I don't own Babylon 5.
Leave feedback please, I was hoping to update this at the start of November, but thanks to the glitches afflicting the site I couldn't. Still, enjoy.
The Beginning of the Age of Raiders.
If anyone could describe the activity around Earth's solar system's colonies, it would be pandemonium. The evacuation of the human race from their colonies was hard enough, but the evacuation from their ancestral home was even more difficult. The humans had been mining the hyperspace around their colonies, and Earth was no exception. At the same time, they were systematically destroying the jump gates, screwing up the beacon maps around the galaxy. With each gate destroyed, the navigational markers throughout the galaxy were having an immensely hard time compensating.
When the final gates were destroyed by the humans, it would likely take years, maybe even decades before those planets were rediscovered once more by any race who was either new to the interstellar platform or an experienced race altogether.
The combination of the mines and the destruction of the jump gates would likely make it decades before anybody even managed to reach one of the former human colonies. With that in mind, the humans had laid down booby traps in the local space and on the planets themselves. A recent innovation had been the development of the genetic detonator, a device which scanned the DNA of any sentient who came across them. If they were human, the device would not detonate. If not…. BOOM!
And the weapons connected to these detonators were fission and fusion, meaning the results would be very nasty and intolerable to the few who survived. The humans also cleverly realised some aliens might realise the detonators only worked on aliens, not humans and so they'd probably find a way of tricking them, and they came up with several ways around it. The first idea was to ensure the detonator read the entire DNA strand, and if it was even remotely out and there was this much human DNA, the detonator would still trigger the bombs. A second idea was to put in place a number of cameras hooked up to a computer, but that was impractical since human technology just wasn't resilient at this point in history to last unattended to for years.
Earth was no exception. The planet had been evacuated for weeks ever since Operation Exodus was put into effect, and everyday small fleets of ships left the planet and the local colonies, and they went through the Underspace to their new, but hopefully, temporary home until the war ended. At the same time, hyperspace was being mined, further and further out.
The President and the Senate had agreed on a plan with the Chief of Staff at Earthdome to detonate the mines and gates in Earth's home system and near the system to hide it better from their alien enemies. It wasn't a decision that was taken lightly; nobody with any sense would ever want to be turfed out of their own homes, and the human race was no exception. They hated the fact three alien races, two of which had been on amicable if uneasy terms with at times, were trying to annihilate them. While many in Earthforce wanted to use the Underspace to hit back hard against the Centauri, the Narn, and the Minbari, there were many who accepted the fact there was nothing they could do at this stage.
Earth technology was still pretty basic when you compared it against the likes of the Centauri and the Dilgar, never mind the fact Earth had been reverse-engineering captured if shattered bits of Dilgar technology into their own. There was no way they could take on the whole of the Centauri Republic, the Narn Regime, or the Minbari Federation in their current state.
In any case, many were waiting for the Minbari to attack. There was no sign of the Minbari so far given how fast the evacuation was going, beyond one or two blips. But they knew they were out there.
All that time the evacuation went on. Every day more and more humans were leaving their homeworld, perhaps for good. Many people, especially those in the government, kept up hope this evacuation would be temporary, that one day they would be returning home and everything would be going back to normal. In fact, many politicians who were taking advantage of the situation for their own gain were saying the evacuation was temporary, but at the same time there were thousands of people who realised this was the end, this was the last time they would ever see Earth again. This was the last time humans would proudly walk across their world, and their children's children would never live on the planet, look up in the sky, eat Earth food and drink Earth's water while breathing in Earth's atmosphere.
Many were understandably angry. They considered the whole mess the fault of Earthforce and the senate who had ordered the expedition to the Minbari borders despite all the aliens telling them it was not a good idea and the Earthforce division who'd panicked even if Jankowski, depending on your point of view, had reacted rightly since the Minbari scanners had blanketed the systems of the fleet, and opened their gun ports along the way which concreted the idea in Jankowski's mind the Minbari were going to attack.
There were riots. Protests about the evacuation. Unfortunately for them, the President and the senate had made sure Earthforce and the other groups responsible for getting their people off Earth and Mars and the inner solar system colonies used whatever means necessary to get everyone on the ships, and away from the planet. They were quickly stopped, forced into the transport ships until they were crammed in like sardines, but it was the best they could do. Many protested at their treatment, the colonists and citizens and many in Earthforce, but there was nothing they could do about it; ever since the war started, all of Earth's current resources were being put into the war effort with little focus on transports. They had been melting down cruise ships, passenger liners, to build new warships and fighters and immediately putting them on the front lines after a rushed trial period to make sure they were safe or repurposing them for war.
The discovery of the Underspace, of course, had changed all of that but unfortunately, the war production was still a top priority in order to address the losses faced against the Minbari, and now the Centauri and the Narn. Some transport ships had been built, and even some ships had been hauled out of the mothball yards, but they were risky to use given their age so they needed to be reconditioned. The good news was their journey through the Underspace corridors themselves would be shorter than the trip through conventional jump space, but the conditions of being crammed into the ships were horrendous.
