AUTHOR NOTE: - Sorry this project is taking so long, but because this story is free to the public and the interest is somewhat lacking throughout, this project has been at the bottom of things to do. Half of the beta readers I had for this project have now moved on so this is making things even harder to complete and there are spaces open for new volunteers.
The donations have been non-existent and work, family have been getting in the way. But there is one thing I will say for sure, although my will to write has been tested throughout the years, I am determined to complete this project to the bitter end… Yes, I know how it will end, so be patent and check your E-mail from time to time.
In the mean time, if you like Babylon Paradox, you will certainly like Terminus X novel, available through my website as kindle download or paperback.
Now back to the story. Enjoy.
Chapter 58 (Susan Ivanova)
The Minbari forces were on the move. Susan watched the whole event take place in the cockpit of her small craft. She liked the isolation. Although her main ship was still back on the hyperspace city, she was allowed to take a small transport vessel to complete her task.
The Minbari marched in uniformed position and held their weapons ready just as the warrior made its way through the canyons at a snail's pace. Rocks and overhangs hid its advancement from time to time, but Susan still felt excitement drum through her veins.
The warrior was just around the cliff corner now; she estimated that it would take the army five minutes to intercept it. Its exoskeleton morphed into a harder exterior and its helmet had changed in pigmentation. The warrior raised its cannon as if it could sense the approaching forces, yet it continued without fear or hesitation.
The Minbari forces spotted the ten-foot monster and halted dead in their tracks.
Analysing the robotic form, they were still at a safe distance, or Susan thought. But as they had always done in previous battles, the Minbari charged in with their energy weapons blazing. Several stabbing beams struck the rock face causing dust and rocks to explode in all directions. The sun's light reflected off the crystalline buildings in the dusk and created a glittering effect all around. The creature was covered in a cloud of dust. Susan wondered if it had survived.
"Looks like this fight has ended before it even began," she murmured to herself.
Suddenly, and without warning, bolts of plasma rained out of the cloud, striking the first six Minbari dead. Surprised at the sudden retaliation, the remaining Minbari scattered, taking shelter behind anything they could. Some hid behind rocks while others lay flat on the ground. Susan looked on with growing interest. She felt her heart pound and sweat form on her forehead. Was this the moment the Minbari would finally pay for their terror?
The warrior marched out of the fog and began firing its weapon relentlessly in all directions.
Several laser hits struck its armour only to be absorbed with minimal damage. It was as if the warrior was learning how the Minbari fought and built its armour accordingly.
As part of her surveillance assignment, Susan had been ordered to monitor the warrior's energy readings. Most of the readings were normal except for the energy build-up from the cannon the warrior possessed. It grew with every minute and the Minbari were losing ground at every turn.
With over half the Minbari forces lost to the attack, Susan smiled as the creature walked on towards the village, stepping on the corpses of the fallen, crushing skulls and shattering limbs. The remaining enemy stood no chance. She clenched the controls as each plasma blast killed or disintegrated a Minbari. Susan counted each one of the fallen and wondered how many combat warriors would be needed to deploy on the Minbari home world.
Could one kill them all?
Interrupting her thoughts, Marcus strolled in with his annoying personality.
"Ah, Susan, I see you're watching a spot of television?"
"I'm monitoring the success of the warrior Sheridan placed on the planet."
"I see, it does appear to be doing a good job at the moment. The Minbari resistance is almost gone."
One of the two remaining Minbari received a direct plasma burst in the chest and he flew through the air and thumped the ground beside his partner. The only remaining Minbari glanced around in panic and, with his mouth agape in shock, ran as fast as he could back to the small settlement.
"I stand corrected, looks like the resistance has gone!" Marcus smiled annoying Susan that little bit more.
"What do you want, Marcus?" Susan snapped. She did not like her personal entertainment ruined by anyone.
"You said we could go on a date."
"Did I?" Susan questioned. "I can't remember."
"Oh, you do have terrible memory. I think that's an adorable trait in you."
Marcus pulled out another juicy orange and waved it in front of her. That asshole was trying to push all her buttons. "So, how about it? After this job is done, why don't you visit my cramped quarters and we can discuss things further?"
