Prologue
Above Earth
December 2266
"Belter Convoy 356 you are cleared to dock. Approach Station Six following flight path Three."
"Copy that Earth Control, setting course. Estimate ten minutes to dock."
"Acknowledged. Be advised traffic is heavy today, we have multiple military units in close orbit."
"So I see Control, we promise to stay out of trouble."
It was nice of Earth Space Traffic Control to give them the heads up on military forces nearby but also entirely redundant, it was impossible not to notice the rows of angular grey warships hanging in the black high above the blue world. Starfury fighters whizzed back and forth like flashing darts catching the reflected light from the planet along with assorted shuttles and auxiliary craft. It was certainly a busy scene and somewhat out of place for a random December morning.
"Don't they usually announce military exercises ahead of time?" Flight officer Mbeki double checked their approach vector making sure there was nothing in their way. "They're blocking the main routes to Station Prime."
"I can hear the complaints right now, all those executives and business class passengers having to sit for an extra fifteen minutes?" Comms Specialist Tucker chuckled maliciously at the thought. "Must be livid."
"Probably a surprise drill." Their Captain peered out between her two bridge officers through the armoured windows. "Announcing them in advance kind of defeats the point."
"Might be for the Line. It'll be the anniversary in two weeks."
"Nineteen years." The Captain nodded her head. "Looks like too many ships though, maybe for the twentieth anniversary but nineteen is a little random."
"Plus I see Minbari, there, at the back centre of the formation." Tucker pointed out.
"Well, I mean the Minbari were there too." Mbeki raised an eyebrow. "Right?"
"Don't" Tucker tightened his lips. "We don't joke about the Line, even a Marsie should know that."
"Fine, fine." Mbeki surrendered.
"My old man died on the Line."
Both bridge crew turned to glance at their Captain.
"Apparently just back that way near the Moon."
"Sorry to hear that Red." Tucker sympathised. "Had an older brother in the Force, ship vanished without a trace. Probably shot to pieces in the middle of nowhere. No beacons, no survivors, no way to confirm it."
"Lot of that happened. Whole fleets just erased." The Captain kept her eyes on the distant warships distinct with their blue curved hulls. "Guess we're all friends now."
Her musings were interrupted by a chime showing the convoy was in position on the designated flight path. She tapped the comms controls to perform the final part of her duty.
"Convoy this is Captain Akari, proceed as directed and we'll pick you up in three days for the return journey."
Each of the six cargo ships in formation signalled their acknowledgement and began their approach toward the slowly spinning space station.
"Alright Beaky that's us done, alter course away from the shipping lanes and we'll find a spot to rest up."
"Roger that." Mbeki inputted a new course tilting their vessel up and away. "Clearing local traffic."
The vessel peeled away engines flaring briefly to shift it into a higher orbit, its task now completed as responsibility for the six transport ships in the convoy shifted to Earth Force. Akari and her crew had been tasked with providing armed escort for the small fleet as it had travelled in from Vega Colony to Earth loaded with assorted valuables destined for tech companies planetside. It was sometimes quite a dangerous route with space near Vega known for Raider activity but on this occasion things had gone smoothly.
For risky routes like Vega the Belt Alliance offered one or two small warships as armed escorts, the largely civilian organisation grudgingly permitted a fleet of old corvettes and cutters by Earth Force. The Belt Alliance tended to be looked down on by a lot of the standing military as a threat to their monopoly on warships but their existence did at least mean Earth Force didn't have to spend ships on escort duty.
Captain Kayano Akari commanded one such vessel, the medium gunship Roulette. It was positively ancient dating back to the 2210s and carried a flight of equally ancient fighters along with assorted kinetic cannons. They weren't even rail guns, just old fashioned chemically propelled artillery. It was as blocky as its Earth Force cousins, just as ugly and brutal in appearance if somewhat smaller. Never the less the class had proven itself in countless skirmishes with Raiders, pirates and assorted alien invaders. The Roulette herself had an enviable kill record including a Dilgar frigate and Drazi Sunhawk. She was the last of her type, her sisters long since lost in battles or to the breaker's yard.
"Get a signal to the Belt Tuck, let them know the contract is done." Akari stretched her arms out, her muscles feeling light in the zero gravity. "Do we have a berth?"
"We can drop into orbital path at forty nine degrees Polar, nice stable orbit at five thousand kilometres." Mbeki read out. "Three days as requested."
"I'll organise some shore leave, there's only thirty of us on this thing so let's get into parties of ten and shuttle down. One day each, then on to Mars."
"Be nice to have some gravity again." Tuck rolled his head in a circle stretching the muscles. "I swear I'm in the wrong profession."
"You should transfer to a Liner, those big bulbous things with their own rotating decks."
"If I wanted to die of boredom..."
"You could join the Force." Mbeki proposed a different suggestion. "Those Destroyers have gravity."
"You wouldn't like it." Akari screwed up her face. "Too much politicking. Better to be out here, rickety old ship and all the freedom you can manage."
"That why you quit?"
"Pretty much."
A point of blue light caught their attention, a small speck out in the darkness shining bright blue.
"Little close to Earth for a jump point." Akari squinted. "More Earth Force?"
"Not sure." Tucker ran the sensor data. "Two ships, unknown type, don't look like ours."
He sent the image through to the main monitor showing a magnified image of a large tri winged vessel. It was sleek and delicate looking despite its size, the hull pearlescent and otherworldly.
"They're big, just shy of three thousand metres."
"Look like Minbari." Mbeki gave his analysis. "Must have cost a fortune."
"Heard rumours Sheridan was looking to build some new ships for his Rangers, maybe that's them." Akari stared at the image. "Saw some of their attack ships a few years back, the ones he hit Clark with, scary little things."
