scattered yards in the Sol, Proxima and other systems they still had dozens of ships under construction at any one time.
Originally the yards had had only a few slipways but the war had changed that. Within weeks the construction yards had built the slips up to current levels hoping that enough ships could be constructed to hold back the Minbari juggernaut. Most recently the newest docks had been expanded to hold the newest ships of the line, the Nova X class vessels. None were close to completion leaving the rest of the docks to take up the slack of construction.
The majority of the docks held Hyperion Refits and Nova Dreadnaughts under construction with carriers, corvettes tenders and numerous other small units taking up the rest. Almost two-dozen ships across the system were almost ready to be released into space by the construction crews with only hours remaining before most were fully functional.
"General, status report on the shipyards."
"What have we got, Lt?"
"Sir, most of the lightly damaged ships from the battle are already repaired and out on patrol. The more seriously damaged are still under repair with about a week for most. The shipyards will have twenty six ships ready for deployment by the end of the day. All ships will have full Starfury compliments by the end of the week, the extra pilots and crew brought in by the Daedalus Task force has helped to crew those ships we have."
"Total status of defenses?"
"Fifty two ships on patrol, twenty more under varying levels of repair. Fixed defenses are still being repaired but should be operational by the end of the week."
"Good." He signed off on the report. "What about the Achilles and her task force?"
"The Achilles weapons are reinstalled and in full repair, a few of our own weapons components let us replace what was missing. The railguns and ammunition are also under production at one of the former Starfury Lines. Armour production for the Achilles is almost complete, although it's not as durable as their own. But it should help against the Minbari."
"All units will be upgraded as they come in for refit, the railguns won't replace the SPBs but will be attached alongside them. The sensor platforms will go into full production once it is confirmed they work. In all Sir, I think we're as good to go as we can be."
Consulting his reports he looked up at the General. "The prototypes of the upgraded sensor systems are complete and under installation in two of our Hyperions and one Nova. They will be ready for testing with the next twenty-four hours."
"Excellent."
"The Achilles FTL drives are still down as are a few extraneous systems but she'll be ready for deployment with the rest of the force tomorrow. The rest of the technical stuff is still being looked over by the eggheads at R&D."
"Lets hope this works or we're back to square one."
"Yes, Sir."
"Anything about the Minbari ships?"
"The R&D guys are looking over the wreck of the Tinashi, the two Sharlins have been picked up by a group of tow ships and escort and left this morning. Looks like we may have some work ahead of us to even scrape the surface."
"With any luck we'll be able to get something out of this."
"Yes, Sir. And Sir the Psi-Corps reps are complaining about not being allowed to talk to the crew of the Achilles again. What should I tell them this time?"
"Same as always, the Achilles crew don't want them aboard their ship and there's nothing we can do to force them to."
There was a smile on the young officer's face, "Aye, Sir."
There was something immensely satisfying about stopping the Psi-Corps from getting their way and General Hague was feeling quite smug about it. There was no way in hell he was letting the treaty between the two crews fall apart because of a bunch of hopped up fortune tellers.
Psi Corps Quarters
Minutes later…
"What the hell do you mean that you can't get in contact with them," Clark shouted from the monitor.
"Precisely what I said, Senator." The telepath looked at Clark as if he was a lesser form of life, which to many in the Psi corps 'mundanes' were. "General Hague has refused us access to the Omega yards continuously; apparently the other ship's crew has 'requested' that we do not approach them under any circumstances."
"Tell General Hague that this is a direct order from a Senator of the Earth Alliance, you are to allowed immediate access to the Omega docks and to the dock the Achilles is seconded inside especially."
"Yes, Senator."
"Clark out."
"Egotistical little fruit." One of the Psi cops said.
"Now, Now Edmund, speak well of our Senator." The other said.
"I doubt that Hague will let us through even with a Senator's order."
"I agree, so what do we do?"
USAF Achilles
Omega Dock six
One week post battle.
Since the incident with Minbari only a few days beforehand the Achilles' crew had been working round the clock as much as possible to get their ship ready for combat again. Most systems had been repaired with facsimiles created with EA equipment; even the control crystals had a variation using a network of specially created data crystals used by the Earthforce ships.
