The Final Circle

by Sufficient Velocity

This is a Babylon 5 centered tale. It explores a BSG style exodus due to the loss of the Earth Minbari war. It becomes a crossover with nBSG as of Interlude 1, and crosses with Firefly as of Interlude 2. Most B5 and BSG canon should remain unchanged, including EU. However, Firefly will mostly use series and film canon. Its EU began to expand after I had already merged the plots.

16. Chapter 15 - Sheridan's Run

Chapter 15 - Sheridan's Run

Hyperspace, The Vree Border - Minbari Fleet, Valen'Tha - April, 2249

Delenn pursed her lips thoughtfully, then gave a silent nod of agreement to the man seated across from her. Satai Coplann was her chief political rival, and their relationship had become combative over the past several months. Delenn found that situation to be unacceptable. The Grey Council, leaders of the Minbari Federation, must act in harmony, holding themselves above petty political infighting. It should be entirely possible to disagree while maintaining a positive and amicable relationship.

And so she had proposed this luncheon. It was a chance to sit down with the man and work out their disagreements. Delenn was finding the meeting to be surprisingly productive. Coplann had come prepared to work. Beyond simply easing their interpersonal relationship, he had seen this as a venue for hammering out their political agendas; for finding areas in which they could agree, without having to involve the entire Council. They had indeed found many areas of agreement, and Delenn had no doubt that the resolution supported by both Coplann and herself would pass the Council with little or no opposition. She felt as though she had accomplished a month's work with one simple meeting.

Leaning forward to take a bite of her meal of alamara and ulabon, she heard footsteps approaching. "Satais," said a very familiar voice.

Delenn straightened and swallowed her food. Then, twisting her head to the side, she gave a shallow bow to the newcomer. "Shai'Alyt Branmer. Welcome. Would you join us?"

"My regrets, Delenn, but I am rather busy at the moment. I am glad that I found the two of you, though. I bear important news."

"Then please share it, so that you may return to your duties."

Branmer gave a shallow nod. "The human fleet has been located. Our forces spotted them leaving the human colony of Deneb, which our scouts have finally located."

Coplann rose smoothly to his feet. "Impossible! How did they get there?! They should still be in Vree space! Order those forces to give chase immediately!"

Delenn watched with fascination as Branmer inhaled deeply, then turned to make direct eye contact with Satai Coplann. "No."

"Excuse me? What do you mean, 'no?' The humans are once again in our grasp and you want to let them go!?"

Branmer looked at him calmly. "Not at all, Satai Coplann. I want to ensure that they have no further means of escape."

Before Coplann's anger could find outlet, Delenn quickly interjected, hoping avoid an increase in the infighting she had spent the morning smoothing out. "Please, explain your reasoning, Shai'Alyt."

Branmer's eyes swiveled from Coplann to Delenn, and she saw some small amount of gratitude in them. "It is quite simple Satai Delenn. Our war with the humans went so smoothly that we have allowed ourselves to grow complacent. We have continually underestimated Starkiller and his fleet of humans, to our detriment. They should have been chased down long ago, but our efforts have been haphazard and our tactics lax. Too often they have slipped through holes in our lines which should never have existed, allowing this chase to drag on for as long as it has."

He took a deep breath, glancing briefly at Coplann. "No more. Now that the bulk of our forces have returned from the coreward portions of League space, we have everything in place to finally put an end to this war. It was the arrival of those forces which allowed us to resume our hunt in Earth Alliance space, and finally find both Deneb and the human fleet. I will not allow hasty decisions to allow the humans to slip away again, or pull off another one of their tricks."

"And how do you propose to do this?" Coplann asked acerbically.

Once more, Branmer met Coplann's gaze directly, unflinching. "No more rushing. No more hurried chases after where we think the humans are or will be. We currently have substantial forces in every system running in a broad arc from the Federation right to the Yolu border. We will begin sweeping those forces Rimward, entering, searching, and eliminating as possible refuge every system along that front. We crush Deneb, leaving the fleet nowhere to retreat. We move our forces deliberately, and in unison, driving the humans before us until they have nowhere left to run, and are either encircled or crushed against the Rim."