"Guess he's here to show them off, maybe a joint exercise with all these ships?"
"Yeah, could be." Akari nodded. "Big joint fleet, new heavy ships, good publicity for his ISA initiative."
Generally the Interstellar Alliance was viewed favourably by Akari, it had given independence to her homeworld of Mars and brought in plenty of trade for her employers in the Belt Alliance. The previous years had been unstable to say the least and things had been starting to look up. As usual that was when disaster dutifully arrived.
"I have more jump points." Tucker announced as his screens began to scroll data. "A lot of jump points, I mean a lot of jump points."
"How many is a lot?" Akari pressed for details.
"Hundreds."
She could see the distant lights near the Moon along with another emerging distortion she couldn't identify, something black and hazy far larger than any ship.
"Are they friendly?"
"I don't think so."
The range was a little long for their elderly gunship but they were still getting some sensor readings back, not the full three dimensional generated images a warship could provide but enough to identify the newly arriving ships.
"I've never seen these ships anywhere before now." Mbeki tilted his head for a better view. "What did we do to piss them off?"
"You need to read your briefings, I've seen them." Akari cycled her console screen through the different profiles kept in the records. "They were hitting League transport lines a while back, Rangers called them Drakh."
"What are they doing here?" Tucker looked out through the bridge windows.
"Looks like they graduated from raiding to full scale invasion." The Captain gritted her teeth watching the assembled allied fleet firing up a counter move. She knew very little about these Drakh, indeed nobody really did. Her job took across most of known space, the nice shiny bits and the less pleasant parts, nobody knew anything beyond if you see one, you run.
"Earth Force is going in." Mbeki announced what they all knew, his voice wavering slightly. "Are these Drakh tough? Tougher than the Minbari?"
"We're going to find out."
"Attention all civilian ships, this is an emergency broadcast!" A stern voice suddenly boomed across the guard communication channels surprising the bridge crew. "By order of Earth Force Command all civilian vessels must pull back behind the defence grid. Clear the lines of fire and descend to a safer orbit immediately."
"They're definitely taking this seriously." Tucker inhaled sharply the old sensors still trying to gather and display data on the old cloudy screens.
"I repeat, clear the lines of fire and descend to a safe orbit. The defence grid will commence fire in one minute."
"And they won't hold fire if some slow ass freighter gets in the way." Mbeki read between the lines. "Our current orbit is under the grid, I'll hold course."
"Negative, take us up." Akari spoke with clear authority, her personality shifting almost in a heartbeat. "Put us parallel to the defence grid."
"Captain, they just ordered civilians to a safer orbit." Tucker reminded.
"We're not civilians." Akari returned with a wolfish smile. "Sound action stations, have the pilots man their fighters."
"Captain..."
Akari raised a hand silencing any further questions.
"We don't know what those aliens can do out there but they wouldn't have shown up with so many warships if they just wanted to give us a fruit basket and an invitation to a barn dance. Maybe the fleet will wipe the floor with them, but if they can't then we have to do something to help. No matter how small."
Tucker tightened up as fear shivered through him for a moment, then summoned up his resolve and nodded.
"Aye Captain, sounding action stations."
"This is a bad idea." Mbeki hissed through his teeth before tapping his controls. "Burning for higher orbit."
The Roulette began her laborious journey up out of the gravity well, Earth doing its best to drag them back down. The defence grid was at a relatively high altitude to maintain a steady geosynchronous orbit over their assigned sectors which did offer a lot of shelter for civilian ships. The Belter warship was slow but sturdy, maintaining a single gravity worth of acceleration blasting ions from its quad engine pack in a bright stream, the elderly vessel nothing if not reliable. As it did so the small crew readied for combat, a quartet of anti ship cannons whirring into life alongside a dozen smaller rapid fire autocannons.
"Fighters reporting ready." Tucker watched the readouts turn green. "We can launch as soon as we stop accelerating."
"I want us near that satellite cluster." Akari pointed to some distant spots of light. "Those big guns will keep the warships off us, we'll keep the smaller ships off them."
"Think they'll send anything our way?" Tucker wondered, staring at the still distant invaders.
"Standard procedure, kill the fixed defences with small fast craft so the big vessels can close in without getting shanked." Akari was already looking for the swarm of incoming fighters. So far nothing but her instincts promised trouble was on its way. "They'll be along."
The orbital defences had two main components, the famous Aegis class heavy satellites that had so nearly doomed Earth in the final minutes of the Clark regime, and the assorted manned space stations dotted around the planet. Most of the stations were civilian transfer hubs tasked with picking up cargo and passengers from ships and putting them on shuttles for the surface with no defences, but others were pure military facilities armed to the teeth.
The largest was Space Fortress Cardea, the gateway to Earth and primary coordinator of the automated satellites. That particular station was currently moving into position utilising its immensely large but low thrust engines to put itself directly in front of the enemy fleet, the limited mobility an idea retained from Babylon 4. More common were the ring type Orion stations with six of them evenly distributed in orbit as strongpoints.
"Captain, I have IFF signals for two other Belt Alliance ships." Mbeki spoke over his shoulder. "The Gunship Stamper and Light Carrier Hokum."
"That's Mike Gibson's group. Can you get me through to them?"
"Already set."
She shot a smile and flicked the channel open.
"Stamper, Hokum, this is Red on the Roulette, you hear me over there?"
"Red, this is Gibson, nice timing huh?"
"Was looking forward to hitting the old haunts, still plan to but I figure that'll be hard if some random aliens nuke the place."
"Would be pretty inconvenient."
