CHAPTER 6
To say that Sheridan was overwhelmed by the last events was putting things mildly., As almost everyone in Earth Force, he had heard the news about the recent arrival of unknown aliens as well as their meeting with President Levy, but what he could never imagine was what was about to happen to him next.
A few minutes ago, a High-Ranking Earth Force Officer came and told him that those new aliens were considering the Earth Force request for help in the war, but since apparently the aliens did not know much about the Minbari they asked the presence of someone who had experience in dealing with them and Sheridan's name was mentioned.
Sheridan obviously said he would help in what he could and asked to where he should go to meet with the aliens, but the answer was that he should remain where he was for the next couple of minutes.
He did not understand why he should wait when time was of the essence due the imminent Minbari attack, but a minute later a tingling sensation began spreading through his entire body and everything around him began to fade away as if he was going to pass out. Then an instant later his vision began to clear up again and he found himself in a very different room.
Standing in front of him was what appeared to be a blonde-haired woman in a uniform that definitely wasn't Earth Force or similar to any other he had ever seen.
"Welcome on board the IKS Kahless, a Negh'Var class battleship from the Klingon Empire. I'm Cmdr. Elizabeth Shelby currently serving as First Officer of this vessel."
"A pleasure to meet you Cmdr., I'm Cmdr. John Sheridan, now do you mind tell me how in hell I got here? Just moments ago I was on Earth Force Headquarters." said a confused Sheridan looking around attempting to get his bearings straight.
"Didn't your superiors informed you that you were coming aboard our ship?" Shelby asked.
"Well … yes I was informed about that, but they obviously forgot to mention which transport method was going to be used, they just told me to wait. How did I arrived here anyway, did I passed out or something?"
"You were beamed here, but don't worry it's a common and safe proceeding." Shelby answered.
"Beamed, what is that?" Now an even more confused Sheridan asked.
"At the starting point your whole body was converted into an energy pattern at a quantum level, then transported by a beam and finally reconverted into matter on the destination point." Shelby answered.
"Bloody hell!" Exclaimed an incredulous Sheridan that began groping himself to be certain no parts of him were missing.
"Do not worry, as I said before, this is a safe proceeding and there was no time to transport you in a conventional manner. Presently we are heading to check three contacts detected at the edge of your solar system, if they turn out to be the Minbari, hopefully we will be able to call them to reason and avoid further deaths."
"My superiors told me I was to come here to provide you with Intel about the Minbari, so whatever you need I'm here for the whole nine yards." Sheridan said, and still despite Shelby assurances was still disturbed on how he had shown up here.
"Well, since we know next to nothing about them, anything you can tell us about how they think or their combat strategies will be helpful. Now please follow-me Cmdr." Shelby said, amused by seeing Sheridan still checking himself to be absolutely sure every bit of his body was where it was supposed to be, albeit now in a much more discrete way.
Then Shelby exited the transporter room and entered in a corridor followed closely by Sheridan that started to look around.
"So this is how the alien ship looks like on the inside, no much lighting is there?" Sheridan remarked about minimal lighting seen but now also realizing the existence of gravity.
"Yes, the Klingons believe in minimalism." Shelby answered.
"You said you are the First Officer of this ship but you look human, how can that be unless you only look human like the Centauri?
"To make a long history short I can tell you that I am as human as you. I'm a Cmdr. of the United Federation of Planets, an organization located at tens of thousands of light years from here. The Federation has many races as members, including us humans. My assignment to this ship is only temporary and under a protocol of exchange of officers so that Humans and Klingons can know each other better."
"That is quite short isn't?" Sheridan asked while giving a glimpse over his shoulder after noticing two aliens walking in a cross corridor.
"Are those guys over there the ones to whom this ship belongs to?" Sheridan asked pointing to the two Klingons.
"That's correct Cmdr." Shelby replied.
"Can't you at least tell me why you came this far and decided to help us when no other race did?"
