Chapter 6

Courtor Sector

"A lock-on anytime now would be greatly appreciated, Melenn!" Dukain shouted.

Shak Nali Melenn, the Minbari War Cruiser Brigain's first officer, who, even in the midst of the chaos of battle, held her head with its intricately carved crest high, stalked over to the weapons station and shoved aside the nonresponsive body of the weapons officer who'd been struck by a burst from an exploding power relay near his console. As she narrowed her eyes to scan the readouts through the acrid smoke, Melenn's hands flew over the console, her fingers a blur of motion. "I cannot compute a firing solution, Shak Na. The aliens' shields are blocking our scans. Even worse, the smaller alien ships appear to fade in and out on our scanners!"

Dukain grimaced at that bit of bad news. "I need ideas on how to target those ships, people, and I need them now!"

"Sir," his lovely Worker caste science officer, Tak Nali Srikenn said, "perhaps if we have the entire task force emit a steady stream of tachyon pulses, we may be able to locate the enemy vessels!"

Dukain smiled grimly at the young woman. He could always count on her. "Excellent, Srikenn! Make it so."

As she hurried to do his bidding while the healer rushed onto the bridge to treat the fallen weapons officer, the captain of the Minbari War Cruiser Brigain stared at the holographic image of the battle laid out before him and tried not to reveal the fear that had gripped him to his crew. Was it not only yesterday they'd been briefed by the captain of the Tinashi war frigate Bright Wing, a member of the Blood Knives clan, one of the untamed,that the local Centauri commander hadn't seen any signs of unusual vessels or Human activity in the area during the past few weeks?

Now, his squadron was neck deep in unusual vessels! Even more disturbing, these unusual vessels were not the saucer-and-cylinder shapes associated with the Federation Humans. Instead, they appeared to be the raptor and wide-body-with-long-neck ships of the supposedly bestial allies of the Humans from the other side of the galaxy.

An hour before this engagement had begun, his small task force had responded to a distress call from one of the two outposts near Centauri territory. When the war had begun with the Earth Alliance, his people had fortified both outposts. Indeed, one of them had grown from less than a dozen people to almost three hundred. Moreover, the Minbari had added scores of tachyon-sensors and hyperspace detection buoys to help protect the area.

However, when they had arrived at Outpost 2, they found it had been completely annihilated. As the task force had prepared to initiate an investigation to determine what had happened to the facility, they'd received frantic calls for help from a small convoy that had leased the use of the nearby Centauri jump gate. Moments later, his squadron had performed a micro jump and found itself in the middle of a killing field. Right before their very eyes, one of the small transports simply had flared up and vanished. Immediately afterwards, another one of the convoy vessels had blossomed into flame and died.

To Dukain's utter amazement, their scanners had recorded a sudden influx of attacking vessels all around them. Srikenn hadn't even detected any jump point openings whatsoever! However, in the distance, she did record the presence of three Centauri Vorchan class cruisers apparently monitoring the situation from their side of the border. His confusion then turned to alarm as he witnessed several of the fast moving, olive drab vessels turn from the merchant ships to face his two Sharlins and six Tinashis.

"Shak Na!" Srikenn's shout snapped the captain out of his reverie. "One of the large alien ships just launched a fast-moving object!"

"It's headed right for us!" Pilot Talenn announced, his baritone managing to cut through the din of battle.

"Talenn, hard to port," Dukain ordered as he internally scolded himself for allowing his mind to wander at an inappropriate moment. "Melenn, fire interceptors, maximum dispersal!"

The Brigain veered left, then suddenly lurched from a violent explosion. Everyone tumbled.

Srikenn picked herself gingerly off the floor and stumbled over to her sensor console. "Sir, we have minor hull breaches on decks seven through nine. Structural integrity is down to seventy percent but its holding."

"Talenn, give me flank speed! Take us right down their throats! We must burn through the alien ship's sensor void if we hope to survive this!"

As his ship closed the distance, one of the smaller alien ships had fired heavy pulse weapons from cannons located at the tips of each of its wings and gutted a hapless transport in its midsection, instantly destroying the merchant ship. However, the gunboat was so intent on her prey, she didn't see the Brigain close to attack position.

"Shak Na," Melenn screamed, "The tachyon pulses have locked onto the enemy vessel!"

"Good work, Shak Nali!" he muttered. "Target it with everything we've got! Fire!"

