8

Approaching Jericho

EAS Charlemagne

Flagship, Earth Force Combined Fleet.

"The last beacon activated, code confirms." Commander Austin reported from his station, cycling the data to double check it. "We have a clear run to Jericho."

"Very good Commander." Ferguson ran through the final status reports. Everything was in place, eight full sized fleets were poised and ready, the heart of Earth Force, the best ships and most experienced crews. These were the ships that had fought the Dilgar to a standstill, that had endured a campaign that would have broken any other navy in the galaxy. He had never imagined having to face a more difficult test than that, yet here it was.

"Put all ships into jump positions. Deploy scouts forward, there's a chance they may try to hit us in hyperspace."

"Yes sir, Fury patrols are already checking the route ahead."

"Send word to Captain Maynard, I want him ready to jump on the edge of the system as soon as he's in position. Have him locate the enemy and report back."

"It's likely the Minbari will detect him jumping in, even at long range." Austin warned. "We'll lose the element of surprise."

"It's a judgement call, I need to know what's waiting for us at Jericho." Ferguson answered. "If the Minbari have the upper hand we're not going to livelong enough for a second chance."

"Yes sir, sending the orders up."

"Make sure everyone is at action stations." Ferguson reminded. "Once we get that picture we're going in immediately."

It was the moment everyone had waited for, each and every member of the fleet sensing it was near, waiting in limbo for the final word, that definitive call to arms. Once given there was no more room for doubt or questioning, philosophy and the examination of possibilities was replaced by the clear framework of duty. Every man and woman in the fleet had a place and a task to perform and they knew their role intimately.

Most of the people in the fleet had not seen much combat. They were mostly career personnel but only the more senior hands and officers had fought the Dilgar. Fortunately that experience had a way of trickling down through countless drills and exercises, hour after hour of practice, training and war games. Even those who knew war had not faced an enemy like the Minbari before, they had gone over the last minute reports from Commander Sheridan and Admiral Tennant on possible weaknesses in the enemy, the drive fins and exposed weapons were all marked as priority targets. With the new sensors they might actually be able to hit them.

Alarms sounded, blast doors clanged shut, the myriad of main and back up systems worked themselves up to full power. Damage control parties hung at their stations, fighter pilots tightened their harnesses and braced for instant launch the moment they exited hyperspace. Bridge officers ran their checklists, warship Captains gave their vessels a last minute run down, battlegroup commanders ensured their communications and data links were fully operational.

Everything that could be done had been done, all preparations were made. Clocks ticked, hearts beating in time, loud and rhythmic. Silence descended, the beeps of the consoles fading as the mind sped up and adrenaline infused the system. Even at the height of the Dilgar war Earth had not committed this many ships to one battle, this was the largest fleet human kind had ever sent into action, and the most important battle of the age.

Clocks ticked, hearts thumped, lungs paused mid breath. Moments bled into moments, all waiting that one command.

"Jump."

Alaca.

"You've been locked in here for two days now." Warmaster Dal'shan announced by way of greeting, blinking a few times to adjust his eyes to the dark conditions in the quiet room. "Have you eaten? You missed three appointments you know, some people were preparing to declare you dead."

Jha'dur dismissed his concerns with a disinterested wave, rewinding a piece of video footage on her screen for at least the fiftieth time.

"I'm sure the Council can reach its decisions without me." She barely looked up.

"Even when you are neck deep in experiments you always check in." Dal'shan frowned with mild concern. "Especially at this time, Earth Force is due to engage the Minbari at any minute, Ari is with them. I am genuinely surprised you haven't made arrangements to watch it."

"I lost track of time." She admitted. "two days?"

"Two days." Dal'shan held out a sealed paper box. "I brought dinner."

The female Warmaster broke a rare true smile.

"You think of everything."

"Part of my training." He pulled up a chair in the dim room, looking at her screen. "So is this what has been keeping you captivated?"

"Sineval's payment." Jha'dur said. "Well, part of it. These are Minbari historic records, over a thousand years old."

"I see." Dal'shan sounded unimpressed.

"They come direct from the Grey Council archives, viewed only by Satai grade individuals. Sineval broke several rules copying these files, they are extremely highly classified."

"What is he getting in return?"

"Immortality." Jha'dur replied. "Well, theoretically. I'm not sure exactly how I'll deal with that, for now he's happy with some biowarfare agents. What he gave me, these files, I'd have sold him a damn planet for this information."