And then the Minbari struck.
XXX
The colonies were on the outermost fringe of the Earth Alliance, very close to the outer rim. The colonies had been on full red alert ever since the Earth-Minbari war had begun, and the betrayal from both the Narns and the Centauri had only made the already terrified people living on those worlds even more paranoid. When they'd been told to prepare for the evacuation and the evacuation fleets would appear soon in order to guide them to the promised planets, but it would take time for them to arrive.
The planetary populations had read between the lines. Earth was focusing more on the more important worlds rather than focusing on them; their worlds were on the outermost fringe of the Earth Alliance. They were miners, farmers, people like that. Their worlds didn't produce as much of the ores the Alliance needed. But they weren't that worried - their military and the strategic values were non-existent, but their distance and their position in the galaxy made them unattractive for now for the aliens. The Minbari were focusing on the chunk of the Alliance in their sights, the Narns and the Centauri, knowing better than to get on the wrong side of the much older Minbari, didn't even try to oppose them, so they went to the sides in order to avoid conflict with one another. And it had paid off for the two races; the Narn had gotten hold of several human Earth-like planets and moons which would be colonised soon and used by the Narns, a plethora of minerals for the great Narn military, who'd use the resources to develop weapons while seeing if they could adapt human technology left behind in the flotsam for their own use. While human technology was at their level, the Narn knew the humans' knack for invention, and their ships likely had features their own lacked. And they had rotational gravity, that would be something they could use to address some of the gaps between them and the Centauri. Anything, any piece of technology could prove of great use.
The Centauri weren't concerned with that, although they were pleased that once more they were taking to the galaxy again and expanding their empire and its territory once more. They had already profited greatly, their slave markets were now brimming with human slaves although a few in the Centaurum were concerned the Minbari, in their desperate bid to bleed the universe until the stars dripped with human blood, would turn their sights towards them.
But the outer and more distant colonies believed they had time. And they were now more than ready. They believed they had a great deal of time.
Unfortunately, it would prove to be a mirage.
It was believed it would take a long time for the aliens to be a threat, so the colonists believed they had enough time to evacuate. But no human - on those colonies or back home on Earth - even realised their strategic value had shot up.
The Minbari planned their attack carefully, and many of the pilots involved in this assignment were not best pleased they were going to be snatching a passing number of meteorites for cover over their attack. The Warrior Caste had wanted to go to the colonies, and eradicate them to punish the humans here for what they perceived to be the murder of one of their greatest generals, but the Grey Council overruled them. The destruction of the Minbari fleet in hyperspace and the death of Shai Alyt Brammer had only reignited the flames of the Minbari rage, and now many were calling for the extermination of the human race.
And then they were reminded of her weapons, and although it sickened a few of the Council to even consider using such horrible things, the destruction of the fleet was the key to getting a large number of the Satai's to vote for their use. Unfortunately, getting permission to use those terrible weapons was half of the problem. Finding a human world or ship to launch them on was completely different, the humans were pulling back to their homeworld, mining hyperspace as they went, blowing up their jump gates and the mines as they did, the explosions making it virtually impossible to accurately find the human words again. And while the Minbari were able to get through the mines, they knew they couldn't fire their weapons on them without an explosion taking place, washing them deeper into hyperspace. At the same time they knew if they flew through the minefields, they might explode anyway. So getting through was more difficult than the Minbari would like to admit.
The Grey Council had ordered the Anla'Shok to search through the galaxy for areas in the Earth Alliance that hadn't been evacuated yet, and the human mines hadn't been deployed yet. The Anla'Shok had done their work well, but it had taken them a while since the humans were evacuating so many of their colonies, causing so many gravitational waves in hyperspace with their nuclear explosives, and the destruction of the beacons had only made things work. It had taken the Anla'Shok a month to find a human world suitable enough for the job. Finally, they found not one, but a small number of colonies. They had laid down the groundwork; using the Worker Caste's resources in order to ensure they could not lose this small cluster of colonies, which was a bonus that was unexpected.
The Warrior Caste were led to the colonies, their commanders under orders to fire the weapons at the planets and then to return. They were told the weapons would cause more damage to the humans than their battles ever could in the long term. And while many of them didn't like what they were doing, any more than they liked how they did it by taking meteorites and infusing them with the weapons, they did it anyway. Parties of Workers in spacesuits put in gravimetric propulsion systems while others carefully loaded in the payloads before they carefully found ways of sending the meteorites into the atmospheres. The methods varied between opening jump gates in places unwatched by the humans, to firing them off into space.
They didn't leave until they used their gravimetric engines to send the meteorites went into the atmospheres of those worlds.