"You are being overly cautious, Branmer," Coplann proclaimed derisively. "There is no need for such effort. Not when we know exactly where Starkiller is. Have the nearest forces give chase and attack immediately!"

"No."

"How dare you…."

Branmer cut him off. "I am in charge of our military forces, Satai. You do not have the authority to overrule me. The Grey Council, of course, does. But I do not believe you have the votes to force this matter."

As Coplann began to seethe, Delenn stepped in delicately. "Perhaps there is wisdom in the Shai'Alyt's plan. It was I who suggested pulling our forces out of Earth Alliance space to blockade the Vree. I believed that not even humans would be so insane as to reenter territory which we had conquered. As I recall, you agreed with me, Coplann. Had we not made that assumption, our forces might have discovered Deneb sooner, or even intercepted the human fleet. But this event proves something I had begun to suspect."

Coplann looked exasperated, but at least seemed willing to listen. "And that is, Delenn?"

"That there is nothing which is too mad for the humans to try. Their race is completely insane, or at least their leaders are. In the face of such madness, how can we ever predict what the humans will do next? Yet, if we follow the Shai'Alyt's plan, we won't need to. We will deliberately and thoroughly eliminate every avenue and option available to the humans until, in the end, they have none left. Then, finally, this war will be over."

Coplann nodded shallowly in acquiescence. "Very well Delenn. Branmer, you have my support."

Branmer offered a much deeper bow. "I will begin moving our forces immediately. Within no more than sixty hours, the assault on Deneb will begin."
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Hyperspace, Approaching Koula - Detached Task Force, EAS Nova - April, 2249

Commodore John Sheridan may have officially been a member of the Admiralty (likely one of only two members, these days), but he still had to fight his own ship, just like any Captain. Which was exactly what he was preparing to do. "How long, Laurel?"

"Sir, we are five minutes out from the Koula jump gate."

"The Eratosthenes?"

"Hard on our six, Commodore. Commander Gideon reports his ship is ready, his squadrons ready to launch. As are ours, Sir."

"What about the rest of the fleet?"

"Far enough back that they're not even showing up on our sensors. If the Koulani have anything guarding the gate from this side, they won't pick up the fleet before we kick their door in." She hesitated, and then asked in a tone pitched only for his ears, "Commodore, should we be picking a fight with another alien species while we are still being hunted by the Minbari?"

He responded in a voice pitched just as low. "No worries, Laurel. The Koulani aren't the Minbari. And you heard Admiral Dean yourself. They started this fight. We're just going to finish it." In a louder voice, intended for the entire bridge crew, he stated, "We will shortly be assaulting the Koulani home system. In doing so, we will ensure their attention is entirely focused on us while our fleet sneaks through, transiting the beacon directly to the next route, without reentering normal space. We enjoy a substantial advantage over the Koulani in tactics, experience, engineering and technology. Every time we've faced the Koulani, our forces have inflicted disproportionate levels of damage. We will seize and maintain the initiative for this fight. Although we will be massively outnumbered, and will not enjoy a technology gap as great as that between us and the Minbari, we will succeed so long as we don't indulge in overconfidence." He looked around, meeting the eyes of his officers. "Remember your training. Focus on your duties. You have nothing to worry about."

Laurel cleared her throat. "Sixty seconds to jump gate."

"Any sign of defenses on the hyperspace side?"

"Nothing, Sir."

"Very good. We go through shooting. All guns to individual targeting. Any targets that are clearly civilian may be spared, but if in doubt, burn it from the sky."

"Acknowledged. Reversion to normal space in three...two…one…"

The Nova exited the Koula jumpgate under full acceleration. A trio of Koulani corvettes stationed near the gate were lucky enough not to be directly in the path of the dreadnaught. They were unlucky enough to fall directly in the kill zone of a half dozen of the Nova's turrets. They didn't survive long enough to return fire. The Nova, with the Eratosthenes riding close on its tail, left the shattered remains behind as they charged farther into the system.