"I'm going to assume you found something interesting?"

"You could say that." Jha'dur accepted. "Not much surprises me, call me jaded and cynical, but I have never felt true stomach dropping amazement since I was a child. This morning it happened again."

She tapped the screen.

"And this is why."

Dal'shan looked at the image and shrugged.

"It's a human space station, looks like Io Prime but with green markings. Bit bigger perhaps."

"Well spotted."

"Is it new? I didn't read anything in our reports. Something this big should have been flagged."

"Oh I assure you that isn't even close to the most interesting bit. This isn't an intelligence report. This is the archive Sineval sent me."

Dal'shan frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you said they were a thousand years old?"

"I did." She answered, watching the realisation cross his face. "Now you know why I vanished for two days."

"This is impossible."

"I've checked the records extensively, they aren't forgeries." She answered, switching through a few other records. "Apparently not much survived from this war, perhaps deliberately. You remember the Drakh spoke about this era, and several League powers have a history dating back here? Markab, Yolu, a few others?"

"I remember, all of it pretty vague."

"That vagueness bothered me. Whatever happened back then is still affecting us today, through the Drakh and I suspected through the Minbari too. What I've seen here confirms that."

She shuffled through dozens of papers all across the large table before her, days of work, research and notes.

"This all started years ago. After the war and my enforced retirement I took to reading about pivotal figures in history. The first Centauri Emperor, human classical figures, several leaders from the League, and then I read the book of G'Quan."

"I'm familiar with the story, a Narn telepath who united most of his planet to drive off a bunch of demons. Most people with intellect now accept they were an advanced alien race." Dal'shan said. "Though in the process all Narn telepaths were killed off."

"You remember when it happened?"

"A thousand years ago." Dal'shan paused. "At the same time as the stories from the League about wars with demons."

"That connection is where I started gathering all I could on this era. The Drakh were part of it, I know they were, but they were quite reluctant to share any precise information. I thought for a while that they might have been the demons in question but they don't fit. Not nearly powerful enough."

She tapped the screen, playing some video.

"Sineval delivered."

Dal'shan watched in fascination as a small group of what he assumed were ships moved across the screen. They were like lancer crabs from Omelos, small black bodies sprouting vicious spines and spikes in a ferocious spread, simply looking at them made the veteran warrior grow cold.

"These three ships killed a hundred Minbari vessels." Jha'dur explained. "And even back then the Minbari had respectable units, superior to the Centauri and not much worse than us now. These ships match several images scattered through texts across the galaxy. A thousand years ago these things were ranging free killing with impunity. They knocked off the major powers one by one, then turned on the Minbari."

"This is Valen's time isn't it?" Dal'shan asked.

"Precisely." Jha'dur nodded. "The Minbari were getting torn apart, they lost their main bases, most of their colonies, vast numbers of ships. The enemy was one jump from Minbar when poof."

"Poof?"

"Poof, battlestation."

She brought the image back to the human style space station.

"Just what they needed exactly when they needed it."

"So this isn't a coincidence?" Dal'shan asked. "Not some old race with a similar design philosophy?"

"It's definitely human." Jha'dur confirmd. "Take a look inside." She changed records. "That's English writing, and look at the hanger bays."

"Starfuries." Dal'shan recognised. "But no crew?"

"Just one. Valen."

"The only explanation is time travel."

"Agreed." Jha'dur exhaled. "My brother wa slooking at theories before the war, using the time distortion of a hyperspace transition to see if you could actually travel in time. He didn't really scratch the surface, maybe if things were different."

"I'd say this looks like proof." Dal'shan concluded. "Which raises two questions, how and why?"

"The how is easy. Vorlons." Jha'dur replied. "The records state the Vorlons delivered the station. We know that the Vorlons are certainly older than the Minbari and Drakh, and that the Drakh hate them. If any race had the ability it would be them."

"And the why would be in order to give the Minbari a victory."

"Which it did, the Minbari fleet rallied and held the line. But the station was only half of the equation."

"Valen." Dal'shan commented.

"Valen."

"This is where I hit a brick wall." Jha'dur resumed. "I analysed the station, while it has the basic design of a major human base there is nothing of that size planned or in service. So I checked out the fighters, they are basic Aurora class fighters similar to those in use right now but there are differences. These fighters have modifications, enhancements, an improvement of the current design."

"So this station comes from the future?"

"Yes, but not too far in the future if they are still using Furies. Earth could build this station tomorrow I'd say, but of course they won't."

