Into The Fire
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around for my own amusement - sadly all Robotech and Babylon Five characters remain the property of Harmony Gold, Babylon Productions Inc and Warner Brothers respectively - I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs - also known as lawyers - firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.
Chapter Nineteen
Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha
Two Days Later
Satai Delenn was both confused and concerned as she made her way to the Grey Council chambers aboard the Valen'tha in response to an urgent summons. She had been in her chambers, having just finished going over the final reports on the costs to the Minbari in terms of lives lost and resources destroyed in the human attack on their primary staging and supply post – to say they were even more disastrous than she had first believed was an understatement, the loss of a hundred of the Minbari's heaviest transport ships and their specialist crews in the attack being one of the biggest problems they now faced – and had been about to begin her daily meditation ritual when the message from Jenimer asking for the council to assemble had been brought to her by one of the numerous minor functionaries that there were on the ship.
Naturally she had come at once, all the while wondering just what had happened now. She had to wonder if the Humans had done something launched some new attack on their borders now that they had gained the ability to see through there stealth technology. She wouldn't blame them if they had as for a year now the Minbari had been slaughtering the Humans with impunity destroying ship after ship, station after station while being virtually immune to their attempts to fight back due to the stealth protection on Minbari warships. Stealth that forced them to close to visual targeting range in order to land a hit, something that almost never happened. Now that that advantage had been neutralized by the unknown ship that had intervened at Altair, they were bound to launch attacks on the Federation directly to make them pay for all the pain they'd caused the Earth Alliance. While she couldn't blame them for launching an attack, if they indeed had, she also cursed it somewhat as well as it would make finding a way to end this without a wholesale slaughter occurring – which would only benefit the Shadows in the long run – that much more difficult.
She put aside her thoughts about what this could be about as she arrived in the council chambers. It was something of a surprise to find that, this time around, she was the last of the Nine to arrive. Usually, she was one of the first to arrive.
"Ah good Delenn you are here let us begin," Jenimer said in greeting as they all moved into their blue light cones, hoods up waiting for the meeting to begin. In his position of de facto leader, due to his age and experience, Jenimer began the sacred to all of them ritual that began a meeting of the Grey Council. "I am Grey," he intoned, "I stand between the darkness and the light. We are Grey we stand between the candle and the star."
As he finished, he bowed to the other Satai. They in turn bowed back completing the sacred ritual first decreed by Valen himself when he first formed the Grey Council and united the Minbari people. As soon as that was complete Jenimer wielding the staff of leadership spoke again. "Shai Alyt Branmer," he said into the darkness prompting the priest turned warrior to appear from where he had been concealed in the darkness of the room. "You wished to speak with us. Step into the circle and speak."
Suppressing his nerves, speaking with the Satai was always a somewhat nerve-wracking experience especially as the nine held the destiny of the entire Minbari race in their hands and had done for a thousand years, Branmer walked forward and stepped into the central circle with the nine all around him, all anomalous and their hooded black and grey robes. Jenimer only standing out from the others since he was holding the staff of leadership and as the oldest of the council would hold it until the time of mourning for Dukhat ended and a new Minbari was chosen to become leader of the council.
"Honoured Satai I come before you with important news from the few forces we have still in human controlled space," he said bowing respectively in a manner that betrayed his religious caste origin.
Delenn removed her hood to speak. "I was under the impression that all our forces have been ordered to pull out of human space for the time being," she said.
"This is true Satai however some of our reconnaissance and raiding parties have proven difficult to contact especially as the destruction of our staging area also destroyed a number of key long-range communications arrays," Branmer replied with a nod to his old friend. "It is a report from one of those fleets centred upon the Drala Fi that I have for you now. A report that is both very welcome and very concerning."