"Looks like the Navy can handle the main event, but I'll bet you fifty credits they're sending fast movers down here to hit the satellites, maybe the civvie ships too." Akari related. "The fleet is going to be too busy to stop them and the defence grid could be overwhelmed if they concentrate."
"I know where this is going." Gibson spoke flatly. "This is the part where we gun up and help out right?"
"We're the only armed ships in orbit, just us and the local fighters and I don't think they can do it alone."
"Think three old buckets are going to make any difference in a battle like this?"
Probably not, she had to accept that, but there was no way she was going to just sit back and put on the kettle while a war raged. She had a weapon, she had an enemy. That was enough.
"Follow me and find out."
There was a long moment of silence where Akari wondered if she'd overplayed her hand a little too much, whether she was demanding more than a civilian crew could realistically deliver. She was ex-Earth Force along with a good chunk of the other Belters, but this wasn't the fleet anymore. She had never backed down from a fight in her life and a challenge like that would boil her blood, she hoped it was true for her allies.
"To hell with it! Alright, we're following your lead." Gibson at last answered. "Tell us where you want us."
"Send the Stamper up to my altitude, you hang back and coordinate our fighters."
"Copy that." He exhaled. "If this goes south I guess they won't care if we're in the Force or not. We're all screwed."
He wasn't wrong, every war Earth had fought seemed to involve stopping a genocide so why change the formula now? The front lines were already heavily engaged with lead elements merging and manoeuvring in a brutally close ranged engagement. It was too early to get an idea of which side had the upper hand but the sheer amount of explosions indicated Earth Force was hitting hard.
"Movement on the flanks." Tucker interrupted her contemplation. "I see multiple enemy vessels exiting from behind the Moon. Hard to be specific with these sensors but dozens at least."
"Sometimes it gets annoying always being right." Akari winced as her prediction proved correct. "Where are they heading?"
"Straight for us on the shortest route, we are almost exactly in their path."
"Estimated contact?"
"Four minutes, no other ships are in range, the defence grid is responding."
"Cut engines and get the fighters out there." Akari set to business. "Copy to the other ships, engage light craft first and leave the bigger ships to the grid."
With a shudder the Roulette shut down her propulsion and coasted up into her final position, a quartet of doors opening on the underside of the ship releasing a flight of equally antique Delta-V fighters from their magnetic rails with a clunk. The old triangular fighters were as common across space as they were old, used by private military firms and often the very same Raiders and Pirates they were employed to fight. The design dated first contact and while rugged and reliable they were also easy prey for most newer fighters. Their one advantage here was a wingful of missiles which at least gave them a chance at doing some meaningful damage.
The carrier deployed some slightly better fighters from its blocky hangers, a squadron of Starfoxes which were based on a second generation Starfury design itself nearly seventy years old now, and a squadron of Narn Gorith fighters which some enterprising individual had bought cheap when the Frazi had replaced them. Both squadrons were also obsolete but less so than the Deltas and like them carried a respectable missile armament with the Starfoxes also armed with blast cannons, essentially fighter sized shotguns designed to saturate a target with metal shards.
Ahead of them the Drakh splinter fleet raced on, curving around the main fight giving it plenty of distance. Behind them the battlestations and armed satellites rotated under thrusters and powered up to do their job, sensors sweeping the sky while the big stations began flooding the region with electronic jamming. Starfuries mustered and rushed forward themselves, squadron after squadron in a hurried procession to intercept the enemy and engage them safely away from their vulnerable allies in orbit.
"Defence grid is armed and locking on, energy spike!"
The sensors went haywire as two dozen satellites fired at once, thick red beams of energised particles reaching out toward the incoming Drakh. The attacking fleet split and took evasive action, their gravitic drives offering a respectable level of agility, but with so much fire inbound something was going to connect. A Drakh carrier and two cruisers took the brunt of the hits, all three ships vanishing in a blinding flash of white light and boiling metal. As advanced as they were, not even the favoured servants of the Shadows could stand up to the sheer violence of the massive particle cannons standing as Earth's last line of defence. When the radiation faded the sensors showed only white hot debris and an enemy that was suddenly and urgently rethinking its plan.
"Satellites recharging." Tucker reported. "Battlestations are going next!"
If the satellites were fearsome the battlestations were apocalyptic, each of the ring type stations carrying no less than six of the same particle guns mounted on their smaller companions. They had been built to stop the Minbari through pure overwhelming firepower and found the Drakh a suitable substitute, belching rays of energy toward the hostile force. Above them all was Space Fortress Cardea with triple the firepower of an Orion base, more than capable of erasing even the grandest enemy ship.
The Drakh splinter fleet lost more and more ships snatched out of existence in waves of sweeping energy, the full fury of the defence grid unloading without mercy or respite. When the stations fell silent and waited for their batteries to cool and recharge the satellites began again, a rolling wall of impenetrable firepower.
The Drakh had underestimated Earth and paid for it, their attempt to rush the planet resulting in a dozen shattered wrecks. The remaining heavy ships turned aside and pulled back to consolidate and ready themselves for a second assault but not before adjusting their strategy.
"Enemy cruisers pulling back, attack ships surging."
"They should have done this first, they got cocky." Akari scoffed a little. "Must have been a while since they fought a real war."
Waves of attack ships took up the duty of engaging the planetary defences and clearing the path for their main force. The closer the Drakh pushed in their main force the more likely it became that the well armed fixed defences could hurt their planet killing weapons. It was a remote chance but not something their leadership was going to risk.
"Multiple vessels, three hundred plus heading in fast!" Tucker plotted their trajectory. "Approaching on multiple vectors, we can't intercept them all."
"We hold here and defend this satellite cluster." Akari planted herself down, picking her little corner of the sky and silently vowing never to relinquish it. "Fighters forward, all weapons free, prioritise ships heading for the grid."
