Into The Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own amusement, sadly all Robotech and Babylon Five characters remain the property of Harmony Gold, Babylonian 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 Six

Grey Council Chamber

Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha

A Few Hours Later

Satai Delenn was puzzled as she arrived in the inner chamber of the Grey Council - a chamber that on any other Minbari cruiser would have been the vessel's tactical centre - in response to an urgent summons. She had been alone in her chambers, having recently finished having yet another meeting with Lennon, meditating on what she could possibly do to end this genocidal madness that had enveloped her people in the time since Dukhat had died. A madness that she had to guiltily acknowledge she was partially responsible for setting in motion as she had cast the deciding vote that had sent them to war. It was her who had first screamed no mercy, a call that had since taken on a terrible life of its own.

In the months since that terrible day, when the mortally wounded Dukhat died in her arms, the blinding rage and hatred for the humans that she had felt at the time had cooled. It had been replaced with feelings of shame, regret and despair both for the fact that she had acted, cast her vote in a moment of extreme emotion without giving the matter the proper thought that it should have been given. Despair for the fact that now that the warrior caste had been unleashed upon the humans - without any real rules of engagement beyond her grief-fuelled cry of no mercy - and she could not see any way to stop them. Though she had to stop them somehow, the message from Dukhat, relayed to her by the Vorlons hidden inside the Sanctum recreated faithfully by Lennon, was clear that the humans were important for the next great war against the Shadows. That they should be allies to the Minbari not an enemy they were intent on wiping from existence in the name of Dukhat.

If only the Vorlons would appear before the Council and show them the message they showed me, she thought as she moved to take her place in the circle, noting idly that two of her fellow Satai were yet to arrive. She knew full well that if the two Vorlons appeared before the Council and showed them the message then the war against the humans would be stopped almost immediately - after all no Minbari would dream of ever doubting the words of a Vorlon - though there would certainly be some descent among the warrior caste though they would obey the order from the Council. Yet for some reason the Vorlons would not do so, leaving her and Lennon to find a way to stop this madness.

So far they'd had no luck finding said solution.

"Good afternoon Delenn," Coplann said, noticing her arrival, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Good afternoon, Coplann," she replied with a polite nod, even as she noticed that the warrior seemed concerned by something. "Are you alright, Coplann? You seem concerned."

"I am Delenn," Coplann admitted mentally kicking himself for letting what had been reported to him by Branmer and the elders of the warrior caste distract him so much that Delenn had noticed.. "Why will become clear when the rest of the council arrives and our meeting begins."

"I see. Where are Satai Morann and Satai Lekani?" Delenn asked, wondering where the other two Satai were as it was unlike them to be late. Granted this meeting had been called on very short notice but still it was unusual for neither of the two Satai in question to not be here.

"Morann is on his way back now; his flyer should be docking in another few minutes. I believe Lekani is already here but currently in a conference call with some worker caste officials on MInbar. Something to do with the problems we've been experiencing with some of the neutron cannons on our ships."

Delenn raised an eyebrow. "There have been problems," she asked curiously, having not heard anything about this.

"They're mostly minor," Coplann told her, "mostly problems with the gravitic field manipulator coils, the neutron cannons on some of the ships are not firing as far off bore as they should be able to. Being from the clan that builds most if not all the neutron weapons we use I believe Lekani has taken the problem somewhat personally and is determined to get to the source and eliminate it."

"Is it a serious problem?" Delenn asked.

"No, though it is somewhat irritating," Coplann admitted, "what's concerning me more is the problems that have cropped up in our logistical support networks. Once this war is over we will have to look at overhauling the whole thing." Including reminding my fellow warriors of the importance of logistics, he thought a little irritated with the way so many of his caste, especially among the wind swords and some of the smaller more extreme clans like the blood knives, had forgotten the importance of logistics in any military operation.

"Those I am aware of," Delenn admitted, "though it doesn't help that the humans have begun sending raiding parties into our space to hit our shipping. From my research into their history it is apparently a common tactic of theirs in wartime, they refer to it as commerce raiding."

"A cowardly but undeniably effective tactic," Coplann agreed with a sigh recalling the reports he'd been reading on the raids. So far they had been more irritating than anything else but, at their current rate of losses, irritating would soon become worrying. Warships after all couldn't fight if the supplies they needed were delayed or destroyed by the enemy… what was it that Delenn called it… ah yes commerce raiding. "It is certainly not a type of warfare we have many tactics for dealing with. Would you show me your research on the human tactics for commerce raiding after the meeting?"

"Of course," Delenn replied before noticing Morann come in followed a moment or two later by Lekani, both were as tradition demanded in the proper black and grey robes of their position. Though she was surprised to see Branmer walking in behind them, a grim look on his face. Even after all this time it was still surprising to her to see her old friend decked out in the full regalia of a senior warrior instead of the priest he had been, well until Dukhat's death. Mentally she shook herself as every member of the council took their places and Jenimer - the eldest among them and current de-facto leader following the loss of Dukhat - began the meeting in the manner that all such meetings had begun from the moment Valen formed the Grey Council after the Great War.

