Into The Fire

Author's Note: I cannot believe how quickly this fic is coming together. It's almost like the chapters are writing themselves.

Chapter Five

Presidential Office

Earth Dome, Geneva

A Short Time Later

General Robert Lefcourt had a slight spring in his step as he arrived at the antechamber to the president's office, not that you would have noticed if you didn't know him well. To most of the staff in the wing of the government complex - beneath the great carbon-nanotube reinforced glass and plasteel dome that gave the heart of the Earth Alliance government its name - he would be seen to be walking normally. But to the handful here who did know him well, mostly those civil servants who had served under the previous administration, the slight spring of happiness in his walk drew looks of surprise and confusion.

He couldn't blame them as they didn't know yet what he knew. As far as they were aware he was still trying to lead EarthForce through a devastating war. A war that he guiltily acknowledged that he was somewhat at least partially responsible for starting, after all he hadn't really protested the decision to trust command of the mission to the Minbari border to Captain Jankowski - despite repeated warnings from numerous people that the man was a loose canon and couldn't be trusted with such an important mission. Nor had he chosen to accept the advice of Ambassador Mollari to only send one ship to the border instead of an entire squadron. Back then he had been too arrogant and prideful to listen as like many others he had believed that EarthForce could handle anyone who dared to stand against them…

…such an arrogant, prideful fool he had been.

In the near year after that disastrous event he had seen his beloved service be almost contemptuously torn apart again and again and again by the Minbari warrior caste. More than once - seeing videos of the proud ships of EarthForce being so easily sliced apart by green or yellow-green energy beams even as they ineffectively tried to get into visual targeting range to fight back - he had wanted to alternatively rage at the creatures who killed his people so wantonly and cry at seeing such slaughter. He could well understand why the disgraced despairing Michael Jankowski had taken his own life, seeing the slaughter his actions had precipitated.

Now though everything had changed and, as long as they didn't mess up the diplomatic relationship with Captain Gloval, could be about to change some more. If everything went well - and the politicians didn't screw it up, which couldn't be guaranteed as they were well politicians - then they could turn the tide of this war. Or at very least turn it from a glorified turkey shoot - for the Minbari - into a true slugging match. Maybe then the Minbari would be willing to them with words instead of particle cannons. Though if they still intended to wipe them out, well they would at least make the arrogant creatures pay heavily in blood for their 'victory'.

He pushed aside those thoughts as he arrived outside the president's office. As was normal in wartime the office was not just being guarded by the normal security personnel but by a pair of EarthForce Marines or GROPOS in full battle dress and holding heavy PPG rifles. The new wartime security protocols had been put in place during the Dilgar War, when a number of Dilgar special operations soldiers had infiltrated Earth and caused a fair few headaches before they were rooted out and killed. While Minbari infiltrators weren't likely - everything they had learned about the Minbari from the Centauri and those among the League who had had dealings with them in the past confirmed that the Minbari didn't work or think that way - the people in charge of presidential security weren't taking any chances.

Hence why as soon as he arrived the lieutenant in charge of the guards held up a hand for him to stop while producing an identicard reader. It wasn't one of the more common ones that you would find in use at any Earth Alliance customs or security checkpoints throughout their territory, but a bulkier model that included some additional security checks.

"Identicard please sir," the lieutenant said, speaking with a pronounced Australian accent.

Rather than answer Lefcourt produced his card and handed it to the younger officer who really looked far too young for his rank. Not that there was much choice these days as more and more experienced people were having to be sent to the front lines with the Minbari - far too many not returning from the experience. The younger officer accepted the card and fed it into the reader… which within a few seconds bleeped and one set of lights turned green confirming it was both a valid card and that it was issued to him.

"I need a combined thumb and DNA scan now sir," the officer said, turning the reader to face him.

"Of course," Lefcourt replied as he placed his right thumb on the reader. After a moment he felt a brief prick as a tiny needle breached his skin and extracted the tiniest sample of his as the reader scanned his thumb print and compared it to the information stored on the card. A moment later it did the same for his DNA profile. The second set of lights on the reader turned green.