"One hundred and fifteen million kilometers to Koula, Commodore," Takashima reported.

"Take us there, direct heading. But make sure we aren't directly in front of the Eratosthenes. Let's position ourselves slightly ahead and to the side. Make it look like we're in an escort slot. Let the Koulani get a really good look at her."

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but didn't question the order, instead carrying it out with quiet efficiency. Only after both ships were in position and heading for Koula did she turn back to the Commodore. "En route, Sir. It'll take us several hours to get there. It looks like they've got a proper welcome wagon for us."

"Do tell."

"I'm reading just over forty of their Sunclipper class heavy cruisers, in orbit over Koula."

"Good. What else is in the system?"

"Several dozen more heavy cruisers, and at least nine vessels of unknown design, but a larger class. We are tentatively classifying them as Battlecruisers. Until now we had thought the Sunclipper was the most dangerous ship in their arsenal. But all of those ships are spread out in penny-packets across the system, and aren't really in any position to intercept us before we hit Koula...not at our current acceleration, anyway. Anything else that is in position to get in our way is far too small to actually threaten us." She double checked something on her panel, then turned to face him once again. "Commodore, so far as I can tell, not a single enemy vessel seems to be altering course or facing. It's extremely hard to tell at this range, of course, but they don't seem to have altered their combat readiness stance either. It would appear that Admiral Dean's speculation was accurate."

"So, the Koulani don't have any kind of FTL sensors then. Good. That'll give them less time to prepare, and make all of those other ships irrelevant to the coming battle. We won't need to worry about anything except those forty Sunclippers, and the static planetary defenses. What are we looking at?"

"Their minefields and orbital weapons platforms are pretty light for a homeworld defensive screen. It's all anchored on one of their Pulsar class forts, which appear to be quite formidable. At least, I wouldn't want to face it without three or four more dreadnoughts to back us up. Other than that, a little caution should see us through the fixed defenses. Of course, the Eratosthenes is a lot more fragile than we are."

"Indeed. Well, we'll just have to make sure the Koulani don't figure that out," he said, chuckling to himself.

"You're clearly up to something. I've seen that look before. Care to share with the class?"

"It's pretty simple, really. We have many advantages over the Koulani, but there's no way we could take down or even hold off their entire fleet by ourselves, much less deliver the kind of payback they've earned. Not if they play things smart. So we've got to encourage them to make some dumb decisions. Did you know that the Explorer class has never operated in this area?"

She blinked at the apparent non sequitur, but said only, "No, Sir."

"Ships like the Eratosthenes represent a massive investment. The brass was always unwilling to allow them to operate anywhere near hostile polities, particularly those who propagate pirates and raiders, as the Ch'Lonas and Koulani do. So, the Koulani have never actually seen an Explorer class. I don't know about you, Laurel, but the Koulani don't strike me as the types to do a lot of research on their adversaries."

"I'd agree, Sir. They seem more like the type to shoot first, and ask questions only if more shooting isn't available."

He chuckled again. "Agreed. So they've probably never even heard of an Explorer class. And what do you think they're going to see when their light speed sensors finally notice us?"

She blinked, taking a few moments to think it through. "They're going to see an unknown but clearly Earth Alliance vessel which is over six kilometers in length. They're going to see a Dreadnought, likely the most powerful vessel they've ever faced in combat, apparently operating as an escort. They're going to think the Eratosthenes is some sort of….of...Superdreadnought!"

He nodded. "I've never cared for that term, but you are essentially correct. It also occurs to me that the two secondary docking bays on the front of the Explorer class look an awful lot like massively enlarged versions of the mine launchers on the front of the Nova."

She pursed her lips, thinking through the implications. "You want them to think it's a planet killer," she said, awed at his audacity.

"I'm not familiar with that term."

"Sorry, Commodore. It's a bad science fiction concept. The name pretty much says it all. A ship or space station with a weapon capable of mass scattering an entire planet."