"I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star," Jenimer intoned the traditional words, spoken so long ago by Valen himself, "we are Grey. We stand between the Darkness and the Light." As soon as he finished speaking he bowed to the other members of the nine. In return they all bowed back, obeying what was a sacred tradition to all of them regardless of which of the three castes they hailed from.

The ceremonial beginning done, Jenimer then removed his hood before gesturing to the lit inner circle. "Shai Alyt Branmer you informed Coplann that you wished to speak with us," he said, "step into the circle and speak."

Branmer nodded and stepped into the circle. "Honoured Satai it is my honour to speak with you," he began, "I do however wish that it was not in such dire circumstances. As you are no doubt aware, yesterday a fleet of warships under the command of Shai Alyt Sineval was dispatched to eliminate a newly discovered midrange human military base in system delta seven, or Altair as the humans call it."

Morann removed his hood. "We are aware," he said, "have you summoned us to report that the base and its fleet have been destroyed?"

"I am afraid not Satai in fact I must report the exact opposite," Branmer replied, "our attack on the base has failed, almost the entire fleet dispatched to attack the base - including the Trigati - has been defeated. Of the sixty-eight ships sent, only three survived to return to our lines with serious damage and very heavy casualties; the other sixty-five have either been destroyed or are crippled and presumed captured."

A distressed murmur ran through the Council at that, none of them quite sure how to react to this news. It sounded almost unbelievable that anyone, let alone the humans, could defeat a full Minbari war fleet in such a manner.

"How did this happen," Morann asked after a moment, so shocked that he forgot to remove his hood as demanded by tradition before speaking. Something that he quickly realised and corrected by removing his hood allowing everyone to see the confusion, and concern, on his face. "Did the humans turn off the hyperspace beacons again?"

"I am afraid not Satai," Branmer replied, "we have a visual record of the battle from the sole surviving Sharlin - the Agiati - ready for your attention. I must however warn you that it shows just how disastrous the battle was and reveals two very concerning things."

"And these are?" Morann asked.

"The first is that the humans have a new ally. Who they are, and where they come from we do not know. The second," here Branmer paused to take a breath and to communicate to the Satai just how grave this next piece of news was, "that whoever they are, they have given the humans the ability to penetrate the stealth systems of our warships."

Morann's eyes narrowed. "You have proof that they can do this?" he asked.

"The evidence on the recording is clear, Satai."

"Very well we will review the recording. Begin playing it for us please," Jenimer said, before Morann could offer any objections about what Branmer was saying was simply not possible, that nobody could penetrate their stealth technology.

"Yes Satai," Branmer acknowledged as he drew a small remote from a pocket in his elaborate uniform - which a human if they had seen it would claim looked almost like something from a Japanese samurai movie - and pressed a button there.

Immediately the holographic field shimmering into existence - falling as a silver-blue and white curtain from the projector above - around them and stabilised showing a holographic image of a massive Minbari fleet in hyperspace. For a moment or two more nothing happened, beyond the cruisers and frigates moving into a standard attack formation with Nial fighters moving into supporting and screening positions, then jump points appeared and the fleet transited into normal space.

To find themselves face to face with the now familiar sight of a human fleet in formation facing them with their starbase and its fixed defences behind them. However the nine immediately noticed the strange ship amidst the fleet and the equally strange smaller craft arrayed throughout the rear of the human formation. Nothing more happened for a few moments then the strange ship they saw changed, shifting shape so it looked almost like a tuning fork before beginning to glow ominously.

Gasps of shock erupted from the nine at what happened next as the vessel generated and unleashed an absolutely colossal energy beam. With frightening accuracy the beam hit and instantly obliterated the Trigati before spreading outwards into a wider cone that enveloped ship after ship in a maelstrom of destructive energy that simply swept them from the stars as if they were toys. Ships close to, but not directly impacted, by the beam were not spared, multiple vessels shattering and exploding, others being wracked with sudden violent explosions as they were showered by the beams backwash. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, but was really only about twenty to thirty seconds, the beam vanished…

…what it revealed was horrifying.

A full third of their fleet was simply gone. Not destroyed but simply erased from existence as if they had just never been there at all. Yet more ships were listing, some even spinning completely out of control, venting atmosphere, debris, bodies and launching lifepods as the surviving crew scrambled to escape what were clearly mortally wounded vessels.

"What in Valen's name was that," Morann breathed, shocked, horrified and quietly terrified by that one attack. It was power on a scale that he had never seen before, power that he just did not think could even be possible for anyone - outside of possibly the Vorlons and the other First Ones - to have. He was not on his own; the entire council were feeling the same horrified, terrified shock.