"Thank you sir," the lieutenant replied, taking the card out of the reader and handing it back. "The president is waiting for you sir."

"Then we better not keep her waiting, lieutenant."

"No sir," the lieutenant agreed before turning and leading him through the antechamber into the office, the guards opening the door for them. The lieutenant stopped just inside the entrance, preventing him from entering. "General Lefcourt ma'am."

"Thank you lieutenant, let him in," President Elizabeth Levy said from where she sat at her desk, the great seal of the Earth Alliance dominating the wall behind her.

"Yes ma'am," the lieutenant acknowledged before stepping aside to allow Lefcourt to step into the room, then he turned and left, closing the doors behind him.

Lefcourt for his part glanced around the room, noticing immediately that he and Levy were not alone here. Also present in the office was Haster - Levy's chief aide - the Vice President Luis Santiago and the Secretary of State David Sheridan. They had thoughtfully left a chair free for him to sit down and with a gesture Levy bid him to do just that.

"Good afternoon general," Levy said in greeting, "I trust you have news about the battle at Altair."

"I do madam president," Lefcourt replied, before inwardly smiling he was looking forward to seeing how the people before him would react to his news. They were obviously expecting bad news as had been the case for every other outer rim and mid-range military base that the Minbari had hit in this war to date. "The battle is over, the Minbari attack fleet has been almost completely destroyed, only three of their warships survived to escape to hyperspace, all of them heavily damaged; on fire and venting atmosphere."

You could hear a pin drop in the ensuing silence.

"H…h…how?" Santiago exclaimed, voice thick with shock, amazement and an understandable amount of disbelief. They had all gotten so used to hearing report after report of the Minbari effortlessly defeating their fleets and annihilating their bases that the thought that they had failed, and instead been destroyed themselves, was almost unimaginable.

"The SDF-1 made all the difference," Lefcourt replied, "their sensors, small craft that appear to be a space-going version of an old AWACs and the weapons systems of the ship turned the tide of battle in our favour."

"SDF-1? The ship that claims it's from another reality?" Santiago questioned, so far they didn't know a huge amount of the ship - as General Bradshaw had understandably been preoccupied helping them rescue a huge number of civilians to ask many questions - but they were all aware of the seemingly impossible claim of being from another reality.

"The same and we have confirmed what they say. While our sensors cannot penetrate the hull of the SDF-1 - whatever the metal that makes up the hull is impervious to our scanners - their fighters and other craft can be scanned as normal. Our scans have confirmed that both the ships and the pilot's inside them have a different quantum phase signature to us, which our best analysts confirm means that they really are from another reality."

"Maybe you should start at the beginning, general," Levy suggested, feeling her brain hurt a little bit at the science talk. She was not an uneducated woman - far from it - it's just she never really got quantum physics, even the basic level stuff they had taught at university. It was enough to give her a headache and she'd already had to deal with enough of those since this blasted war had begun she could do without another thank you very much.

"As you wish madam president," Lefcourt answered, knowing that by starting at the beginning what Levy was really asking was for him to start at the beginning of the SDF-1's involvement in the battle. He retrieved a data crystal and a remote from one of the pocket's in his uniform trousers. "May I ma'am?"

"Of course."

With the permission of the president he calmly placed the data crystal in the reading port for the desks built in holographic projector. The crystal immediately lit up as it established a solid connection to the system which immediately read the data and prepared it for projection. Even as it did that he wirelessly connected his remote to the system, a green light appeared on the remote letting him know that it was connected and working normally.

Calmly he began to explain. "When our hyperspace probes around the Altair system detected the approach of the Minbari attack fleet General Bradshaw naturally informed Captain Gloval of the situation since there are currently seventy thousand civilians aboard the SDF-1 alongside her normal operational crew."

"No doubt General Bradshaw was going to tell them to get those civilians out of harm's way," David Sheridan commented, he was quite familiar with Kyle Bradshaw having worked with him on a number of occasions in the past and knew that was exactly what the man would have done.

