Chapter Three: Miss Communication
Captain Vladimir Puchenko of the USS Gneisenau had been assigned the task of studying the strange device found by the Mindanao and the Tarantul almost a week ago. Because of the circumstances under which it was discovered, the USS Udaloy under Captain Koral had been assigned to him as an escort. He hoped he wouldn't need the extra firepower and it seemed he was right. He had a science team pouring over the structure with a fine toothcomb and had come up with intriguing results. To begin with, the structure seemed to be made out of a very rare isotope of indium, which couldn't be replicated easily. How or why someone had come up with this vast amount of rare isotope was beyond comprehension. Whatever, this device did, it had to be worth the effort. It also seemed to be powered by a series of powerful fusion reactors with some impressive output. He had ruled out the probability of it being a communication array for that reason. Why would a communication array need that much power ... unless it was heavily shielded. That explained it. It must need all that power to shield it against attacks. That had to be it. That also meant that this was a military installation. There had recently been a major battle in this sector, so why hadn't the enemy just blown up this device? After all, it would only have taken a single photon torpedo to destroy the whole array as it was right now without any shields.
A very excited science officer rudely interrupted Puchenko's thoughts, "Sir, the device is powering up!"
"Raise shields! Helmsman, move us back ten thousand kilometers," he ordered, his eyes glued to the view screen. Suddenly, the device surged with intense power and then it ripped open a hole in the very fabric of space. It resembled a wormhole but was unlike any they had previously encountered. What happened next was equally strange, a fleet of ships that looked like giant angel fishes poured out of the wormhole and took up position in front of him as the device deactivated. "Hail them."
"They are not answering sir."
"Keep trying."
Captain Selan of the Minbari War Cruiser Teshkat had a worried look on his face. It had been almost 8 days since they had received a distress call from their colony in the Sh'lekk'tha star system near the Centauri Republic border. The description of the attackers they had received seemed eerily close to that of a shadow battle crab. If that was true, then his fleet of 5 Sharlin-class War Cruisers might not be enough. After all, no less than 7 Sharlins had defended the secret base. On the bright side, there was another fleet of five more Sharlins on their way and would be arriving shortly after his fleet. With that in mind, he ordered his ship to activate the jump gate and proceed to normal space. He was surprised by what greeted him.
As soon as all his ships had filed up around him, he hailed the ship confronting them. It was a small ship no more than 500 meters in length and of a design he had not encountered before. A single largish fighter escorted it. Upon closer examination, he noticed the ships name and registry boldly emblazoned across its dorsal surface. It read USS Gneisenau, NCC 63329. Damn Humans! He had never liked the Humans. What were they doing out here in Minbari space? Were they responsible for the attack on their colony? He doubted that. None of the younger races in their right mind would dare challenge the might of Minbar. But why were they not returning his hails? He was going to try one last time and if they did not respond he would evict them by force. Too bad they had already forgotten their humiliating defeat so soon.
"Sir, they aren't responding to our hails."
"Keep trying on all channels."
"They just scanned us with tachyon beams sir."
"They must be expecting cloaked vessels. Is the Udaloy cloaked?"
"No sir, she isn't cloaked. She is on our portside and has just closed rank with us."
"Keep hailing them. Lieutenant Edwards, what can you tell me about them?"
"They are about 1600 meters long with a mass of about 40 million metric tons. They seem to be powered by a single quantum singularity reactor and numerous fusion reactors. They are armed with various gravimetric and EM cannons and posses very thick armor, up to 10 meters thick, composition unknown. I do not detect any shield generators though."
"Are they dangerous?"
"From their power readings, I would say yes. However, I do not have any information on their sensors, countermeasures or maneuvering capabilities.
Captain Selan was getting impatient. He believed he had already given these humans enough notice. He was well within his rights to kill them outright. They were within restricted Minbari space and were caught snooping around a recent battle scene. He would have liked it very much but the religious cast would surely find his actions objectionable. He had to give them one last chance to retreat. "Fire a shot across their bow. That should get their attention," he ordered. What he had not counted on was the shields on the Federation ships. Instead of the shot passing harmlessly across the bow of the ship, it smashed right into the shields. Selan could clearly see the protective energy bubble flare as it absorbed the energy from their shot. What happened next was just as baffling. The ship that had been stationary moments ago was now accelerating at incredible speed as it maneuvered like a fighter. It was also firing back. When the first orange beam hit his ships, all hell broke loose. Wherever the beam made contact with the thick armor, it just burned right through. Crystalline armor designed to diffract beam weapons proved helpless against this orange lance of death. "Return fire, all batteries," he bellowed at the top of his voice.