"Are you serious?" Susan barked in anger. "We are in a middle of a mission and you want to play some silly dating game?"
"I wouldn't hardly call it silly, just looking for the right time."
"Now's not the time." Susan clenched one fist in triumph as she watched the fall of another Minbari. The final straggler was struck down just as it entered the gates to the settlement. She felt victory well up and leaned back in her chair, forgetting Marcus.
"I see you've changed your mind," he said gamely.
Susan shot up and recalled the past five minutes. "We are on a mission. What do you expect, some mid mission fling while all this is taking place?"
The screen focused on the small settlement of Minbari and Susan regained her focus as the warrior continued towards the gates. With only one command in its mind, the creature continued relentlessly with nothing to stop it. Even the defenceless citizens who tried to protect the settlement were killed instantly.
"I think the warrior has faired rather well against the small Minbari force that was stationed on this world."
"Do I sense some compassion in your voice towards the Minbari? Come now Marcus, haven't you forgotten that they destroyed our world just ten years ago?"
Susan watched Marcus' expression change to that of scolding scepticism.
"Of course I haven't," Marcus shot back. "But that thing down there does not care about who it kills. I bet if humans were down there, they'd be slaughtered too."
The warrior received several decisive blasts to its abdomen before some hidden Warrior Caste members knocked it to the floor. But victory was short lived as the monster regained its footing, searched for its attackers and blew up half a building just to kill them. Now its energy blasts equalled that of a small battle cruiser. It became apparent that if they did venture down to the planet, they too would be destroyed easily.
A communication jumped Susan back to reality. "Sheridan to Captain Ivanova: A Minbari transport has just come through the local jump gate. Your orders are to hide in the asteroid rings around the planet and mask our signature."
Susan replied, "Acknowledged, Captain." She then focused her attention to Marcus. "Looks like its time for you to leave."
"Oh, such a shame, we haven't even arranged a meeting for our date."
"I think we can manage another day," Susan mused. She then stepped up her tone a notch. "Now get out!"
As she clutched the controls with white knuckles and tried to portray an aura of hostility, Marcus finally got the message and left her ship.
Once the outer air lock was sealed, the compartment her ship was in depressurised. When the hissing stopped, the outer doors opened and she was able to see the blissful scenery of asteroids, stars and the jump gate before her. She knew what had to be done. The Minbari transport was too far to detect the Agamemnon and it was thought that with the new shield online their presence would be masked.
Her job was simple: Fly to one of the asteroids and monitor the Minbari approach. She didn't know why there was a Minbari transport visiting the world, no records indicated any ships in hyperspace. It could have been a local travelling to one of the neighbouring systems. But she had to monitor its movements and report any sudden activity. If need be, she was instructed to offer herself as a distraction so Sheridan could get into position to fire. With asteroids careering in all directions it was impossible to get a straight shot unless Sheridan expended a lot of power and drained the shields.
She grabbed the control stick with her right hand and began to steer her small craft out of the airlock. It had been a while since she manually piloted the vessel, normally autopilot and tracking beams did all the hard work, but with asteroids spinning around in random trajectories, her life was now in her own hands and she preferred it that way.
Once her craft left the airlock, she plotted the safest route to one of the asteroids on the fringes of the rings. There she could monitor the Minbari transport and radio back her observations. An unknown element in the core of the asteroids interfered with scanners, so she acted as a relay point as well. At first she had wondered why Marcus was on this joyride, but it was obvious that if something did go wrong, he would be needed to make a quick escape and transport all the data to the President.
Susan manoeuvred around several large asteroids before her path was clear. Nothing much to worry about, but she kept a keen eye on the Minbari transport that was nearly entering the first layer of rings.
Closer now, she ebbed to and fro, sliding from one asteroid to the next with such precision, her craft was barely meters away from the hard rocky surface. She was just two asteroids away from her staging area and the Minbari had not spotted her yet.
"Come on, don't see me now!" Susan prayed as she gunned through the last hurdle.
Nerves ran high as the Minbari transport suddenly stopped. She had just managed to land her ship on the surface of the targeted asteroid and she waited with engines off and systems on minimal power.