The Drakh attackers were not small, about half the size of a Whitestar which greatly outmassed the usual single seat fighters facing them. They were more of a high speed cutter or gunboat in scale and mounted a single potent neutron beam cannon in the nose coupled with speed and solid armour. They were not just a serious challenge for the fighters but also a real threat to the Belter gunboats themselves.
The Defence Grid also responded to this new threat by ripple firing a sea of missiles into the face of the attack saturating as many approaches as they could. A missile alone wasn't much, something easily dodged or shot down by the agile Drakh raiders, but when facing hundreds after hundreds sometimes their options ran out.
Explosions started peppering the sky, some from missiles falling to the azure Drakh energy beams, others from raiders ploughing headfirst into a few kilotons of tactical nuke. It thinned out the initial waves but not nearly enough, the bulk of the hostile attack group edging closer and closer as they twisted and turned through the maelstrom.
The missiles killed some Raiders but that wasn't their real job, just a bonus. Their true purpose in this fight was to make the concentrated enemy force disperse and split up as they took evasive action. A single group of hundreds of ships was incredibly dangerous but a hundred groups of two or three ships less so. It gave Earth a chance to try and overwhelm them one by one, to swamp them with entire squadrons of Starfuries or rely on the trio of secondary pulse cannons each satellite carried.
"Enemy coming into range."
"Main guns focus on one target at a time, light guns engage any targets of opportunity." Akari enhanced her cool trying to predict where the nearest Drakh were going. "Fire as soon as you get a clean shot."
The turrets snapped around, made a few final adjustments, then opened up as the Drakh swept in at high speed. The cannons gave it their all blasting away at a respectable rate of fire sending tracer shots downrange in a carefully predicted pattern. The shells moved a lot slower than railguns or pulse energy requiring the gunners to lead their target by a significant margin meaning most of the barrage would miss. Fortunately there was a lot of metal erupting from the Belter ships.
The Drakh evaded but not by much, beside the Belter ships they were also under attack by fighters and the defence grid pulse cannons setting up an effective crossfire. One Drakh ship folded as it was shredded by pulses, another detonated as half a squadron of Starfuries focused their attacks on its centre of mass. The Roulette made herself known as the Drakh rushed past ignoring the small blocky ships, one of her shells blasting away one of the wings on the stern of one vessel sending it spinning out of control. The second hit caught a Raider at the thinnest part of its neck effectively decapitating the attack ship and sending its wreck into the path of its allies, disrupting the rest of the formation.
"Two down!" Tucker called. The ships were close enough to be seen through the flight deck windows. "Shall we give chase?"
"Negative, move us aside and standby for the next wave." Akari shifted her focus, any survivors from that first wave would have to be handled by the Starfuries. "We'll thin them out as they fly past, shift us to a flanking position."
The engines burned briefly adjusting the Roulette's position to avoid the worst of the incoming waves. Missiles from the defence grid were still reaching out but most of the Fury squadrons had been pulled out of position to deal with the first wave. The pair of Belter ships were going to have to take the brunt here.
"Targets inbound, eight marks!"
"Adjust angle for maximum coverage and engage."
Again the two gunships began firing this time from further to the side to try and avoid unwanted attention. Akari was gambling that the Drakh were too focused on the satellites to waste time on some ancient convoy escorts leaving them free to act. Their contribution wasn't much but it was better than nothing.
As the gunships engaged so too did the fighters with a mixture of gunfire and missiles. The old bolters on the Delta fighters were utterly useless scattering against the Drakh armour without any meaningful result. The Goriths did a little better chipping away at the back of the Drakh ship closest to them but again offering no real results. Only the blast cannons on the Starfoxes made a difference, damaging the drive of a Drakh ship enough for the gunships to line up a clean shot. Four armour piercing rounds punched through and detonated within the raider blasting it apart.
It was a good kill but only a single ship, the rest holding course until they were met by the Starfuries. The fighters swarmed in but they simply couldn't do enough damage in time.
"Two hostiles made it past, they are going in for the closest satellite." Tucker grimaced seeing the pale beams cutting into the spherical platform with minimal resistance. "Satellite down."
Akari swore sharply. "I'd sell a kidney for a decent pulse cannon!" She forced her frustration down trying to remember to set a good example. "Not one of my own of course."
"Third wave on the way!" Tucker was oblivious to the attempt at humour. "Coming in closer this time!"
"Move us to the flank, fire as you bear."
The Belter fighters again moved in launching the rest of their missiles with similar minimal effect, the small warheads merely scratching the surface. Three of the fighters were lost in the effort, cut down in one sweep of a Drakh beam when they failed to get clear in time.
"Five second burst on the main engines, keep us mobile." Akari tensed as the Drakh advanced swiftly on her position. Once again their targets would be the satellites but this particular group was going to pass very close by, close enough for one of them to swat the little task force. She could try to get clear of course, to stand down and try to remain unnoticed, but to do so would be an insult to those fighting and dying bove them.
"Concentrate all guns on the best target and fire."
"Plotting solution!"
"For all its worth."
The guns spoke again with a muted thunder reverberating in the hull of the Roulette, the worn cannons recoiling back with each shot before hungrily consuming more ammunition. The point defences also activated this time spraying ribbons of tracers that glittered and glowed against the inky black. It was an impressive light show from the little ship mirrored by its more modern cousin but once again of minimal value. A pair of real Earth Force corvettes would have shredded these small Drakh units in a hail of rail gun, pulse cannon and missile salvoes especially given the advantageous position Akari had found, but the two gunships had to make do with only stragglers.
"Target hit, minimal damage!" Tucker reported. "Maintaining fire!"