He laughed. "Now that's silly. Not even the Minbari have anything close to that level of firepower. I can't even imagine the size of the nuke required to pull that off, much less the ship to launch it. But, yes, I do want them to think the Eratosthenes is carrying a massively powerful weapon. Perhaps one which could be used to wipe out all life on their homeworld."

"They'd be desperate to keep something like that as far away from their planet as possible."

"Which hopefully means they will charge in to stop us without hesitating to think through the consequences of their actions. If that fleet in orbit of Koula decides to hold their ground and combine their forces with the Pulsar fort, we'll have no hope of touching them. But, if they come out to meet us in a deep-space battle, we can use our advantages to isolate their forces, and circumvent or eliminate them as necessary. At least, that's the plan."

A chime sounded from her station, and she glanced down, checking the display. "Your plan seems to be working, Sir. The Heavy Cruisers in orbit of Koula just reoriented on us. They're headed this way under maximum burn. They're barely taking the time to assemble into any kind of a formation. It'll still be a good while before they intercept us, though."

"Good enough. Let's get ready to greet them."

The next few hours felt interminable. Despite staying busy, few could take their minds off of the rapidly approaching confrontation. Besides, most of their preparations were just double and triple checking things which had been put in order well before they had even entered the system.

Finally, Laurel caught his attention again. "The Koulani are turning over, Commodore."

"Hmmm, right on time. We've already managed to get them to make a few mistakes, but whoever's in command over there isn't completely worthless at his job."

"I don't follow, Sir."

"If they want to stop us before we can attack their planet, they have to balance two things. First, obviously, is whatever they assume to be our weapons range. For safety sake they have to assume that is quite long, lest they set up a defensive line only to have us fire past it directly on their world."

"And the second?"

"Is the amount of time it will take them to destroy or mission kill us. If the Eratosthenes was as powerful as they likely assume it is, then it would take them quite a while to pound it into submission. They want to have as many options as possible for maintaining the combat envelope for as they can, which keeping us as far away from their homeworld as possible. Turn over too early, and we get too close. Wait too long, and we'll fly past each other so fast that they'll be lucky to get in more than a single salvo. By turning over right now, their commander has brought the fight well out and away from his world, and given them the chance to get into a real slugging match, if we decide to turn over hard to fight them. And if we maintain maximum acceleration, then they can at least get in several salvos as we blow past, and then loop around behind us, to hopefully catch us between the planetary defenses and themselves. If we do anything between those two extremes, and they're in an even better position. All in all, not a terrible plan."

"And will we be turning over or reducing acceleration?"

"Not a chance. The only change I want you to make is to adjust course to pass the planet on its sunward side. Our target is their homeworld; specifically, their infrastructure. If we're going to pull that off, we need every ounce of speed we can build up. It's really too bad. Look at how tightly they've packed their formation, presumably to coordinate and maximize their offensive and defensive fire. That, or it's a natural herding instinct due to fear. If we had a slower closing rate, we could hammer that formation with repeated salvoes of energy mines from beyond their range, and then close in for a gun kill once they'd been so crippled that they couldn't put up much of a fight. As it is, we'll pass so fast that we'll only get in a few salvoes, just like them."

John had Laurel shunt the relevant information to his panels, and used them to continue to keep an eye on the Koulani formation. They were maneuvering themselves into an even tighter formation. He spoke up again. "Their commander must really be focused on our guns. One of the benefits of having such an ostentatious show of firepower, I suppose. He needs to not only defeat us, but Laurel's 'superdreadnought.' He's hoping that, by concentrating his offensive and defensive firepower as tightly as possible, his force will be able to overwhelm us." He leaned back in his chair, wearing a smirk of satisfaction. "Good. They were looking to actually be a problem, all strung out like that. By concentrating their forces, they've packaged themselves up nicely. It will make dealing with them much easier."

"Sir?" Laurel asked with curiosity.

"They're so focused on our guns, they've forgotten the other weapons we carry." The smirk shifted to an outright grin. "Let's teach them the error of their ways."