"All your questions will be answered in time Cmdr., now there are more urgent matters to attend to." Shelby answered to Sheridan while the door leading to the bridge opened to let them in.
To Sheridan was like entering in another planet, the appearance of the alien bridge seemed more advanced than anything that he had seen before, but the most unsettling thing was all the seemingly menacing aliens looking straight at him as if he was some freak of nature. Shelby then addressed to alien seated in a chair at the center of the bridge
"Here is Cmdr. John Sheridan from the Earth Alliance as requested by you Sir." Shelby said.
"Good... please approach commander nobody is going to bite you." Korras said to Sheridan seeing that he was very tense, and began to laugh followed by all other Klingons in the bridge.
Then seeing that they were laughing at him Sheridan made a forced smile and approached Korras.
"It seems that your superiors think highly of you but I am not easily impressed as Cmdr. Shelby can testify, so tell me Commander, in your opinion how do you think that those Minbari will react to us showing up?" Korras asked Sheridan.
"Well Sir they have a of very enormous superiority complex and this makes them not very receptive to establishing relations with other races, so unless they perceive some other race as far superior, they will probably become hostiles if things don't go their way." Sheridan Responded.
"And what are their tactics when engaged in battle?" Korras asked.
"They are so much more advanced in comparison with everyone else that they normally don't bother with strategy, they just use their superior speed, weapons and stealth that protects them from being target and keep on coming until their opponents are steamrolled. The few times I saw them using some strategy is they luring their opponents to a predetermined area and using jump-point attacks."
"How does those jump-point attacks work?" Korras asked.
Sheridan was surprised with the question. How was possible a space faring race not know what a jump-point attack was. He then noticed a window situated in the front of the bridge showing them traveling not in the hyperspace but in normal space and if those streaks was seeing pass at high speeds were stars they had to be traveling at millions of times the speed of the light and by now far, far, away from the Solar System. However according to known laws of physics, that should be impossible.
"Sorry to ask you Sir but don't you know what a jump-point attack is?" A very surprised Sheridan asked.
"No, the data we acquired from the Brakiri doesn't have that proceeding described, so explain how it works Cmdr." Korras said.
"A jump-point attack is the opening of a jump-point on a pre-selected location after having lured their target there where the ensuing opening vortex to or from hyperspace ensures the destruction of anything in its radius. Even entire groups of ships can be destroyed using this tactic, the reason why Earth Force or other races generally never use this type of attack is because our sensors are not accurate enough to lock on any target from hyperspace or get close enough in normal space to use it." Sheridan described.
"Interesting, and what is the maximum distance in which this tactic can be used and how powerful is the energy released by the opening of a jump-point?" Korras asked.
"The maximum distance a jump-point can be generated from a ship as far as I know is about twenty kilometers, about how much energy a jump-point opening releases I don't think it was ever made an attempt to quantify it but in my opinion it goes in the thousands of megatons."
"That is indeed a strategy that must be dealt with, and what more weapons do the Minbari have? The Brakiri data is also very scarce in that department." Korras asked.
"Minbari ships have as their main armament Heavy Gravimetric antimatter projectors or slicer beams as we call it due their ability to cut through ships as a knife cuts through butter. Also heavy neutron cannons for long range of up to 20.000 km, medium neutron cannons for closer encounters of up to 12.000 km and finally, their secondary batteries for short range combat of below 7.000 km that consist of fusion beam cannons but as powerful as the main batteries of other races.
When both their main and secondary batteries are used, nothing can survive for very long.
For point defense they have smaller fusion cannons that are used for both anti fighter defense or larger targets if needed be and pulse beams mounts for only fighters but capable of destroying them in one-hit.
Our Intel also told us their ships also carry missile but so far we never saw them being used, so we are not certain of their yields.
"Lieutenant K'nera send this information to other ships." Korras ordered to the Ops Officer to which she acknowledged.