"Indeed," Lefcourt confirmed. "However, that is not what ended up happening. As soon as he was told of the approaching fleet Captain Gloval offered their assistance. Given they had already demonstrated that their sensors can see through the Minbari stealth technology Bradshaw agreed. Gloval then deployed thirty-five of these throughout our forces creating a basic but functional detection grid."

As he spoke he pressed a control on his remote. The light's in the room automatically dimmed, and the shutters over the windows closed, a moment before a holographic image blinked into existence over the desk. What it revealed was a small aircraft - that looked like it should be flying in Earth's skies - that was according to the dimensions twenty-one-and-a-half metres long, with a wingspan of twenty-and-a-half metres - which had a large dish-like antenna on the top. It looked somewhat archaic yet at the same time there was something about it, something that said it was far more advanced than how it appeared.

"They refer to these craft as Cat's Eye reconnaissance aerospace planes," Lefcourt reported calmly, "they have a variety of different sensors. Most crucially to us they have the same sensors as the SDF-1, albeit being shorter in range, which as I said can penetrate the Minbari stealth technology. They shared that telemetry with all of our ships."

"You mean that we were able to engage the Minbari at normal ranges instead of trying to get into knife-fighting range," Secretary Sheridan asked, knowing from his talks with John what the biggest hindrance EarthForce had when it came to getting to grips with the Minbari.

"Yes," Lefcourt replied with a nod, grateful that he didn't have to explain anything but then given David's son was one of their most up and coming commanders he would be well aware of the military realities of the situation. "Though the biggest event that really turned the battle in our favour happened at the very start of the battle. Captain Gloval asked General Bradshaw for the honour of firing the first shot, he was permitted and what happened next… well it's astonishing and utterly terrifying in equal measure."

"Please explain general," Levy said looking at him in surprise for as he said that last part the look on his face was one she had honestly never seen on Robert Lefcourts face before, and she had dealt with him on and off for years from when she'd started as Secretary of State just after the end of the Dilgar War to her ascension to the presidency. It was one of astonishment, disbelief and no small amount of fear.

"It would be better to show you madam president," Lefcourt replied as he pressed a control on his remote causing a video to begin being projected. He paused it before speaking. "This is a composite video recorded from the external optical sensors of the dreadnoughts Minerva and Amun. It shows the shot the SDF-1 fired and its effects upon the MInbari - I will warn you all again that it is both spectacular and utterly terrifying."

"Understood please play the video, general."

"Yes ma'am."

Lefcourt pressed a control and started the video replay. He kept a careful eye on the three politicians as they observed the SDF-1 power up and fire its massive main weapon. Gasps of shock and awe came from all three at the absolutely colossal energy beam that emerged from the bow of the battlefortress and slammed into the Minbari fleet. Static washed across the recordings showing how the sheer energy output was affecting the systems of the two Nova-class dreadnoughts. For nearly twenty seconds the discharge went on, the yellow-white mass of the energy beam completely dominating the view, before stopping. Again the politicians gasped as they beheld the results of the attack… a sizable chunk of the Minbari fleet was simply wiped from existence so completely that not even dust marked where the ships had once been. More Minbari ships were listing or spinning out of control, obviously heavily damaged and utterly helpless.

"H…h…how many did that kill?" Santiago asked, sounding and looking deeply shaken. "And what kind of weapon was that?"

"From our tally a full third of the Minbari capital ships, including their command ship, and sixty percent of their fighter cover was destroyed a number of other ships were disabled so completely that they were being evacuated by their crews following a complete loss of both main and auxiliary power," Lefcourt replied, "as for what that weapon is… we have no real idea. Analysis of the sensor data shows it was packed with a massive amount of vacuum energy, along with a form of plasma we've never seen before. It spilled a lot of antimatter particles - mostly positrons and antiprotons - as it passed along while also generating an immensely powerful gravitational distortion wave. The Minbari ships in and around its path never had a chance. No ship we know of from any race would have a chance against that kind of power."

"My god," Santiago breathed. "What happened next?"

"That shot disoriented and confused the Minbari," Lefcourt replied, "General Bradshaw didn't give them a chance to recover, he changed targeting from the disabled vessels and opened fire on the others. Over the next several minutes most of the Minbari fleet was completely destroyed, the rest withdrawing from battle."