The Brigain unleashed a blistering barrage of antimatter, neutron, and fusion beams into the raptor ship. The electronic blister surrounding the vessel flared for three or four seconds before it collapsed, exposing the vessel's hull to the destructive energy. Moments later, the enemy ship exploded into an orange fireball.

As his bridge crew cheered their first kill, Dukain had noticed the convoy had scattered. That was never a good thing as the merchants were unable to escape into hyperspace without the jump engines provided by their military protectors.

"Can we maintain a steady lock on those ships now, Srikenn?" He fervently hoped so because prior to the implementation of her tachyon pulse idea, they had had trouble maintaining a lock on. The raptor ships kept fading in and out on their sensors and most often appeared as voids on his ship's scanners.

"Just barely, sir, I believe—" Then she cut herself off with a gasp. "In Valen's name, no!"

At that moment, a small, fleeing transport had just been speared in her midsection. The smaller vessel didn't stand a chance as one of the raptor vessels overran her and pumped several emerald green pulses into the cargo ship. In turn, the raptor ship was being pursued by several of Bright Wing's Nial fighters intent on destroying it. Suddenly, though, the tables turned as the raptor vessel pivoted smoothly on its axis, accelerated violently, and in a matter of seconds wiped the fighters out of existence.

As his crew stood at their positions, stunned by the loss of the flight of Nials, the Bright Wing and another Tinashi had somehow managed to corner one of the larger enemy vessels and were trying their best to tear through the energy blister protecting it. Just as the enemy ship tried to flee, its shields collapsed. Then both frigates concentrated their fire and blew the ship from existence, but not before it had released some type of glowing missile that proceeded to cave in the front third of the Bright Wing's sister ship. The Tinashi, in turn, crumpled from the impact and exploded as her engines went critical.

It was at that moment Dukain realized that if he didn't help the merchants escape into hyperspace immediately, they might not escape at all. "Srikenn, open a channel to all vessels."

"Channel open, sir."

"This is Shak Na Dukain of the Minbari War Cruiser Brigain. All merchant vessels are to withdraw into hyperspace when we activate our jump engines. The Minbari War Cruiser, Valen's Tears and the frigate, Bright Wing, shall conduct a holding action while all other vessels escape into hyperspace. We are activating our jump engines now, so move!"

Suddenly, the Brigain ripped open a passageway into another dimension. As she held open the doorway, the surviving merchant vessels raced into jump space while the other Minbari War Cruiser and the remaining war frigate took up defensive positions in front of the aperture.

Seconds later, three of the enemy ships were visible and headed directly toward Valen's Tears eager for another confrontation. The War Cruiser obliged them and fired her weapons, all of them, at full power. Two of the vessels avoided the onslaught, but the third reacted too slowly and found itself smothered by Tears' volley. The enemy vessel's shields and armor lasted three, maybe four seconds before the beams forced their way through, penetrating the front of the vessel and emerging from the back, shattering the ship in the process.

Suddenly, all of the Minbari vessels received an incoming transmission. As the image solidified onto their holographic apparatus, Dukain and his crew were greeted by maniacal laughter and a face that could wake the dead.

"Today IS a good day to die!" the knot-headed creature announced. "Now, Minbari, it is your turn to join our comrades in glorious death!"

At that moment, every Minbari in that area of space knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that these Klingons were both dangerous and insane! Rather than moving off to lick their wounds after losing a capital ship, instead, they eagerly rushed toward battle with both Tears and Bright Wing.

As the jump point closed, both Bright Wing and Valen's Tears turned rapidly, attempting to evade retaliation from the two large enemy vessels. Before they could activate their own jump engines, six missiles-at least that's what they looked like on the scanners- fired from the enemy vessels and headed directly for them. Some defensive counter-fire managed to strike one of the missiles, destroying it, but the others got through. The Bright Wing was hit by three of those hideously fast missiles and went nova a millisecond later. Valen's Tears fared little better as one of the missiles exploded close enough to burn off a drive fin and damaged the other. The final missile struck the massive War Cruiser dead center and cut her in half in a titanic explosion. Immediately thereafter, her singularity containment failed and the remains of the ship went the way of Bright Wing.

Moments later, the Brigain formed another jump point and exited from it, firing and striking both of the enemy craft before they could react. However, the warship was not there to engage the enemy.

"Srikenn, scan the area, quickly! Did any escape pods manage to deploy from our lost ships?"

The young woman shook her head sullenly. "I'm afraid not, sir."