"Sorry to ask Sir but did you said other ships? I thought that you had only this ship. How many more ships do you have? " A surprised Sheridan asked.
"All in due time Cmdr. and now is not the proper one." Korras avoid giving a straight answer and Sheridan decided for now not to pursue the matter any further.
"Captain Marlok is confirming that those ships are definitely Minbari and asks for additional orders." K'nera informed.
"Tell him to keep on following them, we will be there soon." Korras answered.
Sheridan then addressed Shelby that now was near to him. "Cmdr., excuse my ignorance but those things shown in that window are not stars are they?"
"No Cmdr. what we're seeing are energized particles in space interacting with the boundaries of our warp field." Shelby replied.
"Warp what?" Sheridan asked.
"Warpfield is what we call the localized displacement field or bubble that warps the space-time continuum and causes a contraction of space in front of spacecrafts while expanding space behind them, effectively resulting in faster-than-light travel in real space but avoiding all the relativistic effects as is space itself that moves instead of the spacecraft." Shelby explained.
"Wow, Such method of travel is revolutionary how long did you discover it and how fast it goes?" An amazed Sheridan asked.
"From where we come from many races have discovered warp travel independently, for example: the Klingons have it at more than a thousand years but on my planet it was discovered by Zefram Cochrane at three hundred years ago. The speed at which a ship can travel depends on the ship itself or the area of space where you are traveling, but we can go as fast as several tens of thousand times the speed of light."
Sheridan's jaw almost hit the floor with the information that Shelby had just provided. If what she said was true, the Klingons were much more advanced than even the Minbari and now he began to question himself how powerful the Klingons would be regarding armament and what would happen if they could successfully help Earth against the Minbari to later on shown to be hostiles and turn against Earth. After all, until now they only knew what the Klingons had told them.
"Two minutes to intercept the Minbari." Toran at tactical said.
About the speed Shelby obviously was not exaggerating, they had left Earth in less than half-an-hour and they were already at the edge of the solar system while traveling in normal space. Sheridan thought to himself.
"Raise shields and prepare to leave warp at hundred and fifty thousand Kellicams from the Minbari." Korras ordered to Kajz at the helm to which he acknowledged immediately.
About a minute later Kajz informed that they were dropping from warp to impulse what caused Korras to order that they go to yellow alert, dimming even more the already dimmed lights of the bridge. Sheridan then saw that what he thought was a forward window in the bridge, was in fact a very advanced viewscreen which now was displaying a virtual representation of three Minbari ships and alien writing that he estimated was information being picked up by Klingon sensors and which didn't seem significantly affected by the Minbari stealth. Sheridan was certain that anyone in Earth Force would be capable of sell his soul to the Devil to have this kind of technology if given the chance.
"What is a Kellicam?" Sheridan asked Shelby.
"It's approximately two kilometers." She answered
Again Sheridan was amazed that they could scan the Minbari in detail from at least three hundred thousand kilometers away when Earth Force was not able to do that at even point blank range.
"Drop to one quarter impulse and hail them." Korras commanded.
-oOOo-
On board the lead Minbari ship.
"Alyt the sensors just detected an unknown ship coming our way and at a very high speed. They are hailing us." A Minbari said.
"Let me see it." The Minbari Captain ordered.
Moments later a holographic display was activated and all the Minbari in the Bridge could see the strange ship but that comparatively to a Minbari war-cruiser it was very small, so surely should not pose a challenge, nonetheless the speed at which was traveling certainly was an indication that was a somewhat advanced ship.
"Does our databanks have on record anything about whom that ship could belong to?" The Minbari Captain asked.
"No Alyt, nothing." Was the reply.
"What else can our sensor say about them?" the Alyt asked.
"Very little Alyt, I am detecting some sort of energy barrier surrounding that ship which is preventing us from having more accurate readings on them."
"Open our gun ports as a sign of respect and hail them." The Minbari Captain ordered.
-oOOo-
On board the Klingon Ship.