Less than an hour later, they were about to enter weapons range. The main force of Sunclippers bore down on them rapidly. "All enemy ships have their weapons charged, and will soon be within firing range," Laurel reported. "Their ECM, such as it is, is at maximum. Entering the outer edge of our own weapons range in…" she consulted her panel, "...seventeen seconds."

Sheridan had his command face firmly in place. "We don't need to be too accurate Laurel. Close counts in horseshoes and nuclear weapons. Just make sure they detonate short. Fire. And evade."

A pair energy mines shot from the forward launchers, rapidly closing on the enemy fleet. They detonated simultaneously, and two hundred megatons of energy expanded outwards, washing over the Koulani fleet. The three foremost ships took major damage. Two of them were forced to SCRAM their reactors, and went dead in the water. The third also took substantial damage, but was unable to dump their reactor in time. It detonated, destroying the ship, and doing further damage to the tightly packed fleet. The remainder of that fleet took varying degrees of damage, from light to superficial.

Destroying them, however, was not the plan. The commander of the Koulani fleet clearly hadn't been expecting the energy mines. If he had, he might have taken some steps to protect his sensors. Instead, every one of their lightspeed, EM sensors were locked directly onto the human vessels. Which meant that they were all permanently or temporarily neutralized when the miniature nova erupted right in front of them. And, since the Koulani didn't have any FTL sensors, they were effectively blind.

The moment the energy mines went off, the Nova and Eratosthenes began thrusting along another vector. They took themselves out of the path the enemy expected them to follow. And then the Koulani entered range of the Nova's cannon. As they rapidly swept past the blinded enemy fleet, the turrets on the Nova hammered away. The Eratosthenes did not fire the limited weapons it mounted. Maintaining the illusion of being an incredibly powerful megaship was more important than the little bit of extra damage it could provide. The enemy fleet fired back wildly, the strobing plasma barrage either unaimed or targeted along the humans' last known trajectory. It was almost entirely ineffectual. But they did manage to strike their own ships several times. The Nova managed a few salvos before leaving weapons range of the Koulani fleet. The gun crews had been ordered to randomly select their own targets, and to not fire on the same target twice. Though they did not manage to destroy a single additional ship, all but one of the Koulani vessels had been struck before the engagement was over.

"Did they manage to touch us at all?" Sheridan inquired calmly.

"We took a superficial hit to the armor above the number four engine. There's still some splash plasma burning on the plates, but it won't leave much more than a scra…"

"Full emergency shutdown of the number four engine," he ordered, cutting her off.

There was a moment of silence, and then the Lieutenant Commander replied. "I'm sorry, Sir. Perhaps I wasn't clear. The number four engine took no damage. There is no chance…"

He cut her off a second time. "Full emergency shutdown of the number four engine, Lieutenant Commander. Do not make me ask again."

Laurel blinked, but then performed the emergency shutdown herself. "Engine burn is out, Commodore. Now rerouting fuel…".

"Negative. Maintain fuel flow at one hundred percent."

Laurel's expression grew even more bemused, but she wasn't going to make Sheridan repeat himself a second time. "Fuel flow at one hundred percent, aye Sir. Now venting perfectly good fuel into space. We'll need to watch the engine temperatures for a bit, to make certain it doesn't reignite."

"Very good, Lieutenant Commander. Now, reduce remaining engines to eighty-five percent thrust."

"Eighty-five percent thrust, aye Sir." Understanding finally dawned. Concentrating on her work and not looking up, she casually stated, "you're simulating battle damage. Very curious."

Sheridan chuckled to himself, then responded quietly. "Well, we wouldn't want them thinking it's impossible to catch us. They might give up. No, we definitely want them to try, try again. But this fight isn't over yet, Laurel. We've still got the planet and all its defenses. Double check our heading and adjust to ensure we will still pass on the sunward side of the planet, despite our acceleration change. Project our new course and timing, and shunt that information to my panel. Remember that orbital fort. That Pulsar is much more dangerous than a few dozen Sunclippers. We'll need to be prepared. Oh, and do make Commander Gideon aware of our actual status. On a secure channel."