"Because you can get two or three task forces for the same resources that base would eat up." Dal'shan recognised. "This station isn't a wartime project."

"Exactly." Jha'dur nodded. "This station was built by humanity in the future, a future where Earth is at peace, where they are still wealthy enough to afford a station of this scale, and where they clearly aren't incinerated by the Minbari. This station, these records, prove the Minbari do not wipe out humanity, nor do they break the Earth Alliance to a minor nation that couldn't afford such a project."

"And then it ends up a thousand years in the past in Minbari hands. Beautiful irony."

"If the Minbari get their way in this war, no station, no rally point, Minbar gets burnt down by these aliens a thousand years ago." Jha'dur chuckled. "I quite like the idea, it would be the perfect reward for them."

"So this is proof the war must end favourably for humanity?"

"Yes and no, it's a whole timeline multiverse issue, more my brother's area of expertise." Jha'dur wrinkled her nose. "Basically this has already happened, if it doesn't happen again it won't affect anything we know, but would branch off a parallel timeline. Or something. What I mean is this does not guarantee humanity survives, just that in a possible previous timeline they did."

"I hate temporal mechanics."

"Me too, suffice to say this information isn't going to change Minbari policy by itself."

"Is this what we want?" Dal'shan asked. "Are we going to try and influence Minbari policy?"

"In a word, yes." Jha'dur answered. "But I still don't know how. We have a way in through Sineval but he doesn't have any real power. I need a better contact, ideally someone on the Grey Council with a brain cell."

"Someone you can shoow this footage to?"

"Exactly. I don't know if they understand what it means, if they can recognise the human architecture, if they've even seen it. But if I can make them see what I've seen, I think we can alter their perception of humans."

"Encouraging a settlement, which we can take credit for."

"And making both Earth and Minbar beholden to us." Jha'dur affirmed. "Which is going to be very important in the future. We need allies, powerful allies. Right now we're completely isolated and vulnerable which is not healthy."

"I'm still not entirely convinced." Dal'shan frowned. "Did you find anything else?"

"Well, maybe a little something." She dug out a piece of paper. "Some selected speeches made by Valen."

"Quite poetic." Dal'shan scanned them.

"Actually, very poetic." Jha'dur dropped a thick book on the table written in English.

"The complete works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson." Dal'shan read the title. "Human?"

"Read the pages I've marked." She leaned back and smiled. "And I hope you're comfortable because we'll need more than two days to figure that one out."

Jericho Colony

Near Jericho III

"They could arrive any second." Branmer declared across the fleet. "Their fighters destroyed our sensor buoys more than five minutes ago, more than enough time for them to assume position."

"Shall we concentrate Shai Alyt?" One of his flotilla commanders asked.

"Not until they jump in. Let them deploy first, then we'll know where to put our guns." The cautious Minbari answered. "Once the do all ships will form on my position. Follow my lead, standard deployment."

"Sharlin groups one to fifteen on the right, sixteen to thirty on the left." Neroon clarified. "Escorts hold formation on the four flanks, fighters stay close to the parent ships."

"Expect the humans to engage aggressively." Branmer warned. "They know what happened to their last fleet, they know that they must close to point blank range to stand a chance against us. It will be a cavalry charge played out with capital ships, expect a lot of fast moving debris heading directly for us. Don't be afraid to break formation to avoid an impact."

"Provided you return to position swiftly." Neroon added. "We will need to hold a firm centre and fire efficiently to counter human numbers."

"Against these odds, expect casualties." Branmer said flatly. "Whatever your personal opinions of humans they will fight hard and they will be prepared to sacrifice lives to reach us."

"Fanatics." One of the commanders sneered.

"It is a calculation, they can afford to sacrifice three or four ships to kill one of ours and still win. We must prevent this. Learn from the Black Star, maintain range, ensure your targets are completely destroyed."

"Shai Alyt." Neroon suddenly stepped in. "An Earth ship."

Branmer looked for the target, a lone vessel several hundred thousand miles away.

"A survey vessel. Can we jam its transmissions?"

"Too far away."

"It's telling Earth where we are. You all know the plan, form on me and engage capital ships first. Valen willing we will break the human navy today and fulfill our obligation to the council. In Valen's name."

"Valen's name."

Branmer exhaled gently, cleansing his mind, arraying his faculties for the task before him.

"Into the fire my brother."

EAS Charlemagne

"Coordinates confirmed, Captain Maynard just uploaded the data."