As the enemy vessels accelerated violently and disappeared from both visuals and the scanners, Dukain snapped his next order. "Activate jump engines, Talenn! Get us out of here!"

Nanoseconds later, the Brigain created a new jump point and left the area in record time, and not a moment too soon. Both enemy vessels had returned and fired more of those missiles after the fleeing warship. Fortunately, the jump point closed right before the missiles could reach the Brigain.

Now, safe in the bosom of hyperspace, Dukain's entire body still continued to shake. His proud and, at times, arrogant first officer stood numbly near the weapons console, her eyes unfocused. His gentle science officer, Srikenn, whose reverence for life, in all its forms, had always managed to humble Dukain, struggled to hold back her tears.

"Talenn," the captain forced himself to say without allowing his voice to tremble, "set a course for C'hara at the best speed of the convoy."

"Yes, Shak Na," Talenn said.

As the Brigain moved to the head of the convoy, Dukain reflected on the fact that they had managed to destroy three enemy vessels. However, they'd lost a War Cruiser and two war frigates; more importantly, they'd lost the lives of many beloved comrades. Moreover, they'd lost an outpost and nearly half of the convoy to the debacle as well. A grimace formed on the captain's face then. The blame for this mess squarely belongs on Shakiri's shoulders! Dukain raged inwardly. If the Shai Alyt had not wrongly attacked the Humans on the other side of the galaxy and their allies, the Klingons, Dukain's task force would never have had to face the dark aliens.

The captain determined right then and right there that his report on this engagement would accurately describe the speed of the enemy vessels and reflect the inefficiency of their own stealth fields and armor. His report would also tell the nightmarish tale regarding the acceleration and destructive capacity of the enemy's missiles. Finally, the cloaking capabilities of the enemy added substantially to the difficulty of engaging the brutes in combat. Unless his people could find a way to improve their own stealth fields and counter the enemy's speed, sensors, and weapons, the Minbari were headed for disaster.

But that was a task for another time. For now, he had to try and heal the scars suffered by the members of his crew.

"Tak Nali Srikenn, you did well. I'm so very proud of you. But you've been injured." Then he turned to his first officer and said, "Shak Nali Melenn, please escort Srikenn to sickbay. While you are there, have the healer see to you as well."

"Yes, Shak Na," both of the women murmured as they turned to exit from the bridge.

#

EarthDome

"General Hague?"

When Tynen heard a young woman's voice calling for the EarthForce flag officer's attention among the low-level din of the various conversations going on after the President and the ambassadors had rejoined them for refreshments, he suddenly found himself confronted by a virtual goddess.

"Yes? Oh, Captain Tynen, Commander V'Lar, and Commander Klagh, this is my attaché, Lt. Commander Elizabeth Lochley. Elizabeth, the captain and V'Lar are with the Federation and Commander Klagh is a Klingon."

She nodded crisply to both of the Federation officers and regarded Klagh warily. "Hello."

"Greetings," V'Lar said.

"Commander," Tynen said, trying to sound calm and collected.

"Hello new Human," Klagh said with a vicious smile.

Looking somewhat unsettled, Lochley turned to the general. "Sir, we've just received word from General Lefcourt that the Achilles and her Federation escorts have led the evacuation of all personnel and equipment from Proxima III. Our ships are now in hyperspace proceeding to Wolf 359."

"That's splendid news, Elizabeth! Finally, it seems lady luck is starting to break our way," the general observed.

Just then, Tynen's communicator trilled. "Excuse me," he said and flipped open the device's antenna grid. "Tynen here."

"Captain, this is Frost. Sir, we're receiving a subspace transmission from the USS Lincoln. It's Captain Spock. He says he'd like to speak to you and the EarthForce leaders together."

Tynen shrugged. "All right, lieutenant. Stand by." Then, as he placed his officer on hold, he turned to the general and asked, "Sir, do you have one of our subspace communication devices installed in this room?"

The general nodded at him. "Why, yes we do, captain. Why do you ask?"

"Ambassador Sarek's son is trying to contact us and has a message that would surely be of interest to both you and us. If you'd like, I can have my ship transfer the message here."

"By all means, captain," the general pronounced and showed them to the communication panel.

"Thank you, sir." Then Tynen turned to his wife. "V'Lar."

"Acknowledged," she said simply as she leaned over the panel and pressed several buttons. Moments later, she said, "Connection enabled, captain."