Morann removed his own hood. "What is this report," he asked, like many in his caste he had started to become concerned about the Drala Fi and the fleet assigned to her. Especially as Alyt Traka had been very evasive about what exactly he was doing inside Earth Alliance territory when questioned by the caste elders. He would only ever say that he was pursuing something that if it panned out would give the Minbari the means of achieving a quick victory over the admittedly impressively determined Humans.
Branmer grimaced slightly knowing that some of what he had to report probably would not go down that well. Especially with his fellow warriors many of whom had considered the Drala Fi or in the Humans language the Black Star the invincible, invulnerable pride of their entire navy. To hear that she was gone, destroyed, would certainly come as a huge blow to the warrior castes collective pride – which had already taken quite the battering over the last month or so ever since the Battle of Altair – though at least they would have to comfort that she had died with honour, fighting the enemies of the Minbari people.
"Satai it is my sad duty to report that the Drala Fi has been destroyed," he said taking the plunge. A surprised murmur ran through the Grey Council at his words. "However, in the loss of his ship, and the bulk of his fleet, Alyt Traka has revealed to us the path to victory over the Humans."
"Explain," Morann demanded both angry and confused by the report. Angry because of the loss of the Drala Fi and her fleet was just another indignity, another outrage and stain on the honour of the warrior caste that would have to be avenged. Confused however by the second part of Branmer's statement, what exactly did he mean by the destruction of the Drala Fi revealing to them the path to victory over the Humans?
"It is quite a long story Satai."
"Then I suggest you begin quickly," Coplann added as he removed his own hood. Like Morann he was angered over the loss of the vessel that many in his caste had considered the best of them, the crew of that war cruiser being drawn from the crème dela crème of all the clans of their caste.
Branmer nodded and began his explanation. He started by explaining how Traka had tracked down a Vree trader and, after a bit of coercion, managed to extract a piece of information from him. The information in question being an old hyperspace route that the Vree had once used to travel to the very heart of Human space for both the purposes of research and to have a little bit of 'fun' at the expense of the natives. How after acquiring the information on the route, which included the frequencies used by the antiquated beacons lining it, Traka had let the Vree go but with a warning if it revealed just what had happened there would be severe consequences.
Delenn frowned as she listened to that part of the report. Especially the fact that Traka had bullied the Vree into handing over the information that he wanted, likely forcing him to do so at the point of a neutron cannon, and even threatened them with force if they said anything. She was not amused, or impressed, by the warrior caste resorting to such blatant bully boy tactics – in Valen's name if this was the way the warriors had been behaving towards the other races then it was no wonder, they were getting increasingly antagonistic towards the Minbari – as it was very unbecoming of them. What did they think they were Narn or Centauri?
A glance at the hooded forms of her fellow religious caste Satai was enough to confirm that they were about as impressed as she was by this behaviour from the warrior caste. She did take a little bit of heart though when she saw a flash of distaste at the tactics employed flash across Coplann's face, the Star Rider clearly did approve any more than she did. Silently she vowed that, once this war was over, there would be a reckoning and the warriors made to understand that such bullying tactics were not in any way acceptable. Certainly not now that they were drawing ever closer to the prophesised return of the Shadows. She forced down her indignation for now and focused on what Branmer was reporting and how Traka had begun following the path outlined in the Vree star chart that supposedly led to the heart of the Earth Alliance Sol itself.
"Did it?" Morann asked suddenly quite hopeful. If they had a path to the home system of the Humans, then the tide of this war would swing firmly back into their favour as they would be able to travel to Sol and wipe out the scourge of those who had murdered Dukhat at its source. It would also be a suitable revenge for all the losses they – and their ally – had inflicted upon the Minbari recently, losses that would frankly take years to recover from.
"The route is a very roundabout one and does require an extended cruise through normal space due to a beacon being lost to a hyperspace anomaly, but the route does indeed lead to the heart of Human space Satai," Branmer confirmed. "The route terminates at the fifth planet of the system a ringed gas giant that the Humans refer to as Saturn. From the Vree records they had to destroy the beacons deeper in the system when the Humans gained jump gate and jump engine technology from the Centauri."