There was nothing more disheartening than scoring a clean hit only to see the enemy shrug it off. Even the relatively small raiders needed multiple strikes or a perfect shot in a weak spot to bring down, the Belters just weren't hurting them hard enough. Akari could only watch as most of her heavy calibre rounds sailed past the fast moving ships and her autocannon shells plinked harmlessly. Another satellite fell, then another, the Drakh slowly opening a gap in the defence grid.
"Hostile ship just changed course! It's on an intercept!"
That was it. Game over. Finally the Drakh had decided the annoying little mosquito needed to take a slap. There wasn't much to do except stand tall and look it in the eye as it cut them down.
"Focus all fire on that ship, give it everything!" Akari snarled, choosing to take this personally. "Ram it if you have to!"
The thrusters burned again, rolling the gunship to a new vector allowing the maximum number of guns to bear. She faced it head on spitting shells as the Drakh ship spun and rolled in a tight evasive pattern. The closer it came the less chance it had to dodge, one round hit, another ricocheted from its hull, a third severed one of its sharply angled wings. Akari had a moment of hope, a brief elation as her gunners found their mark, a feeling that died almost as soon as it was born.
The raider hit them amidships, the blue beam not quite coring the gunship but still biting deep. The hangers were rent apart as the energy beam raked the Roulette, slicing into its powerplant and taking out a thruster. The explosion shoved the ship hard out of position, snapping Akari's head back triggering intense pain in her neck and shoulders coupled with everything going black. She didn't know if she was dead, if her head had been knocked from her body and these were the last thoughts that would run through her brain. She wondered if she might actually see her body from this perspective before it all ended, her morbid curiosity forcing her eyes open to see that she was in fact still in one piece. For now anyway.
The flight deck was dark for a few more moments until emergency power kicked in bathing them in dull red light just in time to see their attacker flash past the windows. It didn't even bother finishing them off.
"Abandon ship." She croaked, her neck stabbing with pain. "Abandon ship!" She managed to say louder before connecting that she needed to switch on internal comms first. "Abandon ship! All hands to the escape pods, abandon ship!"
She fought to clear the haze in her head but it wasn't working fast enough, she almost certainly had concussion of some sort which wasn't going to help. Her two fellow bridge crew were on the move though she couldn't clearly see which was which.
"Captain? Still with us?" A muffled voice asked. "Let's get her out. Grab her arm, where's the belt release..."
She felt herself floating and took a few minutes to recall she was in zero gravity. Things that should have been obvious were taking time to register, everything was cloudy. She knew she was being dragged through the ship, the air suddenly hot and heavy with stinging smoke. She tried to do something useful to help but had no idea what, she just needed to do something. Being helpless was not her natural condition.
She felt herself pushed down into a seat, fastened in, and then a few moments later the jolt of sudden acceleration before weightlessness returned.
"Alright, we're all clear." A voice she reasonably guessed was Tucker came closer, his hands tilting her head in a rudimentary examination. "Was the Doc in the other pod? Fine, throw me the first aid box."
The pain faded suddenly which helped her senses recover somewhat. She perceived she was in one of the escape pods, a circular little craft with nine other crew within some of them looking sooty and bloodied. She could see the world from one of the windows, the view shifting as the pod rotated. There was a battlestation belching fire in all directions, its hull scarred and leaking oxygen which surrounded it like a still mist. Ships moved past, some friendly Starfuries, others brown Drakh vessels. She saw the battle going on high above, a series of massive explosions occurring among the black cloudy form which she still had no idea about.
It was by now dreamlike as the pain killers really kicked in and carried her consciousness to tranquillity. She could still see weapons fire, still appreciate on some level the danger they remained in, still feel the urge to fight and struggle despite being powerless. She hated it, despised it, wanted to roar with fury at her enemies but simply had no strength left to do so. She had been beaten and that had never and would never be accepted.
This was personal. Even as she fell into a tortured sleep, her eyes glimpsing more Drakh ships passing through the gaps in the defence grid into Earth orbit itself she knew this was far from over. If she had to come back and haunt every last one of them she damn well would. Akari had always been fiery but this was another previously unknown level for her. She would live by sheer force of will if necessary, she would recover, and she would make these aliens suffer. She had no idea how exactly, but she would find a way.
Centauri Prime
Perago Merchant's district
January 2267
"Did you bring the money?" He stopped in the doorway physically blocking any further access until he had confirmation. "Because this wasn't easy to pull together."
His customer curled his lip a little, not even trying to hide his disgust.
"You think I won't honour my word?"
"Lord Marko, you are paying me a substantial sum of money to buy a poison." The proprietor broke into a silent laugh. "You can understand if I don't consider you the most trustworthy and pure example of our species."
Grudgingly the customer opened the bag in his hand revealing the glint of hard currency.
"Unmarked, untraceable, no electronic record."
"Ah yes, good," The man's eyes lit up, "call me a traditionalist. Please step this way."
The proprietor stepped back into the small room at the back of the shop he owned, a simple clothing store selling a range of fabrics to the discerning customer. It was a very plain shop, well maintained but not ostentatious or particularly well known. His real business lay outside drapery and nice rug collections.
"The brokers for Lord Refa recommended you highly." Lord Marko closed the door behind him. A moderately powerful and highly ambitious nobleman trying to take advantage of the current shake ups still ongoing in Centauri space. He was the eleventh customer so far this year.
"Ahh, Lord Refa, my predecessor spoke fondly of him."
"Predecessor?" Marko stopped. "Then you are not the master alchemist he used?"
"No, I am better." The Proprietor strolled over to the desk he used for his business, ancient worn wood in appearance but containing a very well disguised state of the art data terminal.