Branmer paused the recording. "According to our analysis of the sensor data from the Agiati that energy beam was composed primarily of a previously unknown form of vacuum energy and hypercharged plasma with properties that have long been thought to be purely theoretical, we know that the plasma was also heavily impregnated with spontaneously forming and annihilating matter-antimatter pair bonds," he explained, "the beam as it passed also generated an extremely powerful gravitational distortion wave along with a storm of antimatter particles mostly positrons and antiprotons though there are traces of antineutrons as well. Whatever they hit was simply annihilated. The defences on our ships were simply not designed to withstand this level of destructive power."

"We can discuss this more after the recording," Jenimer said after a moment, "resume the recording."

Branmer did as he was bid.

The recording resumed and what happened next shocked the nine even more as, in a dazzling blaze of light, the human fleet opened up with everything they had at their surviving operational ships. However, unlike in every other battle of the war to date where the human fire had been a pointless gesture due to their stealth, every single plasma bolt, charged particle bolt, railgun slug and heavy laser beam slammed into their ships. Clearly communicating to all of them that the humans actually had targeting locks.

The effect was devastating.

In seconds three Tinashi and two Sharlin crumpled into plumes of energised flotsam as the human weapons consumed them. Another Sharlin disappeared a second later, this time of one of the nuclear missiles pouring out of the human ship's missile batteries. Despite the pounding they were taking their forces attempted to fight back unleashing neutron and fusion beam fire.

While they quickly began claiming victims it was obvious that their forces were now decisively outnumbered and more importantly massively outgunned. With their stealth systems seemingly completely ineffective the tide of battle quickly tipped decisively against their forces as for every human ship they destroyed or disabled three or four of their ships would be destroyed. The nine stared in shock and horror as their fleet was hammered to pieces by the sheer volume of plasma, particle and missile fire pouring out of the human fleet.

Finally the devastating recording ended with Agiati and the last two Tinashi withdrawing to hyperspace. Strangely as they withdrew the humans ceased firing upon them, even self-destructing those missiles that were in flight, clearly allowing them to leave. The holographic field dissipated leaving the nine standing there shocked and silent by the death and destruction they had just seen.

Finally Delenn broke the silence. "How many did we lose," she asked with sorrow in her voice for all those who had just perished on both sides of the battle. Later she would go to the small temple maintained here on the Valen'tha for the religious caste members and pray for them. No doubt her fellow religious caste Satai would join her in her prayers and probably Branmer as well.

"At our current estimate we have lost almost twelve thousand warriors and support personnel on that fleet," Branmer replied. "There are a hundred serious injuries on the surviving ships; three crew on the Agiati will not survive much longer due to severe radiation burns. The healers are doing what they can to make them comfortable."

"Is there any indication of who is aiding the humans against us?" Coplann asked, he knew it wasn't any of the League races or the Centauri. They all knew better than to risk angering them by aiding those they had declared a holy war against. Whoever was aiding them was someone new, someone whose power at the very least rivalled their own.

"No Satai. The ship spotted at Altair does not match anything in our records," Branmer replied, having already thoroughly checked the records as his first thought seeing the battle had been that the unknowns were minions of the Shadows. Though as he'd looked at the sensor data the more he had been convinced that they were not, that whoever they were they were someone completely new. "I have spoken with Lennon, the Anla'shok will begin making enquiries through their contacts among the other races for the identity of the ship and its builders."

"Good, hopefully they will find something soon then we can explain to this race the price of daring to interfere in a Minbari matter," Morann said.

"Given what we have seen Morann I doubt that they will fear us," Coplann replied, "anyone who can destroy so many of our ships with a single shot, and who have the technology to penetrate our stealth, is not going to fear a squadron or two of our war cruisers. It is more likely that we would simply be sending our ships to die."

"What concerns me is how this defeat affects our strategy," Satai Naraan - the last of the three warrior caste council members who rarely spoke at these meetings, though when he did they all listened as he was next to Jenimer the oldest member of the council - said. "What is the status of our expeditionary forces?"

Branmer made a face. "It isn't good Satai," he admitted, "the loss of the fleet sent to Altair combined with the loss of the fleet sent to attack Deneb has reduced our available forces to forty percent capacity. I am loath to say this but we have no choice but to temporarily suspend offensive operations in human space while our forces regroup and reinforcements are brought in."

"How long would this take," Morann asked, looking unhappy at the prospect of stopping their offensive operations but being experienced enough to understand the need for it.

"We are working as quickly as we can to reactivate some of the ships from the storage yards," Satai Karenn from the worker caste said. "However due to our ongoing logistical issues, exacerbated by the human raiders, it will take at least a month to get enough ships reactivated, resupplied, crewed and to the staging area."

