Chapter 22 (John Sheridan)
The jump-point dominated space and the swirling portal provided the means for the two remaining vessels to escape. But Sheridan knew the Minbari would not give up that easily. Although it was mortally wounded and spewing out liquid like a wounded predator, he knew it still possessed the firepower to cause severe damage.
"How long until we jump into hyperspace?" John sat on the edge of his seat as he watched the enemy vessel on the view screen creep nearer to his ship.
"Just a few seconds. But sir, it'll be no good." The ensign turned and looked at him. "They can still follow us in with their own jump engines."
"We just have to pray that Anderson took out their jump engines when he sacrificed his life." Sheridan's snappish tone surprised the young officer, before he returned to his displays.
As his vessel was pulled into hyperspace, Sheridan fought back the minor gravity pull and watched Minbari cruiser vanish behind the closing epicenter of the jump point. For the moment, Sheridan knew that they would have some time alone.
Unfortunately that peace was short lived when one familiar wide-eyed mayor strolled onto the command deck, demanding attention. Sheridan spun on his chair and a thought crossed his mind. That annoying little shit should be asleep. Why is he awake?
"Ah Sheridan." He raised a plump hand and his jewelry glinted under the artificial lighting. "Can you explain to me why your crew is persistent in forcing me to sleep?"
Sheridan swiveled back to the view screen and refused to answer. In fact he whooshed out a deep breath and tried to think pleasant thoughts. Perhaps, if he'd explained the situation, the overweight mayor might understand.
"This vessel is only designed to hold a limited amount of crew during operational space flight. You might not have noticed," Sheridan replied, making sure sarcasm was clearly noticeable. " There're far too many people on this ship for the life support systems to handle."
He stood up and casually walked over to the plump mayor. "Now, I'm going to ask you as a gentleman - get the hell off my command deck."
The man jumped back, clearly unprepared for the last outburst.
Sheridan thought he had the upper hand and was prepared to allow the grin show on his face, but the pudgy mayor stepped forward and exercised his authority. "Now you listen to me. I'm the mayor of a once-powerful colony and have the ear of the President of the human race. If you treat me with ill will, I'll make sure..."
Sheridan had enough and to demonstrate, he stunned the man with his taser. He fell to the ground like a tub of jelly, crapping everywhere.
The smell of rotten eggs was enough to prompt the commander to shove him on ice for the rest of the journey.
"What a disgusting individual. He can't even handle being stunned." Sheridan covered his nose to stifle the smell. "Security, take this...person to the cryogenic decks and put him on ice before he stinks up the ship."
As the attention of the entire crew was focused on Sheridan and his heroics, he returned to his post and prompted everyone to return to their duty. That Minbari cruiser was still out there.
"Are you still detecting that Minbari cruiser?"
"There's no way to tell, sir. A jump point did form behind us, but the Minbari must have activated their stealth technology."
"That doesn't make any sense...why didn't they activate it on the planet? I know the main cannons on these ships are new and not installed properly. But still, to leave themselves wide open like that doesn't make any sense."
The young officer seemed to have a suggestion. He looked into Sheridan's eyes and explained. "I believe the Minbari were testing us. They've never seen these types of ships before and it would make sense for them to remain visible so they can see what we have to offer."
Sheridan inclined his head. "Those bastards. They killed Anderson. And for what? A test? We need to get the primary weapons up and running. Perhaps the two of us can destroy that cruiser."
The weapons officer exhaled sharply and interjected. "I'm sorry sir, the main weapons are not finished yet. They still need the conductor coils from the Casabianca city."
Sheridan glanced down towards the floor and only looked back up when a stir ruffled the air. He saw the Minbari vessel and shot out of his chair, eyes-blazing. "Is that thing in firing range?"
The pause was too long. Sheridan looked towards the young ensign who was rooted to his console in fear. He could understand the young man's fear and his reason for clutching the armrest of his chair with white knuckles. But he needed answers now. Sheridan had to stop the spread of fear before it infected everyone. He raised his voice, impatient. "Ensign! Snap out of it. Is that thing in firing range?"
"N-No sir. But it will be soon."
Sheridan was capped for ideas. No matter what he did, that vessel was always on their tail. Something had to be done, but what? He roamed around the deck like a caged and frantic tiger. Then a voice boomed over the active COM system.
"Vanguard Alex Drake to Sheridan. We've detected a Minbari war cruiser on your current trajectory and have come to offer our assistance."
The voice was like a message from God. The spiritual message traveled around the deck from one person to the next, delivering calm and serenity to the crew. Everyone knew that a Vanguard was right outside, and his years of experience with the Minbari would steer them away from danger. Like a lighthouse on a stormy day, steering an old ship away from the dark and barren cliffs.
"We..." Sheridan was cut off by the vanguard; Alex was not finished with his initial speech.
"Both vessels, you'll need to transfer your navigation and engine controls to my ship. I've detected a hyperspace eddy stream fifty degrees off your port bow, but be prepared for sudden acceleration."
Yep, Sheridan knew it; the local eddy stream of current was something they'd detected when they approached the system several days ago and they'd made every effort to stay away from it. How typical that the very thing that could send them into the depths of oblivion could save their lives.
Sheridan sat in his command chair and gave the all clear, but his crew still hung on to tender strings, this was the moment anything could go wrong.