Most of the damaged or destroyed weapons systems had been replace in record time by the Earth Alliance shipyards, again the weapons had been easily manufactured by the EA's fabrication lines within eleven days. The same went for the new missile bays. Most of the works were built from components from Starfury systems, but it meant the Achilles was as close to 100 percent as they could get.
The Earth Alliance shipyards had started to churn out tactical systems based on the technical specs as shared by the Achilles. More was to come from the SGC personnel in the future but only those few systems capable of being built in the shipyards were given to the Earth forces.
"Sir." The chief engineer strolled up to the Colonel and Major, both deep in discussion when he had appeared.
"Chief, what's the latest?"
"Weapons are fully operational, all primary systems are online and the shields are back to full power."
"Excellent work, Chief."
"Without the industrial base the EA had here we would have had a month's worth of repairs back home not just shy of two weeks. The Armour sections are being welded to the hull over the next few hours with assistance from both the shipyards and our own crew."
"You a miracle worker Chief."
"Was nothing Sir. The shield generators were a little burnt up but were repairable. All systems bar the hyperdrive are ready. The problem is the drive has pretty much had it Sir- the damage from the explosion fried most of the circuits and blew the main converters. We have power but no way to create a window."
"Dammit. Thanks chief."
"Sir."
"Well Paul, I think we've got a problem."
"Without that hyperdrive we're pretty much stuck here, The EA's hyperdrives are too large for the Achilles, we have the power but not the room for the vortex generators."
"So stranded, no way to find out way back to our Earth and now no way to move."
"That's about the size of it, Sir."
"Talk to the station, tell them we may need some assistance to leave the system."
"Aye, Sir."
Davis left the Colonel in the corridor; Taylor sagged against the wall tired and forlorn. She had been through the ringer like the rest of the crew and was very tired. Where the crew had had time off in rotation and others had been seconded to the Alliance, she had been aboard the entire time the refit had been going on supervising the repairs.
Exhaustion rippled through her body as she walked into her quarters, leaning against the wall she slipped to the ground her head falling forward, she was tired in every way she could think of- emotionally, physically, psychologically. The stress was getting to her much more quickly that she had thought it possible to be.
Lost, away from home and no way to even move this crate. Like any Captain that had been in this position she blamed herself for the fact her entire crew were stuck in an unknown universe and no one had a clue how to get back home.
Hell since the day we arrived here we've lost almost a third of the crew and not even had time for a proper service for any of them she thought.
The fact that they were trapped where they were with no idea what to do about it had filtered through the minds of her people earlier that week. The battles and wonder at being in a new place had worn off, leaving a feeling of helplessness and homesickness for the all too human crew of the Achilles.
Some had taken it and soldiered on while others, mainly those officers and crewmen just out of training had found it much more difficult to go on than the seasoned and professional older men and women of her command. With the loss of their only faster than light capability the feelings would only increase for the surviving crew and only the Gods would know what was to come for the small ship.
Crawling into bed the ship's commander lay back thinking about how the hell they were going to get out of this one intact, especially with those Psi Corps wackos running around trying to get access to the interior of the Achilles and the crew's minds.
The problem that the SGC personnel had was that there was no way they would be able to tell if the Psi Corps officers were even reading their minds, there had only been a very few run ins with telepathic races by the SGC and only one or two had been in any way hostile to the SG teams.
She'd figure something out in the morning.
USAF Prometheus
Dimensional Anomaly
Six hours after previous encounter.
The Prometheus sat several thousand kilometres from the 'Event Horizon' of the anomaly, it's scanners pulling in every reading it could. Aacross space from them the Allied ha'tak 'Freedom's choice' sat scanning. So far it was unlike anything they had seen before, while it has some attributes of a Hyperspace Window it also had some characteristics of a black hole or possibly some other sort of gravitational force.
"Sir, we're receiving a message from the 'Choice' she's picked up what seems to be a form of particle emission from the anomaly, it's not natural."