Ferguson nodded curtly, far too focused to spend time on any unnecessary word or movement.

"Plot jump location and signal the fleet."

"Coordinates locked, beacon is stable. All ships have their jump coordinates." Commander Austin reported, almost tripping over his words in haste.

"Into the fire ladies and gentlemen." Ferguson exhaled, setting his resolve to the task at hand. "Make the Jump."

"All ships, Jump now." Austin ordered. "Jump now."

While nobody noted the fact the transition from hyperspace was the largest ever attempted by humanity. Nearly a thousand vortexes formed, generated by the capital ships of the fleet, the Nova Dreadnoughts, Hyperion cruisers and Avenger Carriers. Through these came not just the immense grey shapes of the battle fleet but also a myriad of escorts, mainly Olympus class corvettes but with a healthy scatter of Sagittarius missile cruisers and Artemis Frigates.

They funneled through the vortex, each jump point positioned so there was no chance of it merging with a vortex from another vessel. Such an occurrence would be a disaster, if they were lucky the emerging vessels would collide with each other at high speed, if they weren't the interaction of hyperspace energy could obliterate any ship within hundreds of miles. It meant the EA ships emerged in a series of small task forces distributed quite widely, a necessary precaution.

The mass jump went well, the fleet arriving outside Minbari weapons range but with enough velocity to cross the gulf of space quite sharply. At once the fleet began to concentrate, the task forces breaking up and moving into mutually supporting positions, capital ships in the centre, escorts on the flanks in a mirror of the Minbari deployment. Ferguson had considered many different formations but in the end had settled on this simple arrangement designed to concentrate maximum firepower against a single part of the enemy line. Exactly the plan desire as Branmer.

Sinclair felt the ship lurch out of hyperspace, never a pleasant sensation made rather worse by the velocity the Warspite had picked up. Captain Black wasn't wasting any time, her Dreadnought group and its escorts were Ferguson's reserve ready to plug any gaps in the line, exploit a break through, or if called upon form a last line of defence to cover a retreat.

"Ghost Riders, brace for launch." The flight deck controller informed unnecessarily, the whole squadron knew it was coming as soon as the ship stopped wobbling. The bay doors snapped open revealing space beyond, no sign of either the colony or the Minbari could be seen but they were out there.

With a familiar kick the catapults fired Sinclair down the range, his Aurora Fury engaging engines once it was clear and conserving the useful velocity imparted by the launch rail.

"Warspite Airwing, form on me." Sinclair ordered calmly. "Missile birds take position at the rear."

Despite his relative youth Sinclair was already commanding three squadrons, his obvious talent as a pilot matched by the easy authority of a natural leader. He was soft spoken, thoughtful, cuttingly witty if the situation demanded it but above all else dedicated entirely to his unit and his mission.

"Ghost leader, Warspite." A transmission came through. "Assume point, all squadrons are authorised to move forward and clear the battlespace of enemy light craft."

"Copy that Warspite." Sinclair replied. "Alright then, accelerate to attack speed. Missile birds go for enemy escorts in grid two zero by three. All other craft engage Minbari fighters. We owe these guys some bloodshed."

Sword of Valen

"There they are." Neroon observed. "Nearly half their remaining fleet."

"They are taking this battle very seriously." Branmer nodded. "Whichever way it goes the next hour will be decisive. Alter course, set fleet formation along our axis of advance. One quarter thrust."

"Only one quarter Shai Alyt?"

"We have no need to close the range, and the humans are advancing quite rapidly." Branmer narrowed his eyes, judging the situation. "They're forming a core of heavy warships. They intend to meet us head on, very well. That is where we focus the attack."

The tall blue ships of the Minbari Federation arrayed themselves as if for a review, the high sails and broad fins lining up in a checkerboard formation three vessels high and ten wide, ninety battlecruisers each mounting eighteen Neutron cannons and an array of secondary weapons. The formation was perfect, much neater than the hastily assembling human ships but conferred no special advantage beside the aesthetic.

"Human fighter craft are detaching from the main force." Neroon reported. "They are approaching from multiple directions."

"Order the escort ships to engage at will and to protect the battle line." Branmer countered. "Release all squadrons, have them intercept the human craft and destroy them before they get close. The frigates can deal with any stragglers."

