Chapter 56 (John Sheridan)
The Agamemnon had been in hyperspace for two days and current scans of the sector had indicated that they were almost on top of the Minbari colony.
As expected, the colony knew nothing of their arrival. Sheridan had been itching to score another victory. His last run in with the Minbari had not been a pleasant one and he lost a good friend in that battle. He wanted revenge and today was no exception.
He marched onto the command deck and demanded an update.
Officers darted between their posts and replied with systems ready. The new shield array had been installed properly during the journey and the new beam cannons were hot and ready to go. But Sheridan did not expect a ship-to-ship battle. He sighed at the mundane task of being a delivery boy. His orders were to drop off a package and let it do all the hard work. Then again, Sheridan always loved the ingenious plans he would create in the midst of battle. Surely something would go astray on this mission. Any mission involving the Minbari had a nasty habit of going wrong.
"The Minbari colony is in range, sir," the helmsman began.
"Put it on viewer," Sheridan ordered, looking towards the large viewscreen in the centre of his bridge. As the Earth-like world came into view he saw that land covered most of the planet with only a few blue oceans. The screen began to zoom into the planet and dart across the land towards the small colony in middle of what looked like a desert. With sand surrounding the colony, the settlement was nestled at the bottom of several mountains and cliffs. Sheridan's mind already began plotting his observation point. He wanted to go down there and watch the destruction for himself. But that would be contradicting the president's orders and dangerous.
"Is the package ready?" Sheridan glanced at the scientist he had first met hours before; it was when he went down to inspect his robotic warriors in the bowels of the ship.
The scientist pulled a data crystal from one of the workstations and walked over to him. "Yes, I downloaded the program that should interface with the warrior and activate its primary systems. There's a minute delay before it's active. It wasn't easy setting it up. The binary code had to be converted into a language that would pass the challenge handshake before the unit would accept…"
Sheridan grew weary of the jargon the scientist was blabbing and shot him a look of scorn. "I'm not interested in your rubbish. Is the unit ready to be deployed in the instant I command it?"
The scientist fiddled with the data crystal. "Just give me ten minutes."
Sheridan turned in his chair and glanced at the screen. "You have five minutes. I want that colony vaporised."
Sheridan then magnified the image to show a crystalline building towering into the sky and a small band of Minbari could be seen walking along the paved streets towards a building that resembled a temple. Several small vehicles whizzed past the floor and a horde of children ran in and out of what looked like a playground. There might have been a time he would have showed mercy to a small colony, but not today. Did the Minbari show mercy when they knocked on the door of Earth? No! He wanted to exact the same thing and nothing would get in his way.
Sheridan always knew this day would come. Mass genocide was a concept that had frightened him in the olden days, but not today. Of course, he would never do such a terrible deed to any other race, or colony of other beings. But when it came to the Minbari anything went. Their cruelty in destroying Earth had planted a seed of hate that could never be quenched. He had lost a lot of family on Earth and now his life was scattered in the depths of hyperspace. There was a saying that all humans have a deep-rooted connection to Mother Earth, as if she was part of some divine network that connected all humans together. He sensed some form of loneliness when he ventured into space. Now, that loneliness was dwarfed by separation.
The time was now.
He ordered the Agamemnon into the planet's atmosphere on an intercept course to the small colony. Initial scans showed this world to be inhabited by basic life forms no bigger than a golf ball. So once the Minbari colony was razed to the ground, the warrior could be nuked from orbit with no effect to the planet.
Or he could leave it to wander the planet and intercept any Minbari transport that might come to investigate the loss of contact. That was a scenario he liked very much. He could almost see it now, the small Minbari transport diving in from space, hovering over the colony and then ZAP!
"Sir, we are within striking distance. I recommend we deploy the unit just on the ridge of the canyon where the settlement is located. We risk being seen if we venture too close. The warrior can walk the rest of the way." the helm officer announced.
"Very well, set us just a few meters above the surface and get ready to leave once we deploy the package."
The order was given and Sheridan made his way to the bowels of the ship where the warrior rested.