"My deal was with..."
"My master has been dead for years, a victim of the chaos when this world was attacked." He turned away feigning sadness. He was telling the truth, the previous owner and master poison maker of the Republic had died during the Narn attack on Centauri Prime. Just not because of it. "I am better, my work has been used at the highest levels without fail. I am the master of my art."
"If you are lying it will not go well for you."
The owner laughed. "Everyone who walks in here the first time says the same thing! That I am still breathing should be proof enough of my talent."
Marko nodded, the logic inescapable.
"What should I call you?"
"How about Borgia?"
"Is it your name?"
"Don't ask me such foolish questions." The owner dismissed with a wave. "I have what you want, you have my payment. That is all."
"As you wish." Marko dropped the bag of Ducats on the floor with a thump and a ching of coins. "Where is it?"
Borgia raised his hand and grinned, bringing up his second hand and waving it in front of his outstretched palm before snatching it away revealing a vial of clear blue liquid like a magician pulling a sleight of hand trick.
"Forgive the theatrics, a little flourish"
"Is it necessary?" Marko looked down his nose.
"I am an artist, I enjoy a little indulgence."
He held out his palm to Marko, the nobleman taking the small glass container and examining it, turning it around under the light.
"Will this be enough?"
"One drop will kill any of the main mammalian races, if your target is an insect you should have specified it."
"No, the target is within that category." Marko fixed Borgia with his gaze, eyes sceptical. "One drop?"
"Two if you prefer. Use the whole bottle if you wish!" Borgia stretched out his arms and waved them around. "It doesn't matter, it is tasteless and once absorbed by the body undetectable within ten minutes of application."
"How undetectable?"
"Completely, it accelerates existing flaws in the target biology. You must have noticed several vacancies in the Centaurum? Local Legislature? Military Command?"
"All your work?" Marko remained unsure.
"I have many satisfied customers. Test it first if you wish, surely a man like you has expendable servants?"
Marko nodded slowly coming around to the logic.
"Very well. Perhaps we will meet again."
"Take a rug on your way out, no need to attract suspicion to your lordship."
Marko closed his hand and made for the door, feeling Borgia's smile behind him. Assassination was a tradition on Centauri Prime, there had always been people who needed to die and those happy to facilitate it for a price. For most it was just business, for some a calling, for some it was entertainment. Borgia felt a lot like he fell into that final category.
Marko opened the door and was so buried in his thoughts he almost collided with another patron standing just outside the doorway. He halted himself and snarled a response before remembering he was incognito and shouldn't want to be acknowledged as a member of the nobility. He lowered his head and mumbled something observing that the well fitted rich blue robes of the other patron screamed wealth. It was rare to see such skilled tailoring even on Centauri Prime and he really didn't need to be remembered if he wanted to one day stand beside such clearly wealthy persons.
"Give me the vial."
The voice was a whisper, gentle as a spring breeze but with no whimsy. The voice was gentle, but the words were a clear command. Marko began to formulate an excuse when he saw the patron hold out a hand, pale white elegant fingers expecting him to obey.
He looked at the patron, the immaculately dressed woman a vision of grace and exquisite beauty. She was no Centauri, her face slim and pale but her eyes large and absolutely black. Silver hair was gathered under the hood shrouding her face, her blue robes shimmering as if their colour shifted to pure silver depending on the light. She was breathtaking but unnerving, alien but familiar. She had the air of nobility he knew from the royal court but none of the preening arrogance. If she radiated anything it was power.
"Now."
"I don't know what you..."
She cut him off by looking directly into his eyes, her own gleaming black and depthless.
"Give me the vial or I will take it."
This was not the aura of a person who was going to compromise. It frustrated him, filled him with sudden rage, but in the end it didn't matter. Marko had a dozen armed men scattered around the block ready to respond to his command, he had been prepared for some sort of trouble. This would qualify and was not outside his calculations.
"Very well." He placed it in her hand. "I want it back later, perhaps we can..."
"Leave now." She looked past him toward Borgia who was just watching and grinning at the whole exchange.
"I'll see you outside." Marko slid through the door into the shop proper, she didn't even acknowledge him which was pointedly infuriating. "In the Republic aliens can be kept as slaves, you know. If you.."
She shut the door in his face like he didn't exist which only angered him further. Marko spun and stormed for the outside door, it wasn't just the fact she had taken something so expensive from him now it was a matter of principle, of pride. Immaculate as she was, that thing was an alien and no alien spoke to a Centauri like that and simply walked away. He wasn't going to risk breaking the vial while it was in his hand, but now he was able to be less cautious.
He yanked the door open and began gathering his people.
"Borgia?" She didn't need to raise her voice, her words carried clear and crisp across the room.
"Seemed fitting for a poisoner." He shrugged. "You know human history?"
"Some." She remained still, unmoving, keeping some distance from Borgia. "Why?"
"Where else would a poisoner live but Centauri Prime? Business is incredible!"
"You aren't simply a poisoner though are you?"
She raised her hand and opened it to examine the Vial, watching the light filter through it.
"Why perform such menial tasks? For money? Material gain?"
"No, nothing like that." Borgia opened his arms and pulled back his lips jovially. "Just fun!"
She looked at the vial again before returning her black eyes to him.
"I don't believe you."
In an instant the vial disappeared in a blinding light, a white hot flash from nowhere that dissolved the poison down to its component molecules and harmlessly scattered them.
"You have wasted yourself."
"I'm flattered." Borgia bowed. "How did you find me? I kept a very low profile."
"No you didn't." She explained no further. "You know what happens next."
"I won't let you take me back to the Circle."
"That isn't what happens next."