Like shoals of glittering fish wave after wave of Nial fighters surged forward eager to taste battle. The sky was full of targets, Earth Force throwing fighters at the fleet like confetti, tens of thousands of starfuries against less than a tenth that number of Minbari craft. It did not concern them, in previous battles a lone Nial had proven a match for a full squadron of human craft, it was going to be a massacre.

"Approaching maximum effective range." Neroon stated. "Human ships are jamming us, at this range we can't guarantee hits."

"Fire anyway." Branmer ordered. "Let the guns run hot."

EAS Charlemagne.

"Enemy fighters on intercept vector." Austin informed. "Minbari capital ships are lighting us up."

"Time to effective range?"

"Five minutes Admiral."

"Fingers crossed they can't beat our Electronic Warfare at this range, or else this is going to get ugly."

The Minbari took the first shots, green beams tentatively crossing the void. Only three of them made contact and fortunately only scored glancing hits.

"The Vincennes is reporting engine damage, she can't maintain pace." Austin checked. "No other hits."

"Put her with the back up units." Ferguson ordered. "The blanket jamming seems to have worked."

"Yes sir, shall we return fire?"

"We're outside pulse cannon range, but we have plenty of missiles. Begin salvo fire by battlegroup, we won't overwhelm them but we'll force them to shoot down those missiles instead of focusing on us."

"Yes sir."

"Where are our fighters?"

"Seconds from contact."

"Are they linked into the sensor grid?" Ferguson asked swiftly. "Are the new sensors working?"

"Everything looks in the green sir." Austin reported. "All units should be able to engage Minbari vessels as soon as we enter range."

"Get those missiles in the air." Ferguson pulled back, reviewing the larger scene. "And make sure our ELINT ships are well shielded."

Almost every ship in the fleet had some assortment of missiles, some launched from bow tubes like the Hyperion class, others from racks on the outer hull. The missiles were a mixture of types, some nuclear, some mounting plasma warheads, others more conventional shaped charges. Human tactics in the Dilgar war had favoured massive deployment of missiles and while Ferguson had far fewer Sagittarius class ships than his predecessor a decade and a half ago his fleet could still churn out tens of thousands of weapons.

They began firing in stages, the capital ships first with the Novas popping a steady ripple from their flanks and Hyperions opening their bow torpedo tubes. For now the Sagittarius class held their fire, Ferguson saving them for a more critical moment.

As expected most of the missiles did not come close, but with the escorts deployed to the flanks it was up to the Sharlins themselves to handle the missile storm. They did so without particular difficulty but as Ferguson had hoped by engaging the missiles the amount of fire the fleet received dropped substantially. It bought the EA fleet time and distance.

Sinclair watched the missile waves for a few moments, the grey tubes pushed on blue fire cruising past in successive waves ending in brief explosions. The missiles were doing their job, now it was the turn of the fighter wings to do theirs.

"Ghost two, Ghost lead, I have enemy fighters ahead."

"Confirmed." Lieutenant Mitchell answered, Sinclair's wingman and old friend. "Data looks clean."

"Clear as crystal." Sinclair broke a smile, his targeting computer showing the Minbari ahead of him in perfect detail. It was glorious to see, the Minbari were so confident they weren't even taking evasive action. "This is it, pick a bandit and break on my mark."

The squadron marked their targets, Sinclair's targeting computer beeping for a few seconds as it bounced a signal off the Warspite taking telemetry from the battleship's superior sensors. The moment was incredibly tense as the guns tracked, taking an apparent eternity before he heard that magical droning tone in his headset signalling he had weapons lock.

"Ghost Riders, break and attack!"

That first salvo was catharsis on a biblical scale, the sudden evening of the scales and wiping out the overhanging humiliation of the defeat at Cyrus. The sense of relief, of exhilaration as fighter after fighter achieved weapons lock overwhelmed any sense of fear or trepidation. Any doubts evaporated in that one moment, in less time than it took to depress the trigger. In that moment it stopped being a slaughter and became a war.

The leading Minbari squadrons, outnumbered and not manoeuvring might as well have been target drones. None of them made it past the initial exchange, the pilots caught out of position and unable to respond tot he sheer volume of gunfire that swamped them. Crystal fractured in glittering showers, beautiful but tainted. The follow up squadrons were smarter, to their credit taking instant evasive action and throwing themselves into the fight.

Sinclair banked tightly into a full thrust turn, forcing through the g forces to keep his eye on a blue cone darting past. His threat indicators were blaring, someone somewhere was trying to kill him and he would have to trust Mitchell to deal with it.