"Brigadier they are activating their weapons." Toran spouted.
"What? Power all weapons and prepare to fire on my command." An angry Korras replied.
-oOOo-
Location: Near the Centauri boarder.
"I'm detecting massive surges of energy half a light year away from us and also an increasing number of contacts appearing from nowhere at every second." A surprised Operations officer said to General Tanas.
"Tactical." Tanas ordered.
Immediately in the main viewscreen appeared the representation of hundreds of unknown contacts appearing from nowhere and its numbers were increasing continuously.
"Can we have a clearer signal?" Tanas asked harshly.
"The massive energy surges are causing too much interference but I believe that those contacts are ships exiting from multiple spatial anomalies." The Operations Officer replied.
"Plot an intercept course towards them immediately, so far they are the first sign of life in this cursed Quadrant, they may give us the information we need." Tanas said.
"General if those contacts are in fact ships then that is a very large fleet and we know nothing about them, we should proceed carefully." Worf Said to Tanas.
"Your life in the Federation made you soft Ambassador. You should try to recapture the Klingon spirit you seem to have lost, a true Klingon fears nothing, and in case you have missed, we also have a large fleet. Whoever his out there, they should be the ones to be concerned." Tanas replied to Worf.
"General don't mistake my caution with being soft, our mission is too important to risk it with unnecessarily actions." An angry Worf replied.
"You are not the one in command here Ambassador, I am and don't you forget about it…, set course immediately as I ordered." Tanas shouted to the Klingon at the helm.
Moments later the Klingon fleet changed course and started heading towards the new detected ships.
-oOOo-
Location: Remote Minbari Colony.
The destruction of the Minbari ship did not passed unnoticed and almost immediately all the remaining ships that were protecting the colony converged towards the unknown ship. Dozens of Nial fighters then began exiting from each of their mother ships and racing towards the incoming enemy with thirst of vengeance.
The Cube however continued its undisturbed course as if nothing had happened or as if nothing was about to happen, but seconds later a huge swarm of Minbari fighters started unleashing their weapons on the enemy that incredibly continued unfazed, seemingly not even feeling the attack or taking damage.
The outcome of their first attack certainly wasn't the expected, however the Minbari were not defeatists and with an increased resolve they initiated another attack run on the sinister cube, determined at not to stop until victory. However this time around, the attacking Minbari weren't met with indifference as before but with a devastating response of numerous green energy beams emerging from its multiple sides and hitting the Nials so swiftly that in less than a minute, of the initial number of fighters that had initiated the attack, less than a hand full were still valiantly fighting.
Meanwhile the big Minbari warships now having reached weapons range and seeing the almost complete annihilation of their fellow warriors, immediately joined the battle firing as much and as fast as theirs powerful weapons allowed. Unfortunately, the damage delivered didn't seem enough to even slow down the cube that seconds later also returned fire on the big Minbari warships with devastating effects
Inside a tall crystalline building on the surface of the planet and, through a holographic display, many Minbari were witnessing the continuous battle and horrified with what was happening. With an unimaginable ease Minbari ships were seen be torn apart everywhere. It was as if the mightier warships that the Minbari ever produce were absolutely insignificant before such an enemy. Minutes later the battle was over and only debris were now seen in the battlefield. Now the cube had reached the planet's orbit and from it a chilling message was broadcasted , it seemed like a million voices speaking simultaneously but at the same time was as if was a single voice, a dark metallic voice.
"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated and your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
Apparently, that message had been transmitted to the entire planet and soon in the streets thousands of Minbari were seen running in panic trying to enter in the first available or flyers that they could find in order to escape from this new enemy. Then in the middle of all those running Minbari, columns of shimmering light start appearing from thin air and began to coalesce into humanoid creatures with paled skin and wearing metallic prosthesis that covered many areas in their bodies, in the beginning they were dozens then hundreds and finally many thousands that began to attack any Minbari in their reach.
TBC