"What were the losses on our side?" Levy asked. "And what about the Minbari lifepods?"

"Five ships destroyed, several more seriously damaged," Lefcourt replied, "the fire from the Minbari was uncoordinated, we believe that they couldn't fully re-establish fleet discipline after the destruction of so many ships by one shot. Hence why our own casualties are relatively low. As for the Minbari lifepods after the battle General Bradshaw scrambled medical ships to recover both our own survivors and the Minbari. He made sure to order that all Minbari survivors taken prisoner are treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention."

"Good. Though general draft a fleet wide order to that effect. Bring it to me when you've finished drafting it so I can make it a direct presidential order."

"Yes madam president."

"What about the SDF-1?" Santiago asked.

"Captain Gloval and General Bradshaw will be having a meeting on Altair base in a few hours, once post-battle cleanup is finished. If I know Bradshaw he will want to start negotiations for the SDF-1's sensor technology if nothing else."

Santiago and Sheridan exchanged a look. "One of us should go," Santiago said after a moment, "no offence general but something like this needs to really be negotiated by a member of the civilian government, not the military."

"None taken," Lefcourt replied.

"I'll go," Sheridan said after a moment. "While the crew of the SDF-1 are human, they are from another reality which likely has a different history to ours. Not to mention the technology they have means we should treat them as we would a more advanced but friendly race. Of all of us here I have the most experience doing that."

"Are you sure David? Your health is not as good as it once was," Levy asked in concern, knowing that while he was far from frail David Sheridan wasn't as fit as he once was. Travelling to another planetary system to conduct negotiations could potentially put a lot of strain on his slowly ailing body.

"I'll be fine Elizabeth. There's life in this old body yet."

"Alright you can go. Luis, work with him to assemble an appropriate delegation as quickly as possible."

"Of course."

"General, make sure a diplomatic transport with full clearance and an appropriate wartime escort is prepared as soon as possible."

"Yes madam president."

Minbari Starbase

Minbari/Earth Alliance Border Region

That Same Time

Administrator Tulenn was not a happy Minbari.

Sitting behind his desk in his spacious, but spartan, office - as a member of the worker caste he didn't require many luxuries - he glared futility at his computer screen. A screen that was filled with the latest 'request' for resources from the warrior caste as they fought to claim justice for Dukhat. In the nine months since the war had begun the requests had become more and more frequent, and more and more strident, as the warriors learned - belatedly - that what his caste had been telling them, repeatedly, over the last few centuries was painfully true. That you could not fight a war on just warrior spirit alone and that - while they could carry decent supplies in their cargo bays - even the largest war cruisers ate through supplies of things like fuel quickly during wartime operations.

Of course trying to get warriors to understand the realities of logistics is a never ending battle, he thought, muscle-brained idiots the lot of them. Really what do the warrior caste elders teach their people? Mentally he shook his head in resignation, while muttering under his breath about the frequent stupidity of the warriors, before reading through the request. Which naturally - like every other Shadow-spawned request from them - was marked urgent. It was actually a fairly simple request, several Sharlin's were reporting that they were running low of helium three fuel for their fusion reactors - and from their the ships fusion beam cannons - and needed fresh supplies to be sent to them as soon as possible alongside some spare parts for some of their neutron cannons which were proving a bit more temperamental than expected when subjected to wartime loading. A flaw that he knew other members of his caste were already hard at work identifying and solving.

Rather the request would have been a simple one to fill if he had the resources available.

Unfortunately the latest shipments of both fusion fuel and spare neutron cannon parts had not yet arrived from Minbar. He knew why the logistical burden of this war was proving unexpectedly stressful on their transport fleet which was struggling to transport the material quickly enough. Plus the humans weren't stupid and had started sending raiding parties into their space to prey on their shipping, indeed he was aware that the Earth Alliance had engaged the services of a number of the various pirate and raider bands that preyed on galactic shipping. Offering them rich rewards, including supplies of quantium forty, for hitting Minbari shipping.