"That is hardly a problem we could just extrapolate the position of Earth from Saturn," Morann replied then smiled, "this is excellent news with this path we can assemble a fleet and put an end to this war once and for all. Though how does this tie into the destruction of the Drala Fi?"
Branmer grimaced. "Alyt Traka's forces were detected by the Humans and jumped by two separate task forces of Human warships," he said, "and I am sad to say that we now have proof that the alien sensor technology that allows the Humans to penetrate our stealth technology has spread far more widely within their fleet as the Humans were able to lock onto and fire upon Traka's forces. The resultant battle was brief but devastating as all but three of our ships were destroyed or disable by close range plasma, laser and missile bombardments – the three surviving ships were ordered to withdraw by Alyt Traka and are making their way back to our space as we speak – which swiftly overwhelmed us."
"I see and the Drala Fi," Morann asked feeling more than a slight shiver of worry at the news that the sensor technology had spread so far. Having been here on the Valen'tha with the rest of the Council during the first encounter with the Humans he understood Human weapons were fully capable of rapidly inflicting extremely heavy damage to their ships. The vessel called Prometheus had only hit the Valen'tha twice with her heavy plasma cannon but that had been enough to disable them and cause enough damage that Dukhat was killed – his chest crushed by falling debris – along with a sizeable chunk of the crew.
"At the last report she was disabled, adrift and burning with all drive and weapons fins destroyed. It was almost certainly destroyed by the Humans after the battle."
"An interesting but at the same time quite concerning report Shai Alyt," Jenimer said even as Morann and Coplann frowned. Naraan was still hooded but his body posture visible through his robes was clearly much the same as the other two warriors. "What do the elders of the warrior caste suggest that we do about this?"
"Satai it is the suggestion of the caste elders that we assemble a full assault force as soon as possible even if that means we have to pull ships away from the protectorates," Branmer replied, "once assembled the fleet should get underway for Earth immediately and proceed to destroy it. Our projections indicate that we do still have enough supplies available at secondary sites to support such a focused, targeted offensive however we can only afford to do so once. If we fail, if our ships are destroyed or we suffer too many losses, then the future for us is bleak indeed."
"We will discuss this," Jenimer said at last. "Remain outside this chamber Shai Alyt we will summon you once we have made our decision."
"As you wish," Branmer replied with a bow before turning and leaving the circle, disappearing back into the darkness of the room. After a few moments they heard the iris like door open and then close again as Branmer left the room.
For a few moments silence reigned in the meeting place of the Grey Council. Each of the Nine taking a few moments to gather their thoughts and to process the information that had just been provided to them.
"I believe that our choice is clear," Morann said breaking the silence. "We should follow the recommendation of the warrior caste elders and assemble the biggest fleet possible, then send it along this hyperspace path to the Human home system."
"That would a very dangerous move Morann," Delenn pointed out, "with our compromised logistical support networks and the loss of almost all our existing expeditionary forces we would have to pull a lot of ships away from their patrols. We would leave our space dangerously vulnerable to attack, especially to the Centauri with whom we share a border."
Morann scoffed. "The current Centauri Emperor is a coward," he said speaking with the normal arrogant disdain for the Centauri that most in the warrior caste had. "Turhan wouldn't dare to order his people to attack us. Even if he did want to attack us, he knows we would simply annihilate their attack force before turning one or more of their planets into molten glass in retribution. No Delenn the Centauri will not dare attack us."
"Like they would not dare organise an economic blockade against us," Delenn pointed out, recalling the transmission that the Minbari had received a day or so ago. A transmission that had stated that for the duration of the war, and in protest to their disproportionate plans to genocide an entire race for the death of one man, all the other younger races were imposing a full economic blockade upon the Minbari Federation. "Already several cargo ships that had been sent to the Pak'ma'ra worlds to acquire additional supplies of quantium forty have been impounded by them."