He performed an evasive half role, changing direction but always staying near his target, targeting systems beeping as they sought a solid lock. He could see the twisting Nial but still had to get it in front of his guns, which given the speed of the Minbari fighter wasn't as easy as it sounded.

There was a flash behind and to his right, a few pulse shots raced past and his threat indicators fell silent confirming Mitchell had destroyed the pursuer. Sinclair could now fly more aggressively, increasing thrust to close the range. The sky was flickering with explosions, the two groups of fighters tangling viciously. Many of those explosions were Starfuries, The Minbari fighter still lethal adversaries, but they were so heavily outnumbered and facing a well trained force eager for revenge they had no real chance.

Sinclair didn't wait for the tone, he lined up a deflection shot as his target raced past, firing ahead of its path and letting Nial and particle pulse round converge half a kilometre ahead of him with a satisfying flash of light. He raced past the fire, finding his sector now empty of Nials.

"I still have Minbari fighters above and to the right." Mitchell stated. "Shall we intercept?"

"Leave it to the other squadrons." Sinclair replied. "Reform and head for the main force, fly evasive and line up for some strafing runs."

Sword of Valen

"What happened?" Neroon stormed forward for a closer look. "Our fighter compliment just dropped forty percent, fifty… sixty!"

"Confirm those reports." Branmer ordered. "Show me."

Neroon found an area of the battle and brought up an image, zooming in to show several Nials hopelessly fighting over two hundred Starfuries. They picked off in seconds.

"How can this be? In the last battle our fighters decimated the enemy!"

"Because the humans could not hit them." Branmer looked at other locations. "Look at them Neroon, they aren't missing anymore."

"They can't have broken our stealth systems, no race has that technology." Neroon shook his head. "The system has been perfect for centuries."

"Clearly the situation has changed. Pull back any remaining squadrons."

"I don't think we can, all fighters are heavily engaged and unable to withdraw. We only have a handful of squadrons left."

"They broke our stealth systems." Branmer remarked mainly to himself. "If their fighters can do it, so can their warships."

Neroon looked at the massive rows of heavily armed warships, acutely aware that those guns were now pointing directly at them.

"Valen's name."

Most people would be forgiven for panicking. It would have been expected of any man faced with such a tremendous reversal to freeze to the spot or make a rash decision promoted by fear. Branmer did not.

"The mission has not changed." He said. "All commands, our mission has not changed! We are still capable of winning this battle! Our objective remains to destroy the human capital ships. If we do that regardless of losses we can still cripple the human navy and we can still ensure our forces maintain the upper hand."

"Shai Alyt, human fighter wings have broken through and are approaching from all directions." Neroon reported anxiously. "Many squadrons appear to be armed with nuclear missiles."

"Tighten our formation and bring the escorts in closer." Branmer ordered confidently. "This is what our frigates are here for, hold off the human fighters while the battle line engages the human fleet. We are still capable of cutting them down in a matter of minutes! Their ships are still unable to survive a single direct hit from our weapons!"

"Human warships are beginning to alter formation, they are assuming firing positions."

"Escort wings, I need five minutes." Branmer asked fervently. "Whatever the cost I need five minutes."

"By our lives and our deaths we serve."

"This time, right now, when all seems lost, this is when we become true warriors!" Branmer slammed his fist into his hand. "This is our moment to honour the legacy of Valen and our forefathers. Increase speed, keep the jump engines primed. Target the largest class of Earth ship and fire every weapon we have!"

EAS Charlemagne.

"Well that let the cat out of the bag." Ferguson observed, the red blobs representing Minbari fighter squadrons evaporating rapidly.

"They know we can see them." Austin agreed. "Will they run?"

"Let's help them decide. Paint them, arm all weapons and prepare to fire."

The fleet went active, every ship using its targeting sensors though only a percentage could actually decipher any sensor returns from the Minbari. The information was shared, targets were marked, gun turrets tracked. Both fleets were on a collision course, the Minbari renewing their attack. Several ships were hit this time, cracking apart as the Minbari accuracy improved.

"Range is still long but we have lock."

"All ships commence firing." Ferguson ordered. "Fire at will."

Space turned into a hail of blue stars, uncounted thousands of energy bolts erupted from the human ships and raced towards the enemy, met in turn by green lances of energy heading the other way. Most of the shots were basic blue pulses, but a few were orange signifying more powerful Narn weapons.

