Chapter 13
On board the IKS Kahless.
"Please don't interpret wrong what I'm about to say, but although understanding the reason of your anger towards them, to simply leave could prove to be a miscalculation, imagine that later turns out that they had information that we would have needed or than that…"
ENOUGH!" Korras interrupted Shelby's reasoning; the Klingon was so pissed off due to the petty Humans having doubted of his plan, that any argument that was contrary to his now made decision of cutting all the ties with the EA, only served to enrage him even more.
Not wishing to further upset an already enraged Klingon, Shelby promptly acquiesced and decided to drop the issue. "Alright, so as an alternative of where to find answers, I suggest we do it be finding who the owners of the organic ships that previously attacked us are and why they did attack us. Their cryptic words of "the circle must not be broken" certainly must have some meaning
"And why didn't you mention this theory of yours before?" Korras roared. "We wasted precious time with these Earthers, when we could have been searching for those organic vessels."
"Before, we both had agreed to pursue a different path, a path which to me still seems to be more appropriate. What I mentioned now is only an alternative that while not as appealing, is the only other thing that presently I can think of. If you have a better idea then I'm all ears" Shelby retorted.
Korras did not appreciate at all Shelby's somewhat snarky remark, even if he was somewhat impressed by her nerve. Nevertheless, truth was that he had no better ideas and hers made sense. "So any thoughts on were we should begin?"
"We can start by inquiring some other local races as someone is bound to know something. Maybe the Centauri or the Narn; who apparently are important races in this area of space." Shelby said.
"The main problem with that idea however, is that we don't have the resources to implement it. As you should remember, Q said that we were not going to have much time, and trying to contact all those races with the few ships that we have would take too long!" Korras exclaimed.
"I'm aware of that, Brigadier, but on my part I can't think of anything else." Shelby stated.
"Instead spreading all our ships to the four corners of the quadrant let's try out nearest sources first." Korras said with a grin.
"What sources?" Shelby asked with genuine interest, since she knew that no data that they had gathered so far would reveal any more than had done already, and the EA certainly would not help unless Korras changed his attitude and helped them back.
"The prisoners of course." Korras said to Shelby, as if that was the most obvious thing in the Universe.
"The prisoners? But so far they have shown to have a remarkable physical and mental resistance, not even Lieutenant Gorrod's "most vigorous" interrogation techniques were enough to force them to talk, why would be different now?
"Then it's time to use more effective procedures, and if that means that we have to empty their minds and converting them into vegetables, so be it!" Korras snorted.
"Sir, is that…, really necessary? Given the lack of knowledge that we have of Minbari physiology, the Mind-sifter may not be most suitable thing to use" Shelby tried to dissuade Korras.
"Are you questioning my decision Cmdr?" Korras asked menacingly.
"No Sir, of course not." Shelby conceded.
"Good, because the last First Officer that challenged me didn't fare very well. You're dismissed Cmdr." Korras roared.
Hours later, on the bridge of the IKS Kahless, Shelby seated in the command chair, heard the intercom coming to life.
"Commander, notify all captains that they are to come aboard for a council of battle, Korras out."
"Yes Brigadier, the order will be sent immediately!" Shelby replied. "Lieutenant k'nera, inform Captains, Kreen, Marlok and K'temoc that they are to come aboard for a council of battle."
Immediately, the Ops officer acknowledged and immediately transmitted the order which not surprisingly, it didn't take long for all the other captains to beam aboard the Kahless and present themselves in the war room.
"I ordered you all to come here because a changing of strategy is in order. First: we will start by departing from this soon to be doomed place as these humans have shown to be unworthy that a single drop of Klingon blood be spilled for them."
Immediately, all captains began to express their position on the matter, and if all had one thing in common, was satisfaction for Korras decision.
"SILENCE!" Korras shouted. "Second: In order to resolve our current dilemma, our new priority will be to find out who are the aliens that attacked us and why they did it as I came to believe that their actions towards us must be related with Q and his damned test."
"How did you reach that conclusion Sir?" Captain Kreen asked.
Korras answered, by activating a holographic display in the middle of the table. Then the image of the organic ships appeared, followed by the message that they had sent prior to the attack. "Go back." "The circle must not be broken, go back or you will be destroyed."
"After having listened to this more carefully, I'm now convinced that their attack was not as senseless as we initially thought and the connection is obvious. Therefore, we must find out who they are, and what it is that they don't want that we disturb. Then I believe that everything will become clear." Korras stated.