"Aye, Commodore."

Just a few hours later, accelerating the whole way, they were on final approach, closing on weapons range. Their "engine trouble" had led to a profound change in the tactical situation. Several of the knots of Koulani ships were closing on the planet, doing their best to interpose themselves between the humans and their homeworld. They would be too late, but not by much.

"I see now why you wanted to pass the planet on the sunward side," Takashima noted. "The Pulsar fort will be disappearing over the horizon a few minutes before we enter weapons range."

Sheridan nodded. "Which means all we'll be facing is that light minefield, a handful of defense satellites, and those few squadrons of fighters they scrambled from the surface. Speaking of which, are the Starfuries ready to launch?"

"Yes, Sir. All hardpoints have been loaded with the special weapons you specified."

"Good. Get them in the black."

Laurel gave the necessary commands, and shortly thereafter the Nova and Eratosthenes launched their fighters. The four squadrons of Starfuries quickly formed up into a screening formation ahead of their mother ships.

"I should point out, Commodore," Laurel resumed, "that while we can likely accomplish our attack on the Koulani homeworld, the correlation of forces after that point will quickly become very negative. Those battlecruisers and other knots of Sunclippers will be coming into range within a few minutes of our attack, and once we sweep past the planet, the Pulsar will be in a perfect position to fire everything it's got at us. For that matter, the first group of Sunclippers we fought has managed to turn around, and are slowly closing in on us as well."

"One thing at a time, Laurel. One thing at a time. Those ships are exactly where I want them."

She took a deep breath and checked her instruments. "Firing range in one minute. The enemy fighters are coming out to meet us."

"Too late. Make sure our fighter squadrons stay in screening formation. Have their individual targets been loaded to the on-board computers?"

"Aye, Sir. And our own cannons are targeting those OSATs."

"Good. Open fire the moment we get into range. Pave the road."

The Koulani Orbital Weapons Satellites opened fired first, putting over a dozen heavy missiles into space. Shortly thereafter, the Nova fired a pair of energy mines at a wide angle. They streaked towards the Koulani defenses and detonated. The explosion tore a massive hole in the enemy lines, the intense energies burning out mines, satellites and fighters alike, including all but two of the heavy missiles the Koulani had launched. And then the Nova's medium cannon fired, picking off the remaining satellites which were in range.

As the Nova and Eratosthenes continued to sweep rapidly towards the planet, the Starfuries opened fire, picking off the remaining two missiles, which were targeted on the Eratosthenes. The approaching Koulani fighters had been shredded by the energy mines, but what remained still threw themselves courageously at the human lines. They were no match for the tight and orderly formation of Starfuries. A bare handful made it through to perform a final attack run on the Eratosthenes. Gideon's ship, however, while being poorly armed as far as capital ships were concerned, practically bristled with defensive weapons. Its eight standard particle beams opened up, shattering the remaining Koulani craft long before they could do any damage at all.

"We're clear for now, Commodore," Laurel reported. "This opening won't last for more than another minute or so."

Sheridan opened a comm channel to the Starfuries. "All fighters, launch on your designated targets immediately, then return to your ships."

The Starfuries began to fire, each hardpoint laden with a special type of nuclear missile. Each missile was targeted towards a different location around the planet. Some headed directly towards the facing side, others moving towards the horizon, using gravity to loop around towards the far side. Almost four hundred nuclear weapons began to encircle the planet. As each Starfury fired off their last missile, they moved rapidly to reboard their motherships.

And then the nukes began to detonate, not striking the surface, but exploding in low orbit. The explosions were less than impressive, but physical fury was not their goal. These nukes had been specially designed to produce the largest electromagnetic pulse possible. One EMP after another detonated above all of the major Koulani cities, industrial centers, and their very heartland. In a rippling wave, the planet went dark. Military installations and vessel which had been hardened against EMPs, like the Nova and Eratosthenes themselves, were largely unaffected. But the civilian infrastructure which supported those forces had just been sent back to the stone age.