"A month! Surely we can do better than that?" Morann commented.

"Reactivating a ship from storage is not an easy process, Morann," Karenn explained, "restarting the gravitic reactor alone is a delicate and time consuming process that cannot be rushed without risking a loss of containment."

"A month will have to do," Coplann said, giving Morann a look that communicated quite clearly that Karenn was not exaggerating when she said that resurrecting a ship from long term storage was not an easy process. He knew that all too well since his father was from the worker caste, though in accordance with tradition his mother's caste had taken priority and thus he had always been a member of the warrior caste.

"Is there anything we can do to keep the humans off balance while we rebuild our forces," Morann asked.

"We could use the humans raiding tactics - which they refer to as commerce raiding - against them," Delenn suggested, drawing the attention of all three warrior satai and Branmer all looking at her inviting her to continue. "We could send smaller groups of ships to attack the human shipping routes and possibly carry out hit and run attacks on isolated outposts and groups of warships."

"It would keep the humans off balance," Morann agreed, "buying us the time that we need to recover from our losses and plan the next phase of the war."

"Agreed. All in favour," Jenimer asked, not surprised that all nine lights remained on indicating that the whole council were agreed with this course of action. "Then the motion is passed. We will halt offensive operations in human space for a minimum of a month while sending smaller groups of ships to keep the humans off balance. Branmer, see to it."

"It shall be done," Branmer replied with a bow.

"Is there any other business?" Jenimer asked. When no response came he spoke again. "Very well the Council will recess until our next scheduled meeting. May Valen's fortune shine upon us."

The meeting over the cones of light in which the nine stood all blinked off. Like her fellows Delenn began walking out of the chamber, deep in thought about what she had just seen. She couldn't help but wonder who it was that had come to aid the humans against her people. They certainly weren't likely to be minions of the Shadows as the dancers of the dark would never let one of their thralls develop or deploy a weapon as powerful as that energy beam had been. So who were they?

Little did she know that she wasn't the only one on the ship thinking that exact same thing.

Dukhat's Sanctum

That Same Time

Clad in their encounter suites the Vorlons Kosh Naranek and Kosh Ulkesh observed the recording of the Battle of Altair with both mounting concern and mounting confusion. From the Minbari analysis and their own senses they fully understood the nature and power of the weapon that in one blast had wiped out twenty-two Minbari warships and crippled several more from the particle backwash and graviton shockwave - which their own senses told them included phased gravitons as well as normal gravitons something that the Minbari sensors weren't advanced enough to detect and wouldn't be for another three hundred years or so. They could also tell that the vacuum energy in the beam had had an organic component to it, albeit the waveform was different to anything they had ever seen.

"The circle is in danger," Ulkesh said telepathically.

"No, the circle holds for now," Naranek replied. "The universe is merely presenting us with a puzzle. Something that it has not done in over two million years."

"Indeed. Though it threatens the integrity of the circle. The war between the humans and the Minbari must continue until the time comes for the Minbari to learn the truth," Ulkesh commented. "We should eliminate the contaminant."

Kosh Naranek gave his counterpart the Vorlon equivalent of an incredulous glance. "That will not be necessary," he said, knowing that engaging someone with a weapon like the one they had seen would be dangerous as not even their greatest star dreadnoughts would withstand a direct hit from the alien weapon. Oh they would win the battle from sheer force of numbers if nothing else but the potential for losses was horrendous and they could ill afford such losses not so close to the next great debate with the Shadows "however it might become necessary soon to nudge events closer than they would otherwise have been."

"Move the closed circle closer to the Minbari? Arrange for his capture prehaps?"

Kosh Naranak thought about that for a few moments. It would not be an easy thing to arrange, though they both knew exactly where the one who would be Valen was at all times, but it could be their best option. Of course the biggest hurdle they would have to overcome would be stopping the MInbari from just blasting his ship to pieces on approach and to scan him with the triluminary and in the process learn what part of the truth they currently needed to know. They would someone need to get him here to the Valen'tha so the Grey Council could interrogate him themselves.

"Yes," he agreed at last.

"It will not be easy. Our influence over the humans is not as strong as over the Minbari."

"But it can be done."

"Yes. What of the contaminant?"

"We must find out more about it. I will contact the Emperor and request instructions."

"Yes."

Authors Notes: Hope you all enjoyed this update from the Minbari and Vorlon perspectives. Man the Vorlons are a right pain in the backside to write, now before anyone says they weren't cryptic enough in reviews I will say that I figure that the Vorlons talk plainly and normally among themselves - just they use telepathy to do it - and only talk cryptically to the younger races as seeing the younger races beat their head against the wall while they try to figure out what the bloody hell they mean amuses the Vorlons no end.

Next time we're going to jump forward a little bit to the first meeting between Secretary David Sheridan and Captain Gloval. Until next time stay safe everyone.