"And how will we do that, Sir?" K'temoc asked.
Korras then pressed a button in the in a panel in front of him and another Klingon entered in the room.
"Lieutenant, tell us your findings." Korras commanded.
Lieutenant Gorrod, the ship's Chief of Security gave a step forward and started his report. "At first the captured Minbari when facing physical interrogation, they proved to be very sturdy and resilient, clearly preferring death to betray their own kind. Therefore, the Brigadier decided that other procedures as the Mind-sifter were in order. At first the prisoners continued to show great resistance, but after reaching level five, their resistance…"
"Spare me the details and get to the point." Annoyed, Korras interrupted Gorrod's thorough explanation of how he had managed to break the prisoner's remarkable willpower.
"They consider themselves very honorable, the oldest of what they call the young races in this quadrant, and predestined to be their leaders. It seems that many millennia ago this area of space was inhabited by very powerful and advanced older races. They refer to these beings, as First Ones and their bulk is believed to have left the Galaxy, the only known exceptions are: a race called Vorlons and others called shadows, against whom they and the Vorlons fought a thousand years ago. Since their defeat, the Shadows were never heard again and the Vorlons become very reclusive and anyone who ever tried to enter their space uninvited disappeared and never was seen again."
"And that information is relevant, just how exactly?" An impatient K'temoc asked.
"Both the Vorlons and Shadows use living ships." Gorrod replied.
"So since the Shadows seemed to have disappeared, are you telling us that these "Vorlons" are the ones who attacked us?" Marlok asked.
"All present evidence points to that." Gorrod replied.
"What do you intend to do, Brigadier?" Kreen asked.
Korras immediately replied. "Given that we now know who attacked us, normally we would punish them greatly. But unfortunately since we don't have enough resources for that but they seem to be the key to solving our problem with Q, this is what we will do…"
Meanwhile in Earth's orbit, the EAS Heracles, a Nova Class Dreadnought was waiting for the arrival of its new captain and begin a mission that could very well mean the salvation of humanity.
"This is shuttle six seven four, we are bringing Captain John Sheridan, requesting permission to dock." The pilot said.
"You are cleared to dock, shuttle six seven four." The Heracles controller replied.
Minutes later the shuttle docked safely and the Heracles' First Officer, one Commander Elizabeth Lochley, welcomed the new arrived Captain.
"Hello Captain, congratulations for the promotion." Lochley said.
Sheridan was caught completely off guard by her presence.
"Elizabeth, certainly it's a surprise see you here." Sheridan barely was able to utter.
"I hope that you don't think it is a problem me being your First Officer?"
"Of course not, I'm just surprised, that's all."
With a crewmember taking Sheridan's personal belongings to his quarters, the two senior officers made their way to the bridge where Lochley officially handed over the command of the ship.
"Attention all hands, Captain on the bridge. Welcome to the bridge Captain, you have the command." Lochley said.
"Thank you Commander." Sheridan replied, and then continued. "What is our status?"
"A complete chaos Sir, the technical personnel is still working nonstop to install the new Minbari equipment. They were given only a few days to do work that normally would take weeks if not months to complete." Lochley informed Sheridan.
"That is not the worse part Commander, Earth Force Command wants that we leave immediately." Sheridan stated.
"WHAT? That is madness, neither the extra fusion generators nor the Minbari sensor/comm. array are even partially installed, much less operational." An appalled Lochley complained.
"Then we will have to get the damned things installed and into working order while en route." Sheridan informed.
"That is insane, we do not have enough crewmembers to simultaneously run the ship and install the equipment." Lochley replied.
"Of course we don't, that is why we are going to increase the crew to the necessary number to simultaneously do the job and run the ship." Sheridan said.
"And what is the necessary number? Currently there are thousands of them running around and even with that many they will be hard pressed to install all the stuff any time soon. And we definitely cannot take that many extra people aboard." Lochley stated.
"We will have to be creative then." Sheridan replied.
"I cannot wait to see how creative you can be, Captain." Lochley said sarcastically.
"As we speak shipping orders are being emitted and bunks are going to be installed in wherever there is space. We have orders to departure as soon as possible. There will not be time to goodbyes or to get personal belongings; extra supplies, uniforms and standard clothing for all are on the way. We are working against the clock here. The Minbari may attack at any moment, so every second counts." Sheridan said, trying to convey to all in the bridge, the urgency of their situation.