A cheer went up aboard the bridge of the Nova. "Mission accomplished, Commodore," Laurel reported. "But, in about thirty seconds, we're going to be past the planet and taking fire from the Pulsar fort. Those battlecruisers will join in about a minute later, and within ten we'll have several dozen more Sunclippers and nearly a hundred smaller ships on top of us. I don't imagine they're too happy with us right now. If we reignite engine four and go to maximum acceleration, we'll drastically shorten the amount of time we'll be in their weapons envelope, but we'll be giving them shots directly up our backside. If we spin and face our heaviest armor towards them, we'll be in a much better defensive position, but we won't be able to accelerate, and will be under fire for a lot longer. Either way, we're going to take a beating. I don't know that the Eratosthenes can survive that kind of fire," she added quietly. "I'm not really sure that we can."

"Which is why we choose option C, Lieutenant Commander. I presume the jump engines are charged?"

"Yes, Commodore," she said with relief.

"Then jump."
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Deneb, Earth Alliance Space - Ragnarok Station - April, 2249

Officers burst into the Command and Control room aboard Ragnarok, rushing furiously to various stations, calling up data. Admiral Richard Dean followed them in calmly, yet with intense and focused purpose. "Get those displays up, now! Make contact with Deneb IV, and get me a sitrep."

"We're getting a signal from Deneb IV, Sir," a major almost as old as he was noted. "They're still retransmitting their data feeds to us. They have one flagged as priority."

"Main screen."

The image which came up was not one which any of them found pleasant. It prominently displayed the shattered, tumbling remains of Zanzibar station. Plasma fires still burned in multiple areas within the wreckage. Further in the background, the remains of Minbari ships could also be seen.

Admiral Dean leaned back in his chair, sadly remembering the battle. The Minbari had come without warning; twenty-seven massive ships spilling out of a hole in space. Richard wondered what it was with the Minbari and factors or multiples of three. It felt rather arbitrary, but seemed to be a fairly consistent MO. The Minbari had started by targeting Zanzibar with their powerful beam weapons. The station was neatly carved up and falling apart, until the reactors had breached, engulfing the remains in a titanic blast. He should have died then and there, but dumb luck had found him on the surface of Deneb IV, in consultation with Governor Vasiliev. Finding himself still alive, he had ordered the counterattack with their secret weapon.

Thousands of civilian small craft, in varying orbits, made a break for the local jumpgate. The Minbari saw exactly what they expected to see, what they had seen in numerous other human systems...rats, fleeing a sinking ship. If they had been paying more attention, their finer sensors might have told them that there was nothing alive on any of those ships. Instead, the Minbari moved, almost lazily, to block them. Their war cruisers and war frigates interposed themselves between the gate and the fleeing humans, their neutron lasers and fusion cannon burning the human craft from the sky, and then they launched their fighters to do the same. And when the human vessels seemed to panic and try to rush past them to the gate, the Minbari still made no changes to their formation or tactics.

It was not until the first craft, a former waste reclamation trawler for an asteroid mining conglomerate, slammed into a Sharlin and detonated with over five megatons of explosive energy, that the Minbari realized the trap they had fallen into. They responded with decisive action, increasing their rate of fire and adjusting their formation, but it was far too late. Or rather, it would have been, if the AIs had not proven to be far less successful than hoped. Many ramming attempts ended up being misses, giving the Minbari the opportunity to burn hundreds more of the small craft from the skies. However, there were just too many of the robotic attackers, and soon the last Tinashi was a tumbling wreck.

Unfortunately, those ships had launched over two hundred Nial fighters. Rather than fleeing for the gate, those fighters now began exterminating the remaining small craft. Ramming warships hundreds of meters tall was one thing. Trying to ram nimble space superiority fighters was something entirely different. The Nials destroyed the human small craft by the score.