The majority missed, the range was still long for human gunners, but they were near misses caused by target drift and the inherent inaccuracies of energy weapons, not by deception.

Two Sharlins broke, caught by a series of pulses that hammered them into shards, the proud ships dragged down by simple volume of fire. Most vessels began to absorb damage, the flagship shuddering under Branmer's feet as it soaked up half a dozen hits from a Hyperion. His gunners were clever enough to cut the human cruiser from the sky before it marked his range and shared it with a Dreadnought buying them slightly more time.

Fires burned in the midst of both groups, warships fell away in ruins, the scales wavered in the balance.

"Alright, this is the time." Ferguson opened his fleet wide communication channel. "Ripple fire, all remaining missile ships fire everything. Escort ships are released, advance at flank speed and hit them with everything we've got."

"Watch that Corvette, twelve high!" Sinclair flipped his fighter over a hundred thousand ton lump of burning metal and crystal, elegantly side stepping disaster as he closed on a Tinashi class frigate.

"Delta flight, we see him, flying interference!"

The Warspite's second squadron altered course and headed for the new target, drawing fire as the Ghost Riders went for the Minbari frigate. It was a large vessel and already pockmarked by glowing wounds where other squadrons had hit it. Despite this it was still throwing out plenty of fire and claiming a steady toll of Starfuries.

"We'll make a high speed pass, knock out its bow guns." Sinclair informed. "Beta squadron, once we're done, nuke the bastard."

"Roger that Ghost lead, we are five seconds behind you."

"With me Ghosts." Sinclair opened the throttle, his targeting system still receiving data with pinpoint accuracy from the Warspite. "Fire when you get a clean shot."

They went in at full throttle, a risky move under any circumstances relying on speed to keep them safe. To hit their target they were going to have to get close, even with accurate data picking off individual systems on the hull of a ship was an art form requiring plenty of skill and practice to master.

The blue hull grew rapidly, Sinclair holding his nerve, regulating his breath, his mind focused entirely on the target and the closing range squeezing out any fear or concerns about mortality. The ship was still busy fending off a slower moving squadron that was circling it and pouring in weapons fire, shredding its unarmoured drive fins and distracting the crew. By the time they saw Sinclair they were already finished.

He held to the last second before firing, spraying pulses almost perfectly down the barrel of a neutron cannon as he flashed past its muzzle. It burst apart in a torrent of flame, his fellow squad mates ripping through the other forward mounted guns and carving into the weakened hull.

His fighters alone had no chance of breaching the hull, they simply didn't have the firepower, fortunately his wing mates did. Sinclair skimmed the hull of the Minbari ship, breaking hard to avoid its aft guns and throw off the Minbari gunners. He was a tempting target and the odds were high that the Minbari ship would bring him down as he made his escape if Beta squadron made a mistake. Fortunately they did not.

A trio of nukes exploded with a brief white light, vaporising most of the front half of the ship. A few seconds later the gutted vessel immolated itself as the reactor went critical, the frigate burning away as the Earth fighters darted for safety.

"Good kill beta squadron!" Sinclair congratulated. "Prepare for a new target."

"Enemy frigates above!" Mitchell warned. "They're in tight formation, interlocking fields of fire."

"Understood, give them a wide berth." Sinclair ordered. "We'll need some other fighters to take on…"

He was interrupted by a series of silent explosions, the Minbari frigates dissolving in massive plumes of fire as they came under intense gunfire.

"It's a Wolfpack, Artemis Frigates!" Mitchell recognised. "Nice shooting!"

The blocky Earth Force rail gun frigates shifted targets, sweeping away the remaining Minbari escorts in this sector and freeing up the fighters.

"All squadrons, Warspite." A fresh signal came in. "Break current engagement and attack the main battle line. Concentrate all remaining nuclear ordinance on the enemy battlecruisers."

"Form on me." Sinclair set the orders into motion. "Beta squadron stay close, let's find you a nice fat target."

The two core fleets were by now heavily engaged, each showing scars. The Dreadnought beside the Charlemagne had lost its entire right side but was still in formation displaying its legendary resilience, its left side guns still engaging. The Hyperions leading the formation were taking the worst of it, fifty of them were destroyed or disabled, but their loss had saved the more powerful Novas in the second wave and gave them their chance to get into optimal range.

The Minbari line was breaking, gaps were opening up. Most of the escorting frigates and corvettes were either destroyed or burning, they had held out to the last but were simply overwhelmed. Now squadrons of Starfuries engaged the line of Sharlins, punching missiles into the blue hulls and ripping through the powerful combatants. The Minbari were still fighting hard, still bringing down Earth force ships, but sheer mass was against them.