"In those conditions the ship will be almost ungovernable, systems are turned off so that others could be connected, technicians and crewmembers are getting in the way of each other, not to mention the stress that so many people stacked on top of each other will create." Lochley replied.
"Stress will be the least of everyone's concern if we aren't successful in this mission." Sheridan countered.
"And in these conditions how will we be able to enter in battle if a combat situation occurs, Sir!" Lochley said.
"Our mission is paramount Commander, and unless we can help it, going into a battle will be the last thing do consider." Sheridan explained.
"And what is our mission exactly?" Lochley asked.
"I will brief you as soon we enter hyperspace." Sheridan said.
Several hours later, the EAS Heracles started its engines, broke off from orbit and headed to open space where shortly after, opened a jump point and disappeared into the vastness of hyperspace.
-oOOo-
EAS Heracles Bridge.
"Ok it's time to put all the cards on the table. As you all know, several days ago a race never seen before contacted us and shown willingness in helping us fight the Minbari. They call themselves Klingons, and without losing a single ship, fought and defeated three Minbari warships that undoubtedly were scanning our defenses in preparation for their final attack. That by itself was an amazing feat, as the Minbari up until that moment used to be the top dogs of all known races. So it seemed that our prayers for help were answered, but unfortunately, a day ago, everything went downhill. The Klingon leader felt insulted and apparently decided to withdraw their offer of assistance." Sheridan said.
"What? Who was it?" Lochley asked.
"Who was what?" Sheridan asked back.
"Who was the jackass that offended the Klingon leader?
"It wasn't only one, but General Martel certainly had a big role in it." Sheridan replied.
"Great, first it was Jankowski that screw us, and now was Martel, what a bunch of fucking morons we have in command!" A bridge officer said in an outburst.
Sheridan gave him a very admonitory look, but in his heart, he didn't disagree much with the voiced statement.
"As I was saying, they apparently decided to withdraw their assistance, and until our departure they have ignored all of our attempts to apologize and reestablish lines of communication with them.
As many of you also may know, with them came a Human that belongs to a large interstellar government called the United Federation of Planets, which allegedly spans over eight thousand light years.
They are as advanced as the Klingons, thus it was decided to try to make contact with them. The Klingons originally came from the other side of the galaxy and arrived here through a wormhole. Our objective is to locate that wormhole and try to make contact with this Human Federation and ask for help.
I know that all this is a very long shot, but it is all that we have. I hope that with the more advanced Minbari sensors and comm. array, we will succeed in our endeavor. Does anyone have any questions?" Sheridan asked.
"Even with Minbari sensors, we're looking for a needle in a haystack; do we even know the approximate location of the wormhole?" Lochley asked.
"It is believed to be located in the Tigris sector, now I do know that that is very vague, but it's all that we have, thus let's hope it is enough. We will arrive there in two days, so you see how important it is that by then we have all systems running." Sheridan replied.
Meanwhile, above the EA Earth another ship broke orbit, it was the EAS Cerberus. As the Heracles, it also was a Nova Class Dreadnought.
-oOOo-
IKS Kahless Bridge.
"What do you think of that Cmdr? Only minutes ago, the ship that the humans refitted with Minbari technology departed, now another ship is also doing it. Are they deserting? After seeing how unworthy they are, I certainly wouldn't put it past them." Korras snorted with contempt.
"Brigadier, I'm detecting communications, and contrary to the previous vessel, that one is being ordered to return to orbit, but they are ignoring the hails." K'nera informed.
"You see Cmdr, I was right; they are cowards that are trying to save their worthless hides." Korras replied with the satisfaction of being right.
Meanwhile some other Earth Force ships had start firing on the fleeing Dreadnought.
-oOOo-
IKS Kahless Bridge.
"I still think that there is more to that than meets the eye. In the two years that they have fought the Minbari, never a single ship of theirs fled from duty. So why doing it now and immediately after the departure of the ship with Minbari equipment?" Shelby stated.
"Maybe they had, but did not have the courage to admit it." Korras replied.
"Maybe…" Shelby replied.
"Whatever their fate, it's no longer of concern to us, it's time for us to leave as well." Korras said.
Seconds later, all Klingon ships left orbit at full impulse not bothering to look back, therefore not only not witnessing the successful escape of the rogue EA vessel into the safety of hyperspace, but also failing to detect the presence of a dark and spiky silhouette that was watching them. Silhouette that than shimmered and faded away as if it was a ghost.
TBC