"They dare," Morann growled.
"They do and more Morann," Satai Karenn replied as she removed her own hood. "All of our traders have been informed that the Minbari Federation is now under a full economic blockade. Any Minbari trading vessel that leaves our space will be either turned back by the other races or ceased and impounded. This will lead to a significant shortfall in the amounts of several critical raw materials available, including quantium forty."
"Do we not have our own sources for the material," Coplann asked.
"We do however only a handful of our own mines are still producing any significant amount of quantium forty," Karenn answered. "All the other mines have run dry after a thousand years of mining. That is why we had to begin trading with others like the Pak'ma'ra for their quantium forty. While we are looking for additional sources ourselves it is very slow and painstaking work."
"We should attack the Pak'ma'ra cease their mines," Morann said.
"That would be foolish in the extreme Morann," Delenn replied shocked that the warrior would even suggest such a thing. "Not only have the Yolu openly stated that they would stop any such attempt but reports from the Anla'shok confirm that the Centauri, Narn and all major League worlds have been given the specifications for the sensors that will enable them to bypass our stealth technology."
A grim silence greeting that announcement. The fact that the Yolu, the last of the middle-born races and thus even more powerful than they to the point that a Yolu cruiser could easily annihilate even their strongest war cruisers, was willing to step in against them should the need arise was shocking. Though a member of the League, the Yolu rarely took interest in the affairs of the other races and generally only fought when they needed to defend themselves. Which was quite rare as most races knew of their power and didn't dare risk challenging them to battle, even the Dilgar at the height of their invasion of League of Non-Aligned Worlds had left them alone knowing better than to challenge them.
That was bad but what made it even worse was the knowledge of how to make the sensor technology that could penetrate their stealth technology was apparently spreading rapidly among the other races. For centuries the Minbari had been heavily reliant on their warship's stealth abilities, it had long been one of their greatest technological advantages, in combat. It had gotten to the point that they didn't bother fitting traditional close in and point defence weapons to their ships – certainly they had nothing like the admittedly impressive interceptors used by the Earth Alliance - since they simply weren't needed as anyone who tried to get into visual target range would be destroyed well short of their goal. That advantage being lost was tactically speaking a nightmare and would no doubt require a complete redesign of the Minbari fleet and a reassessment of their combat doctrines.
Which would be a hell of a lot of work, especially on top of sorting out all the logistical support issues that this war had brought to light.
"We should still mount the attack," Morann said at last. "Once Earth is gone, we can take the sensors from the wreckage of their ships. From there I do not doubt the worker caste will be able to find a countermeasure and restore our stealth abilities to normal."
"We would certainly try," Karenn confirmed acting as the speaker for her two fellow worker caste Satai. "However, until we understand just how the sensors do whatever it is they do that lets them detect our ships we can naturally make no promises."
"Even if restoring stealth capabilities to full function proves impossible, we still gain much if we take Earth down," Coplann added, "we will once again remind the other races of the full extent of our power and how foolish it is to challenge us. Plus, we will have not just justice for the murder of Dukhat but vengeance for all the losses and pain we have sustained in recent months."
"As I have said Dukhat would never have approved of this slaughter," Delenn replied knowing her mentor well. He would not only have been very disappointed in the fact that it had been her vote that had set them on this path but also that she had acted without thinking. Made a snap decision in a moment of extreme emotional distress that had resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides of this conflict. Pointless, needless deaths that would only make battling the Shadows when they returned that much harder.
"Maybe not," Morann admitted, "but we will never know because the Humans murdered him. Besides the decision has been made, our people united in this cause. We cannot, we must not stop the war now. The blood of all our people who have joined Dukhat in death demand vengeance."