"Some kind of transmission?"
"I don't think so Sir, more like a scan of some kind, I think there's something on the other side of the rift."
"Open standard hail, see if you can get through to the other side. Also contact the 'Choice' have them call in the rest of the task force. We may need assistance if things get out of hand."
"Aye, Sir."
EA Daedalus
Hyperion Class Heavy Cruiser
Eight Days post Battle of Durani
The Earth Force Navy had launched the latest of the ships to be brought into service for the EA that day. While the three ships were the basic shapes of the Hyperion and Nova class vessels in use, only a close observation would show that small turrets had been added to the hulls of the warships. What's more there was just a slight change in the scanner systems of all three ships.
One other Hyperion was to stay behind to test the systems at the Station, as well as to give tactical in case the Minbari returned, another reason being that the term 'eggs in one basket had been bounced around by the technicians attached to the project.
"Daedalus to Durani station, task force is ready for test run."
"Durani Station to Daedalus, we've got you. Permission granted for test run."
"Any boneheads in the area?"
"Not that we know of Daedalus. The Achilles is waiting for your task force at the jumpgate. Good luck to you all. Durani Station out."
The three ships of the task force pulled away from the dockyards and towards the massive construct that was the system's jump gate. Awaiting them there was the Prometheus class vessel that had changed much of Earth force's fortunes in such a small amount of time.
"Achilles to Daedalus; nice to see you."
"Achilles, Daeladus, nice to see you as well. We've been informed of your hyperdrive problems and are ready to take you in. Keep a good lock on us if you can. You also have the beacon locations so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding your way."
"Affirmative Daedalus, you ready for a little meet'n'greet?"
"We've got your back Achilles."
The massive jumpgate powered up, its three booms sending a current of power through space and opening a rift into hyperspace. The bright blue wormhole now active the four ships headed towards the entrance and were pulled in by the intense gravitation eddies that made up the majority of hyperspace.
Inside was a very different sight compared to the hyperspace that the USAF crew had known, while they had been through this hyperspace at least once before it didn't make it any easier to take. The blood red and shadowy black mixed with numerous energy releases and the gravity eddies surrounding them were not conductive to a feeling of easygoing.
The Achilles was a very small ship compared to the behemoths that made up the majority of the Earth Alliance's space forces meaning it was not as capable of fighting the currents that made up the twists and turns of hyperspace travel. Several time the Battle cruiser was forced to make intense course corrects by engaging its engines to more than full power.
Fortunately for the crew of the Achilles the towlines that had been readied for any such problems were unnecessary. On the way back they might be needed but with a last boost of acceleration the entire task force left hyperspace and dropped into an abandoned Earth Alliance system.
The system had been attacked and taken by the Minbari a week before as the inroads into Alliance space had increased. It was the most likely pace to find at least one of the Minbari patrols that ran through the abandoned systems daily. Once they had jumped the new scanner systems on the three Earth Alliance ships powered up scanning the entire system in seconds.
"Sir, we've got a better range and resolution on the sensors, no sign of any ships yet however. We've got the abandoned listening post in system, but that's it."
"Excellent. Anything from the other ships?"
"Negative, Sir. But all systems are functioning on all ships."
"Ready a test fire of all railgun turrets."
"Aye, Sir."
Across the structure of the Hyperion class warship small turrets came to life. The turrets were smaller than any other weapon bar the ship's interceptors. As such there were a good couple of dozen turrets mounting between two and three railguns a piece. Unlike the railguns of their own Artemis and Olympus class ships, there railguns were small easily manufactured and easily reloaded with massive amounts of titanium rounds.
It was hoped that these weapons would be of much more use against enemy ships and light craft than the Standard Particle beams and interceptors of the Alliance. Already they had been of immense use in destroying entire squadrons of enemy fighters as well as doing insane amounts of damage to the smaller frigates of the Minbari fleet.
The four warships began a turret-by-turret check of the weapons, each firing off a salvo of projectiles from the multiple barrels out into space. One by one every turret was checked out by the weapons officers aboard each ship, three aboard one of the nova, two on another and two on the Hyperion all failed to fire.
