Dr. Franklin moved about the ward with practiced efficiency, trying his best to stabilize his patient, whose condition was deteriorating rapidly. He had already taken samples and was running a barrage of tests. So far, none had come up positive. That just meant that he had to run even more tests. In the mean time, his priority was to keep his patient alive and that was proving to be quite a challenge. The patient's core body temperature had risen rapidly, reaching dangerous levels, and all attempts to cool it down had failed, forcing him to resort to drastic measures. Blood had to be rerouted outside the body, cooled down, and re-transfused back into the body. It worked, but it introduced the possibility of further infections. Then there was the coma. Shortly after Captain Sheridan had been brought in, he had slipped into a deep coma. Thereafter, his breathing had stopped and he had to be ventilated. Dr. Franklin just hoped that there would be no more complications. He already had his plate full. This prevented him from noticing that Commander Susan Ivanova had stumbled in. It was only when she walked into a bank of instruments, knocking them to the floor, that he noticed her at all. He rushed over to help her and noticed how weak and delirious she was. With the help of some nurses, he got her onto one of the bio-beds and started examining her. The first thing he noticed was her unusually high temperature and shallow, labored breathing. He checked her blood pressure, which was dangerously low. Her pulse was erratic.
No sooner had he finished stabilizing Ivanova when another patient was rushed in and had eerily similar symptoms. There was a pattern emerging and Dr. Franklin could not miss it. He just prayed he was wrong. Unfortunately, he was right. As the hours passed by, more and more patient were brought in, slowly at first, but then the trickle turned into a steady stream. His hospital was quickly inundated. When a nurse informed him that there was a call for him, he almost snapped at her. "Who is it?"
"It's Captain Hiroshi," she replied. "Shall I tell her you are busy?"
He wanted to brush her off but then changed his mind. "Never mind, I'll take it."
Captain Hiroshi had been informed as soon as Captain Sheridan and Commander Ivanova had been hospitalized. She was the most senior officer remaining and it had fallen upon her to take over the reins. When she finally got a hold of Dr. Franklin, his prognosis was grim. What seemed at first to be unrelated incidents was turning out to be an emerging epidemic that was sweeping the station. His recommendation was to quarantine the whole station until they had a handle on the situation. That could take days, weeks, or even months. There was simply no way to know.
This was all bad news for Hiroshi, but she had even more pressing things to take care of. The massive Earth Force armada was still on its way. Now that the station was effectively incapacitated, she had to come up with a way to defend it with just the two remaining ships. No matter how much she tried, the math just didn't add up. Obviously, Captain Sheridan had had something planned but with him out of the picture, there was no way to know what it was. Damn!
"Captain, the jump gate is activating,"
"Is there anything scheduled for arrival?" she asked.
"No, not at the moment. We were expecting the freighter Ulysses couple of hours ago but she hasn't shown up yet. It might be her."
He was right, for as soon as the vortex formed, the freighter Ulysses jumped out. But all was not well. Captain Hiroshi could clearly see the ship venting atmosphere and trailing a field of debris.
"Babylon 5, this is the freighter Ulysses requesting emergency docking. We have had an accident on board and are quickly loosing life support."
"Ulysses, this is Captain Sandra Hiroshi. That's a negative. Babylon 5 is under quarantine."
"Babylon 5, our life support is already failing. The lives of my crew are at stake. I have to dock immediately."
Damn! This wasn't good. Reluctantly, she agreed. "Alright Ulysses, I am transmitting the docking coordinates. You may proceed at your discretion. Be advised, the station is quarantined and you will not be able to leave once you dock."
"Affirmative Captain. Thanks for allowing us to dock."
Lieutenant David Carlton couldn't believe how easy it had been so far. Their farce was working like a charm and they had been cleared for docking. But he was still on edge as this was only the beginning. Onboard the "stricken" Ulysses, a thousand fully armed GROPOs waited, ready to storm the station as soon as they docked. Anxiously, he paced the deck of the cargo hold, fidgeting with his blaster rifle. This wasn't the first time he had been in action, but it was hard thing to get used to. Finally he heard the clang of the docking clamps followed by the hiss of the docking bay doors opening. That was quickly followed by a several loud bangs as his GROPOs tossed concussion grenades at the waiting emergency rescue crew. A brief roar of gunfire followed and then silence fell. "That was quick," he thought. Obviously, the station personnel hadn't been expecting such a brazen boarding action. "D Company, move out now!" came the urgent order over his headset. It was time. He signaled his men to follow him.