A murmur of agreement ran through the bulk of the Council as Morann said that. The moment it did Delenn knew she had lost the argument now, and it was true that the Minbari had suffered horrendous casualties in the war recently. Ever since the Battle of Altair all they had known was defeat after defeat with a toll of dead and wounded being sustained that had not been seen since the war with the Shadows. Not even the Garmak had inflicted such losses on them. As a result, many on Minbar and across the Federation in general were screaming both in grief and in rage, demanding vengeance against those who dared to stand against the Minbari. Deciding not to speak again she pulled her hood back up signalling to the others that she had nothing more that she wished to say.
"Then let us vote on the issue," Jenimer said, feeling somewhat sorry for Delenn. He knew how much this distasteful business was starting to distress her, and how guilty she was feeling over it all. He would speak with her later, help the younger Satai deal with her emotions and the responsibilities that came with their position. It was what Dukhat would have done if he had still been here to guide his young protégé as she learned the sometimes-harsh lessons a leader needed to learn. "All in favour of assembling our fleet and sending them to attack the Human homeworld?"
Immediately all but two lights remained on. The only two going dark belonging to Delenn and Rathenn signalling their disagreement with the motion. Not that it was enough to stop what was going to happen and what needed to be.
"Then it is decided. We will attack the Human home system using this hyperspace route," Jenimer said prompting the other two's lights to come back on. "Summon Branmer back to our presence so that we may inform him of our decision."
Moments later, having heard the summons over a sophisticated comm system, Shai Alyt Branmer returned to their meeting room and went back to the central circle. Delenn watched as Jenimer relayed their decision on this matter to Branmer who would relay it to the warrior caste elders and get everything in motion. As he did so she got a sudden horrible feeling deep within her soul…
…a feeling that in doing this they were signing Minbar's death warrant.
Dukhat's Sanctum
Both Vorlons frowned, or rather did their species equivalent of frowning, as they observed the Minbari commit themselves to a new all-out offensive along the hyperspace route they'd acquired from the Vree. They were both fully aware that by now the Vree ambassador had no doubt told EarthForce about the hyperspace route, and even if they hadn't, they would get it from the computers found in the remains of the Minbari fleet especially as the Drala Fi hadn't been destroyed merely disabled and later boarded by the Humans.
It thus wouldn't take them long to realize where the opportune location to force the Minbari into a battle was along the route as the Humans would certainly want to intercept the Minbari formation as far from Earth as possible. A battle was inevitable, and it would certainly be extremely costly for both parties – especially if the interlopers ship chooses to get involved in the battle as it certainly would – which was really the last thing they wanted to happen.
"We must do something," Kosh Ulkesh said telepathically to his counterpart. "This battle must either not take place or be somehow stopped. The circle will not survive if we do not stop this."
"We cannot prevent the battle to come," Kosh Naranek replied. "It became inevitable the moment the newcomers gave the Earthers the ability to penetrate the Minbari stealth technology."
"We should have destroyed the interlopers. Now the entire circle is threatened."
"Calm yourself it is not as threatened as you believe. We simply need to use our agents to make sure that the Closed Circle is found and captured by the Minbari early in the battle. Once they know that truth the Minbari will agree to talks to end the war. Plus, the experience of being defeated a few times will do them good."
"Point they have been too complacent, smug and believing themselves invulnerable. This does prepare them better for the war with the chaos weavers. So, we arrange Sinclair's capture?"
"So is the decision of the Emperor."
"Then so it will be."
"Yes."
Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust I hope you all enjoyed it. It was surprising how quickly this chapter came together after I started writing it yesterday morning but then I like it when chapters practically write themselves. Makes my life as an author so much easier – lol. I was going to have another section based on Earth in this chapter but where I left it felt the best place to do so, with the Vorlons beginning to scheme how they're going to arrange for Sinclair to be captured and scanned with the triluminaries – which would naturally reveal that he has the soul of Valen as he is or will be Valen – during the battle to come. A battle that is going to be a massive affair and will determine the fate of not just Earth and Minbar but the fate of the SDF-1, her people and every one of the so-called younger races. Until next time.