What had once been a dark and frightening place was now bright as the sun reflected through the thick glass viewport of the hatch. The warrior stood motionless inside its alcove, waiting for the wake up call. The scientist continued to prod around its head, inserted a tool that dug into its skull and fiddled with a few buttons. The ship shook slightly as it entered the atmosphere.
"Do you think that's wise?" Sheridan asked, imagining the creature springing to life, destroying the ship before it even got to the settlement.
"It's okay, this baby is still on standby. Now, once I press this button," the scientist got down from the creature's head, walked over to the main control panel in front of the railing and pointed at a red button with his finger. "The creature will be released and we'll have about one minute to get clear."
"What happens if we don't?"
"The creature is programmed to destroy anything it sees, that includes us. I didn't have the time to program fail-safes so this is the raw deal."
Sheridan raised his left hand, talked into his communicator and instructed the ship to move on his command.
He gazed at the scientist who was standing by beside the button. When confirmation came through, Sheridan swiftly nodded his head.
The scientist hit the red button with his right hand and almost immediately several support arms swung open and the warrior fell out of the hatch and tumbled towards the desert surface.
Sheridan was awfully disappointed at its release as he stared over the railing. A cloud of sand could only be seen where the warrior impacted the ground. He expected the mighty machine to land on its fee, ready for attack. But it tumbled through the air and landed face first in the sand, probably breaking its neck.
It lay there, spread out like a deformed animal.
"What are you doing?!" The scientist squealed. "We've got to get out of here."
"What do you mean? The damn thing's dead!" Sheridan complained.
But the warning came too late.
The warrior sprang to life, shot to its feet and its eyes glowed red with murderous intent. Its body armour grew with ferocity and its cannon charged with deadly power. Sheridan, who was stunned at its sudden recovery, bellowed down his COM unit and the Agamemnon slowly rose up into the sky.
The unit appeared to gather its bearings rapidly. It unexpectedly looked up at the ship, rotated in its place and raised its cannon to target his ship.
"W-What the hell?" Sheridan exclaimed.
"Protecting!" the warrior spoke. Its cannon fired and sparks blew out systems and punctured a hole at the bottom of the ship
"We gotta go…" The scientist clawed at Sheridan's shoulder.
A second blast rocked the ship slightly as it made its way out of weapon's range. Looking back, the landmass below grew small; cloud decks filled the sky with a brilliant glow and Sheridan and the scientist rushed behind the bulkhead door before the ship left the atmosphere.
With the hum of the motor closing the door, Sheridan caught his breath. "Damn, I thought that thing was dead!"
"Its body mass and armour is incredibly strong. It will take more than a hundred story fall to stop it. We better get to the bridge and monitor its progress." The scientist got to his feet, brushed down his uniform and they headed to the bridge.
Progress on the warrior appeared slow and uneventful. Sheridan did not know what the unit was up to, but it was walking in the wrong direction and taking its time. Suddenly, as if it heard his own thoughts, the unit turned and headed towards the colony.
"I've placed a loop in its main navigation system. Every five minutes it will instruct itself to head towards the town and once there, it will resume its normal programming."
Sheridan looked away from the scientist who explained the current situation and then focused his attention on the technicians. "Are all the scanners recording?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, I don't want to miss this. Better make sure all visual cameras are tracking, we need to document every weapon blast that thing takes. Even its destruction."
Sheridan was sure the Minbari would probably neutralize that thing before it even reached the town. All the hype of finding the ultimate weapon was child's talk compared to the weapons the Minbari possessed. He estimated it would take four shots to eliminate this warrior. But not before it killed lots of Minbari in its path. He expected a good show…No, he expected the ultimate show!
"I only hope this thing lives long enough for us to get some good readings and make the Minbari run in the opposite direction." Sheridan rubbed his hands and shuffled around in his chair to make himself ready for the show.
And sure enough, on the view screen, the Minbari had seen the intruder land on the planet and two teams of ground forces had already departed, on their way to stop the monster.