Susan stared at the transport as if the words in her mind would force the Minbari vessel to leave. It remained motionless, hanging like a grain of sand against the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Earth like planet. She clutched the controls and waited, it was all she could do.
Finally she sighed in relief as the Minbari vessel activated its engines and headed for the planet.
With the all clear sounding through her cockpit, she activated her systems, and regained communications with the Agamemnon.
Activating the video feed of the planet, all she saw was devastation on a grand scale. Buildings were on fire and the town had gone up in flames. Susan did not have to look far to find the cause of all the panic. The twelve-foot warrior continued on its rampage and she was sure it in physical size. Its energy reading was way off her charts and each blast saw whole buildings disintegrated.
Just when Susan wondered where the Minbari transport had gone, it swooped in to the settlement, fired its yellow hot beams and sent the creature flying into a neighbouring building. Dust covered the commotion while the transport landed in a upheaval of fury. Moments later, military armoured personal stormed out of the ship to offer resistance.
The show was not over, no, not by a long shot. She continued to stare in amazement as the warrior extended an mutilated hand from the rubble, grabbed a beam to support itself and heaved its massive form to its feet.
Its armour began to form around the damaged arm and the cannon charged rapidly, poised to release devastating blows. If this creature had a soul, Susan could almost have made out the pissed off look in its metallic face.
It changed tactics. She did not know why, or what it was thinking, but the warrior decided to lower its weapon and as the first Minbari approached it.
That Minbari must have been a young buck, fresh out of whatever academy the Minbari used to train these people. With only a small blade in his hand, the hero rushed forward yelling at the top of his voice. His spiky curved bone around his head was fresh and neatly looked after, as if he was proud of his appearance. The warrior made short work of him.
With an unrestricted swing from its cannon, it ploughed its weapon into the young man's chest and sent him hurtling towards the floor, shattering the young buck into two parts, spilling his intestines. For good measure, the monster reached down, grabbed the bottom of the Minbari's spine and swung him around like a shot-put. His upper body spasmed as he succumbed to his death, and the warrior marched forward, trampling his skull into the mushy dirt.
The warrior's next victim was a somewhat wiser Minbari who kept his ground and assessed the creature from a distance. Susan placed her bets on the winner. There was no contest.
At last the Minbari rushed in for the kill, jabbing and stabbing at the metallic monster.
It only stood and leered at him.
Without thinking, the Minbari continued to offer blows and punches, but his blade was flung into the dirt and in a flash, huge cybernetic hands grabbed the Minbari's skull and squeezed it like an egg. The other soldiers decided that enough was enough; they opened fire with everything they had. The warrior staggered back against the energy blasts.
Would this be it? Could the combined force of the Minbari army finally stop this monster? Susan wondered…
With over thirty soldiers on the ground, the creature was clearly outnumbered. Not only that, it had sustained damage from the previous fight. Surely its time was over. But, as if fate had the last word, the cyborg still carried on with no sign of slowing down.
"What the hell is that thing?" Susan questioned as the warrior climbed back to its feet and unleashed another volley of hot plasma at the approaching forces.
It showed no mercy and continued on without fear or hesitation. It grew stronger, fighting back each energy blast the Minbari threw at it. Susan was sure it would fall, but it continued, adapting to the situation at a rapid pace.
More energy blast shot past the creature as it began to demolish another crystal structure. Minbari fled in all directions and it began cherry picking them one by one. Hundreds of dead Minbari lay strewn on the street with their crimson blood staining the floor. It was a massacre.
"Captain Ivanova, are you recording this?" A voice sounded over the COM chatter. Susan recognised the voice. It was Sheridan.
"Yes, I am recording everything. Although I don't have any love for the Minbari, that monster we unleashed down there is horrible."
"I know, but it was an order from the President. We must know how effective the Minbari are. They will stop at nothing to defeat us."
Susan turned off the monitor, but kept the systems running. "Perhaps we should have warned them?"
"They are Minbari, Captain Ivanova, they murdered all our families and deserve no special treatment. I know it's a tough job, but it has to be done."
Moments later Sheridan closed the channel without warning. Someone must have disturbed Sheridan. Left in the dark, Susan thought about the war and all the people it had killed.
However, more importantly she thought about the absurdity of what she just witnessed.