For the first time Borgia's overbearing amusement retreated a touch, his grin still on his face but his eyes losing some sparkle.
"Has policy changed since I left?" He inquired of her. "Does the Circle no longer wish to put Technomages who disagree with them on trial?"
"They do. I do not." She answered plainly.
"Hm. And here I thought you were one of them. Could it be you are one of us then? A Mage that understands the limits of dogma are holding us back? That true power only comes from accepting who you are, not suppressing our potential?" He smiled again. "We need not be enemies, it is a big galaxy."
From the right sleeve of her robes emerged a silver viscous liquid shimmering like Mercury. It flowed like slow motion water down to the floor before forming into the shape of a rod, stretching itself up to a metre and a half tall. It stood absolutely still on its point, balanced perfectly within easy grabbing range of her hand.
"You have surrendered to the forces of chaos and allied yourself with the enemy."
"What enemy?" Borgia laughed. "The Shadows are gone! The Vorlons are gone! There's no one left who can match us!"
"For your crimes you will endure the flaying. Your technology will be stripped from your body."
"The Technomages were once kingmakers! The power behind the throne! We can be again! We should be again!"
"Submit and you may survive the process. Once you are no threat you are no longer of interest to me."
"I'd rather die than go back to a normal life." Borgia's smile faded at last. "A pity it had to be like this, I really liked your taste in robes."
Borgia wasn't a fool despite his constant laughter. He knew sooner or later someone would want him dead, and he knew well enough there was a force much darker than him living on Centauri Prime somewhere. His place of business was also his fortress, its walls infused with alloys far beyond Centauri technology, its nature masked with jammers and stealth fields, its interior defended by weapons any nation would kill to possess.
He had hoped to avoid confrontation, the other Technomages had fled the galaxy to avoid the Shadow War several years ago and had not returned leaving him free to do as he wished. He had fled the Circle, the leaders of the mages who enforced its strict rules on how a technomage used their powers. He had thought he was safe.
Still, a mage like him unrestrained in his use of technomancy should have no issues with a Circle lackey.
The inside walls exploded inward on his command, the organic technology infusing his body transmitting the signal to engage defences. Thousands of needles launched at the alien female, the monomolecular points easily able to penetrate all but the strongest technomage defence. She didn't have time to respond, to prepare a defence, her arrogance simply walking into his domain had killed her, as arrogance would kill her foolish masters.
Except it did not. The black needles simply stopped in mid air, a cloud of them barely a few centimetres away from their hidden launchers. The female mage hadn't even moved, her neutral expression showing no sign of effort or surprise. She held the needles for a few moments just to make sure Borgia knew exactly what had happened, then she let them fall to the floor.
"Gravity manipulation." He failed to make himself sound nonchalant. He had known several mages who could use gravity manipulation to move objects, levitate, even crush things. None were even remotely on this level.
"Yes." She answered. "Your elevated heart rate and perspiration indicates you are beginning to understand the situation."
He battled to maintain his composure.
"Who are you?"
"You know who I am."
"I know who you pretend to be!" Borgia scoffed. "You think I didn't recognise the blue robes and black eyes? That gimmicky silver staff? It's fake! Intimidation!"
"Submit to the flaying" She said again, not once had her voice risen.
"Never!"
"So be it."
Borgia was better than any mage he had ever met, he knew that, knew it for certain. But he also knew that one day it was possible someone or something he couldn't predict might visit him. Apparently today was that day.
He fled. There was no shame, no panic, just a clear and precise calculation that he wanted to live and being anywhere near this blue mage was not conductive to that. The entire rear wall of the room popped outward and turned to dust clearing a path for him to escape as rapidly as possible. He was fast, his augmented legs kicking him backward out of the room while simultaneously unleashing more needles from launchers integrated into his forearms. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling as they pierced his flesh on their way out but far better than having the tech ripped from his nervous system. He didn't expect it to stop his opponent, but it might buy him time, a second or two to initiate his escape plan.
He hit the ground, rolling into the street behind his shop noting several people watching in sudden surprise at events. He planted his hands down to stop himself apparently just in time as he felt an object skim across his scalp, a flash of silver followed by a whistle and a reverberating tone like a tuning fork. His face banged against the blue mage's silver staff, the tool morphed now into a spear that had been thrown down at him and barely missed his skull. Blood was flowing from the near miss, his panic rising as he scrambled to his feet and risked a glance over his shoulder.
The blue mage stepped out of the room still apparently untroubled by any exertion. She made a soft 'tch' sound upon noticing her spear had missed, then lifted her hand for a follow up attack. Borgia didn't wait to see what it was. He ran and hardened his defences, turning the very flesh of his body into organic armour. It was optimised to stop energy weapons like most mages, that was why both of them were using spikes of various types, but it might be enough if he could get some distance. Fortunately he had help in the matter.
"Stop!" Lord Marko half ran, half stumbled down the street waving a particle pistol at the alien woman. He wasn't sure exactly what was happening but he knew his supplier was in danger and his pride still demanded satisfaction.
People emptied the streets fast disappearing into shops or sprinting out of the danger zone, the only ones who remained were Marko and his personal guard all in plain clothes armed with assorted pistols and carbines, eleven hard eyed killers in total.
She did not reply, the Centauri minor lord and his team were a non-factor, all that mattered was her target. She grabbed her silver staff and yanked it easily from the ground, then began tracking Borgia.
"I want my property!" Marko screamed as the alien continued to ignore him, advancing and holding his gun inches from her head. He was hesitant to just fire incase her dead body broke the vial, he wasn't entirely sure what it was made of and really didn't want to breathe it in. But there was more now at stake. "Hand over the poison and you can live."