The original guns on board the Achilles worked fine as had as the replacements attached by the yard workers at the Omega Bay. The ship's original configuration was a close as it could be without access to SGC personnel and resources.
The two damaged or replaced missile launchers had been tested long before with both working perfectly. The magazines were still full with the remaining reloads that had been sequestered in the cargo bays and armouries. The entire system of launchers were full, however it now meant that unless they could somehow persuade the Alliance to supply them with high yield nuclear weapons or high explosive missiles they would be out of weaponry within a few battles.
The ships began the shakedown of each of their systems in turn. Weapons and sensors were tested again and again while the engines and other critical systems were engaged in maneuvering and speed trials that had not been possible at their home station. The last of the systems checked had been the shields of the Achilles, the reason was two fold, one was to check the actual shields. If the shields were seen as shields and not as an anomaly the scanners would be functional, any other reading would mean recalibrations or possibly complete checks of all ties into the system. The shields went up sending energy reading of the small ships off the scale, the ship became indistinct as the three Earthforce ships got a reading of a basic outline and a sphere.
The Scanners were a success, the railguns worked and now for the first time Earthforce had ships that may just be capable of fighting off the massive ships that were assaulting their homes and people. The crews were ecstatic at the thought that their ships were now a match for the hated Minbari.
"Daedalus to Achilles, all ships sytem check out. We've got a few blockages in the railguns, but everything else works."
"Achilles to Daedalus. We've noticed, our systems are pretty much back to spec as well. Looks like we've both got something good out of this."
"Indeed Achilles, we're returning to Durani Base immediately, you want a tow this time?"
"That would be much appreciated. We're not quite used to hyperspace steering yet."
"No-ones really got the hang of it Achilles, hold tight we'll have a tow line to you in a few minutes."
"Got that Daedalu. Achilles out."
"XO, launch two of the Starfuries have them attach tow lines to the Achilles and ready a report to Durani Command, scanners operative, unknown. If Minbari ships can be seen. Immediate follow up needed."
"Aye, Sir."
Two small fighters launched from the hanger of the Hyperion cruiser. Spinning around to the rear of the vessel they clamped onto several large metal cables and reeled them out to the Prometheus class warship. As they closed the smaller ship pulled away and swung one hundred degrees on its axis.
USAF Achilles
Same time.
The crew were watching their consoles going about their usual duties as the commander and executive officer watched the Daedalus launch a few fighters from it's onboard squadron. At the same time coils of cables were unrolled from the rear of the Hyperion cruiser and grasped by the cross shaped fighters.
Simultaneously, a small signal was received from somewhere on the fringes of the Achilles' scanners, the signal was repeated and then stopped. Seconds later the signal was increased and the scanners got a lock on the vessel that was sending it.
Minbari.
A Minbari Flyer that was scouting the area.
The Achilles spun around pointing it's fore towards that area startling the two fighters that were still closing, the Achilles started to move faster to make the attempt to catch the Minbari ship before it could get away. The flyer saw them and power up to move away sending distress signals as it went.
"Sir Minbari ship is sending distress signals."
"Can you jam it?"
"Yes Sir….ECM going active-jamming all enemy frequencies."
"You think they saw everything, Sir?" asked Davis.
"More than likely, get on the horn to the Earth Alliance ships tell them possible incoming Minbari warships."
"Aye, Sir."
"All hands Battle Stations."
The ship went into full combat alert. The ship's weapons systems that were not already primed for combat were brought online and readied. The five fighters of the depleted wing were set on standby and finally the ship's shields went fully online and ready for combat. Fortunately, unlike the last few battles fought by the Achilles, the ship's shields were fully powered and in full working order.
The flyer was steadily making it's way away from the system toward the heliopause just outside the orbit of the last planet. It was fast but the Achilles with it's own technology was slightly faster and was steadily catching up.
"Something's not right here."
"Major?"
"That's a single pilot craft out her in a system which should have no one here. It's outgunned and it has no chance of outrunning up, what's more the system's jumpgate is one hundred degrees from its current course."