In peacetime such raider activity would have been quickly, decisively, dealt with. The warriors would have sent a few cruisers to find the pirate stronghold or carrier and destroy it with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, with so many of their ready supply of warships being sent to the front lines against the humans, that was currently no longer possible. The result being their lighter patrol ships had to do the job - which wasn't ideal as some of the better organised raider groups had the firepower to take down one with relative ease - and they couldn't spare any cruisers from their own fleet to do it. Those were needed to protect their shipyards and ship storage facilities - freeing up the warrior caste ships who normally did it to go to the front lines. The religious caste was doing its best to help - as were the anla'shok - but both only had so many resources to go around.

One thing was for sure once this war was over the worker caste would have to do a thorough - and definitely long overdue - overhaul of the Federation's logistical support network. The war had so far shown them several vulnerabilities and weaknesses that they hadn't even realised were there. Problems that had no simple or easy solutions.

Mentally Tulenn shook himself and called up another screen to check the progress of the shipment. A slight smile appeared on his face as saw that the shipment - after an initial delay caused by a broken down transport ship - was now on time and would be here this evening. Switching back to the other screen he wrote out a response to the warriors latest request, letting them know when they could expect the requested supplies to be forwarded to them. The warriors wouldn't like the delay - they never did - but they would have to accept it.

He had just finished when his desk comm gave a crystalline sounding trill. Now what, he thought before tapping a button on the offending device. "Yes?" he asked.

"Administrator the war cruiser Agiati and war frigates Tukani and Salin have just jumped in. All three are very badly damaged," one of the control room staff reported immediately. "We are currently unable to establish contact with them, it appears that their tachyon communication arrays are inoperative or destroyed."

"I'll be right there," Tulenn replied immediately, standing up and making his way to the control room. Which was really only a few steps from his office. "Report?"

"Administrator, we have run additional scans on all three warships," the chief sensor technician reported. "All three are very badly damaged with multiple hull breaches and sections decompressed. Power readings are only at forty percent of what they should be, life form readings show extensive casualties on all three vessels. Residual radiation in the impact sites matches human plasma and particle weapons."

Looks like the humans got lucky in whatever battle they've just fought, Tulenn thought. "Scramble all search and rescue ships," he ordered knowing that there was bound to be a lot of wounded warriors and worker caste support staff on those three ships. Wounded people who would need help. "Advise the healers to prepare for incoming wounded."

"Yes administrator."

"Administrator we're being hailed by the Agiati," communications reported, "short range sublight comm only. Alyt Rastenn is requesting to speak with you."

"Put him through," Tulenn ordered.

"Yes administrator."

The holographic display at the front of the control room shimmered into existence and brought in an image of the face and torso of Alyt Rastenn. The warrior looked dreadful, expression radiating tiredness and shock. His face covered with soot from what had to have been a serious fire aboard the Agiati - presumably ignited by the intense heat of the human plasma bolts.

"Alyt Rastenn I am Administrator Tulenn," Tulenn introduced himself. "How may we be of assistance?"

"Administrator, we have sustained extensive damage and heavy casualties," Rastenn replied immediately. "I request immediate search and rescue assistance."

"I have already scrambled them and alerted the healers to prepare to receive incoming wounded."

Rastenn looked relieved. "Thank you administrator," he said, sounding genuinely relieved that help was coming for his wounded crew. "Our long range communications systems are destroyed, would it be possible to set up a relay with your own stellar communications array. I need to speak with both the Council of Caste Elders and the Grey Council as soon as possible."

"It is possible," Tulenn replied, "though it will take a few minutes to properly synchronise our systems with those on your ship."

"I understand," Rastenn answered with a nod. Tulenn looked over at his chief communications technician and nodded. The technician nodded back and began the process of synching up the systems on the station and those aboard the Agiati.

"We're beginning the synchronising process now," Tulenn said, turning back to the warrior, who looked very tired. Clearly he, and his crew, had been through hell. What in Valen's name did the humans do to them, he thought, how could they inflict such damage to those three ships. "Alyt might I ask what happened? How did you come to be so damaged?"

"What happened?" Rastenn repeated, then sighed. "Disaster."