Suddenly, Captain Spock's saturnine face appeared on the large view-screen on the conference room wall along with the face of the Lincoln's first officer, Commander Saavik. "Greetings, Captain Tynen."

"Greetings, Captain Spock."

Spock simply nodded to him. "Captain, the purpose for this communication is to inform you of our progress in our operations against the Minbari and to impart valuable intelligence Commodore Acaltha has gathered during his defense of the Jericho colony."

"That's good, captain. We have some of the military leaders from the Earth Alliance here along with its President. Also, the ambassadors representing both the Federation and the Empire are here as well."

"Understood, captain. I shall endeavor to be concise. We have, in our assessment, been moderately successful in accomplishing our mission objectives."

Tynen cocked an eyebrow at that. For a Vulcan to say something like that, things must be going awfully well.

"Admiral Kirk's squadron neutralized three of the Minbari's forward bases four days ago. Earlier this morning, we attacked their midrange colony base in the Chara system. Fortunately, we suffered no casualties on either occasion. The Minbari, however, have lost a total of five of their War Cruisers and three of their war frigates, along with the military space station that formerly orbited Chara III."

Hague's eyes shot wide open at this bit of news. "C-captain S-spock!" the man sputtered. "Are you saying you destroyed eight Minbari capital ships without suffering any losses?"

"Yes, sir. That is indeed what I had just said," Spock confirmed. "At the moment, their defenses appear to be in a state of disarray because they have no idea how fast our ships are under warp speed."

"Captain," President Levy asked, "did the Minbari suffer many casualties during your raids?"

Spock shot a quick glance at his first officer who responded to the question. "Yes, Madame President. Our estimates total the number of deaths to be approximately fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-three lives."

Levy shuddered. "Fifteen thousand…dead? Oh Lord…I never wanted that," she expressed in a haunted whisper.

"Better them than us," Lochley muttered lowly.

"Captain Spock," Tynen prompted. "You also mentioned you had important intelligence to pass along?"

"Indeed," the Vulcan said. "During Commodore Acaltha's successful evacuation and his subsequent defense of the abandoned colony, his small squadron defeated four Minbari war frigates and managed to capture most of their crew. The Klingon contingent attached to the commodore's command interrogated the prisoners and determined that their vessels are extremely vulnerable to tri-cobalt devices. Apparently, tri-cobalt explosions fracture subspace to the point that hyperspace becomes extremely unstable. Furthermore, the subspace nature of the device affects the quantum singularities that serve as the power source for Minbari vessels, to the point that the ship may lose containment and suffer a catastrophic core breach."

Tynen whistled lowly at that. "Wow…that IS good to know. I'll make certain to pass that information along to both Admiral Tapin and Brigadier Kerla."

Spock nodded then continued his report. "Also, during their interrogation of the prisoners, the Klingons discovered that the Minbari may be a client race to an advanced race they refer to as the Vorlons. These Vorlons, apparently, may be on the order of the Melkotians or Medusans. They appear to be restricted to physical existence in corporeal form so they are not as advanced as the Thasians, Organians, or the Metrons. Additionally, there was some mention of another advanced race that is counter to the Vorlons known only as the 'Shadows.' The Minbari consider these Shadows as the enemy to both the Vorlons and the Minbari."

"That's quite interesting, Spock. What does my old war college professor intend to do now?"

Spock graced him with a dry look. "He appears to be quite comfortable within the environs of Jericho, captain. So we sent two Klingon warships and five Federation starships that had left the Alpha Quadrant a day behind the expeditionary force to supplement his defense and draw in more of the Minbari fleet to engage him there."

Tynen pursed his lips at that. "That's a dangerous game he wants to play."

Spock nodded. "I believe Admiral Kirk concurs with your assessment."

Tynen nodded and grinned at the screen. "Commander Saavik…you look like you have something you're just eager to share with us!"

She shot a look of mild befuddlement at Tynen. "I do not believe so," she insisted. "I assure you I am experiencing no untoward emotions of any kind whatsoever."

In response, Tynen's wife, who was by his side, sighed resignedly, "Saavik, do not encourage my husband's misplaced attempts at humor. Simply tell us what you wish for us to know."

The other woman cocked an eyebrow at them and almost smirked as she said, "Very well. We also received a report from Captain Silva of the USS Mako. He informs us that he has contacted the Narn homewold and its government. He has given them our general message to stay out of the war between us and the Minbari. He has also introduced them to the Federation, the Empire, and to the information concerning duplicate Earths. Suffice it to say, they were skeptical. However, he also offered to have the Federation discuss providing them with terraformers and other equipment to repair the damage inflicted upon their world by the Centauri."