XXX
In a corridor leading to a room on a Minbari colony world, very few knew about, Satai's Coplann and Morann of the Grey Council walked in silence toward the room. Neither Minbari spoke, but if anyone was to see their features they would see the typical emotionless and highly disciplined facade common in Minbari society, but a Minbari would be able to tell they were trying to mask their disgust at being here.
Spotting a bored-looking Warrior guard, who saluted them, the two high ranking Satai's were allowed into the apartment. It had once been a typically serene room, decorated to Minbari standards. But now it resembled more of a laboratory, and while both Morann and Coplann were both Warrior Caste, they had been educated enough to understand basic biochemistry, but while they recognised several pieces of equipment, much of this was beyond them. But they were paying more attention to the figure in the room.
"Well?"
"We have managed to send the weapons you courteously provided for us into the atmospheres of a small number of human worlds near the edge of the galactic rim," Morann said.
The figure nodded. "While it would have been better if the weapons had been fired at a more heavily populated world, this will do just as well. It will just take time."
"When will the weapons work?" Coplann asked, directing the figures' attention to him. She was not a Minbari, her more fierce, more exotic golden yellow slit eyes made that clear.
She closed her eyes.
She had told the Minbari to go against their own leaders, told them to launch the bioweapons and end the war before it reached a point where the Minbari would never be able to reach the humans. When she had learnt what the humans had been doing recently, she had made it even more clear now the humans had a weapon, a means of escape beyond the pursuing Minbari's control they would need to use weapons like hers.
Of course, the Minbari with their arrogant belief in their own weapons and battle tactics had refused. They had told her it was dishonourable to use bioweapons on a species, made other excuses.
And now, because of the delay, the humans were leaving their colonies and making it hard to find them. She had to hand it to them, she would never have expected the humans to be bold enough to destroy their own gates. By now every race was cursing them, but she didn't care, and she knew the humans themselves didn't.
"That will take time; I used nanotechnology for their base, and they only work if their systems detect a large number of humans before they release the bioweapons which will kill them. The only drawback is for the weapons to work effectively, they need to detect a large number of humans," she replied, her tone uncaring for the mass genocide she had unleashed. "You will just have to wait, your patience will be rewarded. But then again you Minbari are used to being patient, are you not?"
Morann made a subtle grimace at the implied delay. "How many humans did you have in mind?"
The alien woman smirked, exposing the sharp points of her teeth. "I programmed them to release the viruses if they detected a number in excess of a billion humans. Those colonies, how many were there on them?"
"We don't know."
The woman shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Sooner or later the humans will go to those colonies and evacuate them, and when they do, then the entire species will be on the cusp of extinction. Do you know why the humans are taking so long evacuating those colonies?" She suddenly asked, and then she went on, uncaring about whether the senior Minbari answered her question or not. "Numbers. They have seen the population figures on their worlds, and they saw those small colonies your warriors have just released the bioweapons I devised for you weren't high enough to warrant an immediate evacuation until much later. On Earth, their population at the last count was 3 billion, on those colonies, there might be….100,000 humans. Maybe more. It doesn't matter, the outcome will be the same."
Unknowingly Morann echoed her earlier thoughts. "We should have used your weapons long ago."
"Then why didn't you?" She challenged, her lips curling into a sneer. "Oh yes, because some of you still believe yourselves to be righteous and honourable. When it will happen? When will you accept honour does not exist in war?"
The two Minbari stiffened.
She carried on, inwardly hiding her disdain for the Minbari. She wished she had gone to the Narn sometimes, they understood real warfare, but she'd known she could never go to them; she had experimented on many of their people, after all, and even if the Kha'Ri had decided the ends justified the means by accepting her, she knew she would likely be killed in her sleep. She hadn't wanted to live like that.
So she had come to the Minbari. She had never attacked them, and nor had her people. The Minbari were just too powerful, one attack and her people would be where the humans were now.
"But look at things now," she moved on, "I don't know how the humans have done it, but they are evacuating their worlds to ensure their survival, and they're doing it without you knowing it."
She wished she knew how they were doing it, but she didn't dare voice her theories since these two would never listen anyway so there was no point. Her first theory was the humans had been working on cracking faster than light in normal space; while many races experimented with such things, they soon realised it was pointless, so they didn't bother but that didn't mean the humans couldn't have found something that would help them.
"You two had better go, but keep me informed of any news; I will prepare another cache of weapons for your use if you get close to another human world again. In the meantime, wait for a few months or so before you plot a major offensive; the weapons you've just used on the humans could take time to take effect, their effects aren't instantaneous."
"You do not command us, Deathwalker!" Morann snapped, however, she knew they would follow her instructions given how she had briefed them on the effectiveness of her weapons, and if they wanted the human race exterminated they would need to wait until the humans on those colonies were exposed to others of their kind so they could get to work. And even the Minbari were not stupid or arrogant enough to discount her advice there since they knew those colonies were isolated.
Deathwalker, Jha'dur, laughed. "So they called me!" She laughed high and loud.