With speed born out of years of combat training, Lieutenant Carlton and his "D" company rushed into the station. A quick scan of the area revealed that another company had already secured it, so they headed straight for their assigned target. Each person in the sixteen-man company knew the layout of the station intimately. The long trip from Earth had given them enough time to thoroughly go over the schematics of their assigned target. It also helped that they each carried a personal computer that had been uploaded with the station's blueprint for any contingencies. It was however unnecessary. Like a well-oiled machine they threaded their way through a maze of corridors. Whenever a guard or any other resistance was met, it was quickly and thoroughly dealt with. Nothing was going to get in their way.
Finally, they got to their target. It was a power substation that housed one of the numerous transformers feeding a large section of Blue Sector. He checked his watch. It was T minus two minutes. They had made it with plenty of time to spare. He switched on his radio, "D Company in position," he reported in.
"Roger that D company. Proceed on schedule," the reply came from command
"Roger that command," he replied, staring at his watch.
When the time struck, he gave the signal. With that, one of his men blew open the door which had already primed with explosives. Even before the smoke cleared his men rushed into the substation and spread out eliminating everyone they encountered. In less than a minute, it was all over.
"Command, this is D company. Objective secured."
"Roger that D company. Hold position."
A similar scenario played out all over the station, but not all of it went as smoothly. Intense firefights broke out between small groups of attackers and the defenders.
Lieutenant Crammer was the most senior personnel on duty at C&C. Normally, someone of his rank would not have been in charge, but these were not normal times. There was an epidemic spreading across the station and a large number of people had already succumbed to it. He feared that it was only getting worse. Two of the top commanding officers were among those that had been incapacitated. To make matters worse, the Earth Force armada was only hours away. How they were supposed to make a stand was beyond him. But nonetheless, he was a soldier and he would make a stand or die trying.
"Sir, we just lost power in several sections of Blue Sector and I haven't been able to raise anyone there at all."
"Not now," Lieutenant Crammer thought to himself. "Send someone down there to check it out," he ordered. But that wasn't the end of it. Several seconds later there were frantic calls from all over the station about firefights. Slowly a picture started to emerge. Heavily armed GROPOs were appearing out of nowhere and taking over vital areas of the station.
"Battle stations!" he ordered immediately. "Inform Captain Hiroshi that we have borders and get me station security." It was only then that it clicked in that he himself was likely a prime target. "I want all personnel in here armed," he snarled. "Now!"
The people around him were stunned for a moment but quickly understood what was happening. Some tried to figure out how this had happened but that was a task best left for later. Everyone hurried over to the weapons locker and armed themselves with whatever they could lay their hands on. It wasn't much but at least it made them feel a little better.
"Captain, its for you. Lieutenant Crammer from the station."
"What does he want?"
"He's screaming that they have borders."
That last bit threw Captain Hiroshi off for a second. "Did you say that they have been boarded?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Put him through."
The sight of a ruffled Lieutenant Crammer greeted Hiroshi. "Lieutenant, what's going on?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, we have been boarded. We don't know how yet, but there are intense firefights going on throughout the station. From what we can tell, they have already taken over several sections. We need help immediately. We don't have enough personnel to repel these attacks."
Her mind was racing a mile minute already. Between the two ships she had just over three hundred GROPOs. She could commit that to the station but once she did, they would have to be left there. For all she knew, it could even be a death sentence for all of them. Dr. Franklin hadn't been able to isolate the virus yet. But then again she did not have a choice. She had to secure the station at all costs. "Damn!" Where had they come from? But deep in her heart she knew the answer. The Ulysses was the only ship that had docked recently and because of the emergency they hadn't scanned her before she had been allowed to dock. She had allowed a Trojan horse straight into the station right before her eyes.
"I'll see what I can do, Lieutenant. In the meantime hold C&C at all costs. I don't want them taking over the whole station. Do you hear me?" she demanded.
A nervous "Yes Ma'am," was all she got.
Turning to the communication station, she ordered, "Open a channel to the Ulysses."
"Ulysses, this is Captain Sandra Hiroshi. Stop your boarding action immediately or I will open fire. You have ten seconds to comply." Turning back to her crew, she continued, "Arm main cannons. Target the Ulysses."
"Captain Hiroshi, this is Captain Harris Leon. You will do no such thing. Even as we speak my men are taking over the station and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Besides, I have a cargo of twenty ten-megaton nukes on board. You don't want them going off so close to the station, would you?"
Hiroshi was about to reply when she was cut off, "Then again, I think you have bigger fish to fry." He glanced at his watch, smiled cruelly, and cut the transmission.
Right on cue, the surrounding space started filling with vortices as the long awaited Earth Force armada spilled out. Captain Hiroshi realized that it was truly a checkmate.