Sarek nodded and said, "Excellent. Captain Silva has performed a great service for us this day. Now, when we approach the Centauri Republic and they know we have established good relations with the Narn, they may be willing to cooperate with us in regards to the use of the warp conduits."

Although everyone in the room seemed quite pleased with the report so far, something in Spock's posture raised an alert in Tynen's mind. "Captain Spock…is there something more you need to tell us?"

The Vulcan legend nodded. "I am afraid so, captain. During an attack on a Minbari outpost near the warp conduit, General Kor managed to destroy the facility as well as most of a convoy of Minbari merchant vessels. However, during that engagement, his forces came under attack by Minbari warships answering the merchants' distress calls. Kor's forces managed to destroy two more war frigates and a War Cruiser; however, he lost two D-7 battlecruisers and a B'rel Bird of Prey."

"Qu'valth!" Klagh barked loudly.

"Indeed," Spock agreed humorlessly.

"Meanwhile, Commodore Kriyss led his small fleet of seven ships to rescue the colonists in the Leonis cluster. When they arrived, they only found thirty-six Human survivors. Apparently, the Minbari had eradicated most of the Humans and left a token amount alive to serve as 'bait' for their trap. While in orbit above one of the colonies, the commodore's ship, along with two Miranda-class escorts, was attacked by fifteen Minbari warships. Although the commodore's ship escaped destruction, it suffered moderate damage. However, the two escorts as well as another Miranda that had dropped out of warp to affect a rescue of the commodore's vessel were destroyed."

"My god," Tynen whispered. "There were three hundred and fifty people on each of those ships!"

"Captain Spock," V'Lar said out loud while she reached out with the bond she had with her husband to share his grief, "which ships were they so I may inform Admiral Tapin upon his arrival."

"They were the DeFlores, the Odysseus, and the Valiant, Commander V'Lar," her cousin answered.

Although Tynen didn't really know anyone from the three ships, he still felt their loss. The expeditionary force had already begun to pull together into a tight nit little fleet. The general feeling they all had had, even the Klingons, was that every ship and crew there must have been such a pain in the ass to the-powers-that-be that they'd all been sent in the first wave in the hopes the Minbari would do the brass a favor and kill them all off.

Now, in the case of six ships, the brass apparently had gotten their wish.

Now, he returned his attention to what Spock had to say. "Now that the commodore only has four ships remaining in his group, we may need to attach his command to General Kor's."

"Captain Spock," the general asked. "How many Minbari vessels did the commodore's fleet manage to destroy?"

"We believe they destroyed eleven ships, General Hague."

"Eleven ships!" Hague snapped. "You people are unbelievable! In the past, we've been lucky to destroy a single one of their ships during an engagement! Yet you people have destroyed twenty-six of their vessels in the last few days while losing six and you feel badly about that?"

"Actually, Spock, V'Lar, Sarek, and I never 'feel' badly about anything because Vulcans are incapable of experiencing that emotion, general," Saavik said. "That said, it is true we do not look upon this outcome as a triumph. For the moment, our numbers are small. The Minbari can afford to lose ships at a five-to-one ratio with us. We cannot. Another problem we face is the possibility that the Minbari have captured survivors from one of the lost ships and have interrogated them. If that has occurred, they may have gleaned valuable intelligence about our current numbers and capabilities."

"So, in that case," Tynen muttered, "if they're smart, they'll be coming soon for Earth loaded for bear."

"Although colloquially spoken, I cannot fault your logic, my husband," his wife noted with mild bemusement.

"That," Spock said with an air of finality, "concludes our report, ladies and gentlemen."

Tynen nodded. "Thank you, Captain Spock and Commander Saavik. Please pass along my regards to Admiral Kirk. In the meantime, watch one another's backs and be careful out there."

Spock nodded elegantly to him. "We shall endeavor to do so, Captain Tynen."

Then both V'Lar and Sarek said, "Spock and Saavik, may you both live long and prosper."

"Peace and long life to you, father, cousin, and my cousin's husband," he said to Sarek, V'Lar and Tynen.

"Peace and long life to you all," Saavik said to the rest of the people in the conference room.

"The Lincoln out," Spock said. Then the view-screen went dark.

#