"So why is it running into deep space?"
"It's a trap, helm turn one eighty and get us out of here."
The agile and fast warship practically spun around and pushed its engines to full sprinting back to the rest of the ships in the task force, its communications screaming that the Minbari were on their way into the system. The three Earth Alliance capital ships responded in turn to the about turn of their ally, every weapon came into instant readiness while their enhanced scanning systems started combing the area. The entire flight contingent of the ships came streaming out of the warship's hangers, mostly the Aurora class Starfuries with a few other variants that Earthforce was using.
The Achilles pushed it's acceleration to full making an attempt to get closer to it's allied vessels. Behind them a half dozen jump points opened in response to the flyer's transmission. Through the points came a veritable fleet of Minbari warships; a half dozen Sharlins backed up by almost twenty other ships of differing kinds, then the biggest ship arrived.
Shala Fi
Shargotti Class Combat Refit
Same time
The Shragotti looked much like the Drala Fi, however this one was slightly modified from the basic Shargotti type. Like the 'Blood Of Dukhat' had been this ship was a refit- one set up for heavy combat, something that was overkill against the humans but was right for the oncoming Great War. Combat against a warship capable of fighting them would be a good test of the advanced warship's capabilities, more so with the human's defensive shielding. The three Earth Alliance Ships would be of no match to the forces, but they would be of some sport for the Minbari ships while the Shargotti and it's entourage destroyed the unknown ship. This 'Achilles' that was responsible for the death of so many Minbari at the battles they had fought.
The Shai Alyt of the assault fleet was one of the best the Warrior caste had since the crippling of the Drala Fi and the death of the honored Satai. The warriors were still angered beyond what the Minbari people had been after the death of the greatest of them all.
In response to that the warriors had posted sentries in every system in the area around Durani base in order to catch the Achilles and any ships that arrived with it. Now it seemed that plan had come to fruition as one of the flyers in the captured Earther systems had sent out a signal giving the warrior notice that the new ship was in system. Consequently the entire fleet had jumped into the system to face and destroy this abomination to their race and to have their vengeance against these allies of the barbarian Earthers.
"Shai Alyt we have the Achilles on scans with several Earthforce ships supporting her. The Earther ships have some modifications to their systems but not enough to harm our ships."
"Good, all ships are to head for the Earthers and destroy the ships, have our escorts come with us. We will destroy the Achilles and take what we want from the wreckage."
"At once Shai Alyt."
USAF Achilles:
"This could have turned out better," said Taylor as her ship screamed out of range of the Minbari fleet.
"Sir, we've got multiple enemy contacts in system and they are heading for the Rendezvous with the Daedalus."
"Ship strength?"
"Twenty four ships, reading Sharlin, Tinashi and another of those flagship class things."
The crew knew of the strength of the Minbari Flagships as even with the immense damage caused to the ships of the attack fleet during the battle a week ago. The big ship has survived multiple impacts from half a dozen weapons systems and still got out of the system alive and functional.
The original ship had been 'seen' before and was believed to be one of the most advanced and capable cruisers the Minbari had. The lucky survivors of numerous task forces had spoken of a giant ship that all but wiped them out single handed.
"Ready Missiles and railguns, transfer all hyperdrive power to the shields and main gun."
"Aye, Sir."
"Colonel the Daedalus just got off a distress call to Durani station, if they get it we'll be an hour from reinforcements."
"Then we just have to stay alive that long, contact the Alliance ships tell them to head away from the Minbari at full burn maybe we'll be able to get to the Jumpgate before they do."
"Aye, Sir."
"Sir the alliance ships hyperspace engines are still recharging after the power dump, we might not get out at all unless we get to the gate."
"I'm aware of that Major, we'll let the Alliance ships get out of range then double back and hit the Minbari from long range, have weapons put a full load of enhanced nukes in the launchers and set them for proximity detonation."
"Aye, Sir."
"Sir Daedalus acknowledges, all ships are heading for the system's jumpgate."
"Roger that, ready all fighters with full anti ship combat load and put them on hot standbye."
"Aye, Sir."