He watched the small vanguard vessel swoop down and take the lead like a small hornet. Sheridan only seen this type of maneuver once, the time his own ships fled the Minbari advance from a small colony they failed to save.
"Is everything set up as that Vanguard requests?" Sheridan felt the high temperature in the room and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Affirmative sir, all navigation and engine controls have been linked."
Sheridan felt like he was alone on the command deck despite the obvious presence of his crew. The eerie silence was like a prelude to a horror vid scene, while everyone anxiously waited to be saved.
Watching from his throne-like chair, Sheridan watched the Vanguard vessel fire a tow cable that instantly attached itself to his ship. Then, like a kite tied to a piece of string in a storm, the vanguard vessel swerved, fought the hyperspace eddies and finally shot forward into the storm cloud.
Gravity shifted as the two remaining omega class vessels banked to the left and following the vanguard slowly into the eddy cloud.
"All right crews, buckle up, we are going into the Tilismer Eddy Stream. It's going to be a rough ride." Alex failed to give enough notice as the two Omega-class ships were hurled through the storm at incredible velocity.
Lights dimmed and the deck shook violently, causing banks of computer systems to short out. Crewmembers gripped onto their stations for dear life as the gravity went mad.
Through it all, Sheridan kept his eye on the young officer, who was rooted to his station in terror. The young man remained motionless, fighting for every breath. Sheridan could relate to his horror, because he too had faced that same experience long, long ago, before the Battle Of The Line. But he had mustered up his fear and used it against the Minbari. The very moment he had used a nuke and saved the remaining lives of his crew.
Sheridan struggled out of his chair and staggered over and placed a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder. The ensign flinched at the touch and Sheridan saw the look of surrender in his eyes.
"Don't worry. Let the Vanguards do their job. Trust me."
"Y-Y-Yes sir," he said feverishly.
Sheridan knew this crewman would snap at any moment. He recognized the signs: the sweat, the clutching of his chair and the sheer terror in his eyes. But if he could lay down the foundations of authority in this young man, perhaps he could stand an equal chance at controlling his fear. This was the perfect opportunity.
The cracked and distorted Vanguard's voice came over the COM unit. 'Stand by, crews, we are about to exit the eddy stream."
He quickly maneuvered back to his chair and issued orders for his crew to prepare. Sheridan knew the extreme forces that would be pulling at the vanguard vessel once they left the eddy stream, so he prepared a grappling team to retract the steel cable that was attached to the Vanguards vessel.
"The tidal shears will be upon us the moment we exit. My small vessel doesn't have the mass to make it safely through. I'm going to release another cable. I need teams to tie me up."
"No problem." Sheridan knew the risks the Vanguard would be taking. He clenched the armrest tight. He didn't want to be the commander that lost a Vanguard; that would be catastrophic.
He gave clear and precise orders, but he didn't envy Alex and his companion who would be dangling on a string at the edge of a storm.
He watched the launch bays open through the cameras and a small wave of anticipation stirred the air. The steel cable was released from the Vanguard vessel and inch-by-inch the lifeline drifted closer to the lead destroyer.
Only mere minutes remained before everybody was tossed out into the depths of hyperspace. Sheridan knew that if he lost the Vanguard they would be stranded because the currents could drag vessel light-years inside hyperspace itself.
The cable wobbled, whipped, curled and flapped, making the job of securing it that much difficult. Sheridan watched even more closely as the cable edged itself through the front launch bays and flapped vigorously around the bay. Men tumbled and Star Furies were whipped as everybody tried to anchor down the cable.
What felt like hours for Sheridan only took minutes to complete. They finally managed to secure the vanguard ship and the small group of vessels emerged from the eddy stream.
A sudden jolt rattled the inhabitants of both vessels, but Sheridan still kept an eye on the young ensign at his station. Normally he would not concentrate so hard on such matters, but this individual reminded him so much of how he had once acted all those years ago. But the situation demanded his attention.
"Any sign of that Minbari cruiser?" Sheridan expected the silence to hang for a bit, but to his surprise, the ensign chirped up.
"No sir! I'm not picking up any hyperspace bacons, that cruiser can't possibly follow us."
The fact that they had escaped the Minbari vessel brought a wave of relief to the crew. Cheers rang throughout the bridge as people hugged each other and blessed their lucky stars.
Sheridan sighed in relief, even though everyone was lost in hyperspace. But they had a Vanguard. He controlled the celebration of his crew and waited in silence for the communication. A communication that would, no doubt lead them home.
The steel cable was unhooked from the Agamemnon and reeled back into the vanguard ship. At last, Sheridan heard the call he wanted.
"Sheridan, looks like we did it again. They told me that this was a three star danger rating, but it should have been a five star. I'll be updating their records once I get back." Alex's cheerful voice relaxed the crew and offered Sheridan room to breathe.
"Can you get us back to Casabianca?" Sheridan asked.
"We're currently making the calculations to determine where we are. That eddy stream was stronger than I thought." He paused, made a pleased noise then continued. "Yup, not as bad as I thought. It will take several hours to get there, so tie your systems into my van ship and we'll be underway."
Sheridan leaned back in his chair. Finally he could see Anna again and this annoying mission would be over.