"Escort forces reduced to twenty percent!" Neroon called across the command room. "Enemy fighters are among the main fleet, we've just lost the Tilani to a concentrated nuclear strike."

"We're not causing enough damage." Branmer gritted his teeth. "We haven't even made it into optimum range yet, these fighters have ground us down before we had a chance to strike the core of the human fleet."

The flagship jolted as a volley of missiles struck it.

"We spent too much time on the defensive, too much time intercepting missiles, then fighters, then missiles again. We were simply overwhelmed."

"More fighters are inbound, thousands of them." Neroon informed urgently. "Your orders Shai Alyt?"

"Nothing more is served here today by staying. Order all ships to jump."

"We cannot retreat sir."

"You will follow my orders!" Branmer snapped with uncharacteristic anger. "I will bear the shame of this decision, it is a small price to pay for saving thousands of lives."

EAS Charlemagne.

"They're breaking." Austin watched with growing joy. "The fighter squadrons are hitting them hard, they're fighting for their lives, fire against us is negligible."

"Our fighters had orders to take out the Neutron guns first." Ferguson smiled. "Pulled out the teeth on those big blue bastards."

Ferguson took a final glance at the strategic picture, very pleased at what he saw.

"Alright, let's end this. Order to all Dreadnought groups, cut forward thrust, rotate sixty degrees toward target. Standby saturation fire."

"Moving into position."

"Have all units clear our firing arcs." Ferguson reminded. "In front of us is not a healthy place to be."

The core of the fleet, the still largely intact Nova class battle line changed orientation. Instead of facing the Minbari nose to nose they swung into a broadside position to bring maximum firepower to bear, the guns on the far side of the ships rotating inwards to fire over the hull and between the near side turrets. As they did so the battered but valiant Hyperion groups withdrew to the flanks to give the Dreadnoughts a clear shot, the titanic pulse cannons lining up with deliberate, even malicious relish.

"All fighters, clear local airspace now!"

"Break contact!" Sinclair shouted, racing away from the burning Minbari line. "Get clear and wait for the fireworks!"

"Enemy vessels changing position!" Neroon reported swiftly. "Receiving multiple targeting signals."

"Valen's wrath, this is what they did to the Dilgar." Branmer recognised the formation immediately, the massed rows of heavy guns all aligning on him. He knew exactly what was about to happen and he knew exactly what it meant for his fleet. Annihilation.

"Emergency jump! We're out of time! Go now!"

He didn't waste any time. The flagship opened a jump point as the human fleet opened fire, the massed broadsides from the Dreadnoughts every bit as terrifying as expected. The vortex opened as the shots raced towards them, the battered Shargotti accelerating away seconds before it would have been smashed.

Branmer's order saved many ships, dozens of vessels made the jump, most of them carrying damage from the intense battle. Many others did not make it, either too slow to respond or too damaged to make the jump. The barrage from the Dreadnoughts ended the battle without ambiguity, blasting apart anything in their way like an avalanche clearing a path through what was left of the Minbari line. Nothing survived.

"They jumped!" Austin would have leapt from his chair had he not been strapped into it. "They ran!"

"Sons of bitches!" Ferguson snarled. "They robbed us of our kills!"

"We drove them off!"

"I should have had the Nemesis task force waiting for them in Hyperspace!" Ferguson snarled again "Dammit! Well like hell am I letting them get away!"

He opened a channel.

"All ships, recover fighters and prepare to jump in pursuit."

"We actually won." Austin beamed. "And we survived."

"Some of us didn't." Ferguson reminded, his anger subsiding. "Minbari ships are faster than us, they're going to reach Cyrus about seven to ten hours before we do. That's time to set up a defence or more likely evacuate their forces and hunker down behind the border."

"But we did drive them off sir."

"We did, but right now they are telling their leadership we broke their Stealth systems. Next time they'll be ready for us, we need to sweep these guys out of Cyrus before the Minbari bring more ships in from over the border. Then we can fortify and get ready to fight them on our terms."

"It'll be about ten minutes before our fighters are recovered."

"Have the damaged vessels support the GROPOS as they retake the Colony, everyone else is coming with us." Ferguson announced. "And before I forget get a signal to Beta Durani and let them know what happened. We're not finished yet, but I suppose this is one hell of a start."