Action report flooded the bridge as his fleet joined the battle. It wasn't going their way. The Va'Lath was the first casualty. The Earth ship first attacked it from long range with those nasty beam weapons followed by a pair of glowing orbs of light. He guessed it was a missile of some kind and it was traveling very fast, faster than anything he had seen before. In fact, it was too fast for unaided eyes to track and even the sensors could barely keep up with it. The first one slammed into the side of the Va'Lath and detonated eviscerating a large portion of the ship. It was followed closely by the second one that slammed, into the drive section of the ship taking out the quantum singularity drive. The resulting explosion was so violent that it lit up the whole area briefly in eerie glow. Selan however did not have time to ponder the incident. He was too busy directing the battle, trying hard not to end up like the Va'Lath.
Captain Tegath was in command of the Star of Minbar. He was a proud warrior having been involved in many battles, always the victor. When the fighting started, he was sure of the outcome but quickly realized this was no ordinary foe. True they were humans but they seemed to have acquired a new ship that was proving more than a match to their fleet of Sharlins. It was going to be a tough battle. He was concentrating all his firepower trying to bracket the incredibly fast moving ship when his ship was shaken to the core by a series of explosions. "What was that?" he yelled. "It's the other ship sir. They are firing on us." "The little fighter? Kill it," he ordered. But that was easier said than done. The capitol weapons on his ships were designed to fight larger ships not fighters. They simply could not track the small ship fast enough. His anti-fighter weapons on the other hand simply did not have the firepower. He cursed the designers for not having anticipated this as his ship was systematically taken apart.
Captain Puchenko was caught off guard by the first shot. He wasn't expecting to be shot at. Not yet anyway. But once the cards were dealt, he knew how to play the game. 'Evasive action, delta 2. Return fire at will," he barked. "Damage report Mr. Agusta."
"Shields down 17 percent sir. It was just a glancing blow"
Puchenko did not like that. They were right about the firepower analysis but what about the rest. Fortunately for him, the strange ships were not designed with speed in mind nor did they have any shields whatsoever. Phaser beams struck the unshielded flanks of the first ship gouging out deep gashes as the Gneisenau flew past the monster. They were quickly on top of the next ship, which was also raked by phaser fire followed closely by a pair of photon torpedoes. It proved to be very effective and blew away large sections of the ship putting it out of action. Suddenly, the ship jolted violently as they were bracketed by two of the enemy ships. Shields flickered for a moment as it tried to dissipate the energy. Luckily for them, it was not a prolonged burst; otherwise it would have taken down the shields. "Whoever said that speed kills had no idea what they were talking about," Puchenko chuckled throwing in a little bit of humor as the Gneisenau pulled out of the battle momentarily to give the shields time to regenerate after which it dove right back into action to support her sister ship.
Captain Koral was having a good fight. The big ships he was facing had apparently not been designed with this type of fight in mind. They were slow and proved to be easy targets while he himself was able to evade heavy counter fire. Already he had destroyed one and was working on a second when a "wormhole" opened up behind them and spilled more of the alien ships. He quickly counted them and realized there were too many to deal with. He hailed Captain Puckenko after which they retreated from the battle at warp heading for safety of the fleet.
Captain Minos of the Minbari War Cruiser Kantar was shocked when he exited hyperspace. He had received communication informing that Captain Selan's fleet was engaging some humans. He had expected it to be brief and decisive encounter. He was correct in that but to his horror; it was the Minbari who were on the wrong side of the equation. The hulks of two burnt-out Sharlins adrift in space greeted him. The remaining fleet wasn't fairing any better. "All weapons fire at will," he yelled incensed by the carnage. "Kill them." But it was easier said than done. He quickly found out that these humans were not so easy to kill. Their ships were so fast that they were evading most of the fire. Even when they did manage to hit them, contact was so brief that weapons did not have time to burn through their cursed energy shields. Suddenly, the two enemy ships pulled out of the battle and then simply seemed to vanish. It was only later that they figured out what had happened and it caused a lot of trepidation. What were these humans up to? Where did they get all these new technologies that shamed even the combined strength of 10 Sharlins? He would have to contact Ambassador Delen. He needed answers and fast.