"I destroyed it." She didn't look at him, lining up a clear shot on Borgia as he struggled through the crowds in the busy market district. She didn't want to wound any innocent people, which was easier said than done.
Marko's rage finally boiled over, he was not the most temperate of people on a good day and this was now most certainly not a good day. He pulled his lips over his teeth in a snarl and pulled the trigger, the particle pistol discharging in a bright blue flash. He anticipated the fall of the body, spitefully considering how to display the alien, which of his mistresses might appreciate the exquisite clothing. But the body did not fall, and when his eyes adjusted after the flash of the pistol they showed those black eyes looking at him with the same barely hidden disappointment and anger his father always had.
"Now I have missed my chance to end this quickly." She informed with a coldness that had not been there before.
He fired again, and again, his men joining in as panic increased. A lot of the shots missed sizzling into the dusty stone pavement or scorching nearby walls, the others impacted an invisible wall in a ripple of heat which had no apparent effect on the alien woman. In response she casually raised a hand palm up and materialised a small ball of energy no bigger than a marble, a glowing orb of pink light that began to spin rapidly. She looked at it for a moment, then at Marko, and then there was a moment of brightness.
From the marble a thin beam of light cut across the street, it lasted not even a second, easy to miss and highly concentrated. The ball of light faded after, the alien checking briefly, then turning her back without any further concern and picking up into a run on the path Borgia had left upon. Marko wanted to act to stop her but could not, as he tried to move his body failed to respond, all that happened was a feeling of great dizziness, then the surreal realisation his head was falling to the ground one way and his body in an entirely different direction. None of his guards could help him, they were all in a similar predicament, and that left Marko with a final moment of rage that overwhelmed any meaningful final thoughts he may have had.
The Blue Mage vaulted up several feet to land on one of the rooftops belonging to a small furniture shop, her eyes scanning the crowd for signs of her prey. Borgia was among the people now and as a technomage almost certainly had some basic holographic technology. It was aggravating but not a tremendous challenge, the man was too reckless and passionate, his tracks not covered well enough. She looked for energy variations, the flicker of a chameleon field in contact with another person or object, the slightly increased heat upon the ground left by someone using advanced technology compared to a normal person.
The organic technology in a mages body let them perform feats using science that could look like magic to anyone else, but they had a price. The tech drew energy from the quantum level but activating and controlling it was fuelled from a mages own body. That made heat, sweat, drove a person to exhaustion and limited what they could do. Borgia would be feeling that, his breath would be hot, his body perspiring, his metabolism burning up the sugars in his blood. A good mage would take measures to hide this, Borgia was not a good mage.
She zeroed in on him, filtering out the normal Centauri citizens and moved to intercept leaping from rooftop to rooftop. She didn't have long, she could already hear the distant buzz of Centauri sirens bringing militia and the law to seize control of the area. They were no danger to her, but she had no desire to tangle with anyone other than her target.
She caught up fast, hiding her approach, giving nothing away. She covered the final distance with a point to point teleportation, stepping briefly into the edge of hyperspace and emerging from thin air a few inches to the side of Borgia barrelling into him and knocking the fleeing man into a side alley.
"Enough." She was a little out of breath now but still in better shape than the panting Centauri rogue mage. Again silver flowed from her sleeves to form her staff, this time bladed like a shining spear that she raised to her prey. "Submit."
From his place on the ground Borgia lashed out, a jet of flame as he dumped energy into the air igniting the space between the two mages, but to no result. The Blue Mage wasn't going to be beaten by such a weak attack. He had specialised in the more subtle arts of death and discord, not stand up combat against a peer.
"I won't submit. You've won, but I am not going quietly."
"I understand." She rotated the spear to raise its point to his neck. "Then a final offer. Refuse and I burn the tech from your body while you still live. Answer, and you will die swiftly."
Borgia laughed bitterly, his old smile returning bitter now. "How generous of you."
"Where are the others?"
"I work alone."
"Yes, but you couldn't have escaped the circle alone. Who got you out?"
"I don't know." He glanced at the spear, at the eyes of the blue mage. "I don't. No names, no faces, just secure messages left at specific locations."
"What locations?"
"Babylon 5."
She nodded, it was enough of a lead to go on. She deemed her conditions met. With no further word she acted, a short swift arc cut with the edge of her spear. It was the cleanest most efficient way to end things, the tech within a mage was tied to the central nervous system and controlled by the brain, therefore severing the connection between the two ended things most swiftly.
Borgia's head toppled, the power to his circuits dying along with his consciousness, a gentle fading away that always seemed peaceful to her. Even a life of such destruction and pain could end in peace if the opportunity arose. She took comfort in that, hoping when her time came she could claim the same thing.
Behind her at the end of the alley an engine whirred to a stop, a hover truck halting to unload two well disguised men who quickly rushed to her side.
"Take the body." She instructed. "We need to leave swiftly, this will have been noticed."
"Last thing we need are Centauri cops on our tail." One of the masked men hauled the body up and over his shoulder, the other took the head without hesitation. This wasn't the first time they had done this.
"It is not the police that concern me." She glanced around, the air still and abnormally quiet. She knew the Drakh were here somewhere, that they had some sort of presence on the planet. They likely would not take kindly to a technomage in their playground.
She followed them to the truck, the lead man dropping into the driver seat and getting under way. He drove calmly away as police vehicles rushed past in the opposite direction oblivious to the headless body in the back of the vehicle.
"The ship is fuelled and good to go." The second man laid out the situation. "I bribed traffic control to get us out as soon as we arrive."
"Thank you." The mage nodded humbly. "It is agreeable to have allies."
"Where we heading?"
"Earth."
"Oh." The driver's voice dropped. "Didn't you see the news? Earth might be a bit tricky."