In order to preserve his forces, Richard had settled on detonating the flying bombs any time a Nial came somewhat close for a strafing run. The tactic had proven quite effective for a few minutes, felling well over a hundred Nials in the first minute alone. But then the survivors had pulled farther back, taking long range shots, keeping their distance. What had ensued was a cat and mouse game of attrition, a deadly weaving of vectors and destinations. Knots of human craft would separate in flight from one attack only to attempt to congregate around and envelop another, forming cages of nuclear fire. He would order ships to vector in and detonate any time they came within a few kilometers of a Minbari fighter. It was a tricky and delicate game. Richard had been very good at it, but working through those clumsy AI pilots had been infuriating. It was like performing surgery while wearing oven mitts. They had destroyed thousands more of his precious ships before he had finally detonated over a dozen of them to take out the last Minbari fighter.

That had left fewer than five hundred small craft remaining to him and he had realized that the colony could not hold. They hadn't lasted long enough, not to keep the Minbari off of the Exodus Fleet's tails. They needed to keep the fight going for a lot longer. And so, after a final consultation with Vasiliev, he had decided to evacuate to Ragnarok. He collected his staff and as much crew as necessary to man the station for their final battle. He had given his people an hour to say their goodbyes, and then they had left Deneb IV behind.

An alarm sounded, pulling the Admiral out of his reverie. Quit woolgathering, he chided himself. Your people need you focused. He was just so damned tired. After so many years in service, he had earned his retirement. This was a hell of a way to spend his final years. Hell, at this point, it was probably his final days, or even hours.

On the display screen, a jump point blossomed. Then another. Then a dozen more. Minbari craft began sliding into the system in their dozens. Richard checked the sensor reports. Eighty-one ships of varying sizes. Another factor of three, he thought. I wonder if there's some way we could use their habits against them. The Minbari began to launch their fighters.

The remaining human small craft rose to meet them in a diffuse cloud. Richard had ordered the AIs torn out. Clearly, human pilots would be more effective. The Divine Wind had come to Deneb. Unfortunately, there were more Minbari fighters in the system than there were Kamikazes. No amount of human determination could make up for the performance gap between a former mail truck and a deadly killing machine which made even the most advanced human fighters comparatively look like, well, a mail truck. The Nials fired their light neutron fusion cannon from well outside of the explosive envelope of the human vessels, and it was done. Not a single human craft remained intact. The Nials took not a single loss. They continued to sweep forward.

Richard heard someone weeping behind him, but his eyes remained glued to the display. He didn't blame whoever it was. Her home was about to be destroyed. New jump points flared on the screen, and a dozen new vessels emerged. "What the hell are those?" someone across the room asked.

Richard didn't spare a glance for the speaker, but answered anyway. "Assault transports. Looks like the Minbari plan to put boots on the ground."

"Picking up a transmission from the Minbari!" the officer manning the data feeds called out excitedly.

There was a crackle of static, and then over the speakers came a polished, arrogant voice. "Human workers and religious. Surrender and prepare to be removed. Resist and you shall die."

Silence ensued for several moments, and then Governor Vasiliev's voice came over the line. Richard was quite certain it was the last thing he would ever hear from his friend. "There is an ancient saying from Earth, Minbari. It was not one used by my ancestors, but today all humanity stands united. So here is my response to your demand. Tell it to the Marines!" There was a hiss of static as Vasiliev cut his end of the transmission. The Minbari did not respond, only kept moving inexorably towards the planet.

The Nials reached the planetary orbitals and began killing the remaining satellites in orbit. Meanwhile, the troop transports were pushing through the shattered remains of the human kamikazes. There must have been someone still alive in that shattered wreckage, because suddenly there was a massive nuclear blast, and the nearest of troop transports was smashed sideways. Almost in slow motion, the large vessel began to break up, spewing debris and bodies into the void.

That last burst of defiance was still ongoing when the Nials killed the last of the satellites transmitting data to Ragnarok. The screen went dark to an angry murmur sweeping the room. Admiral Richard Dean took a deep breath, and glanced around the room. "Alright folks, break into your duty shifts. Anyone not on duty, rack out and get some sleep."

It was his aide who responded, the young man looking ashen. "Sir, how can we possibly sleep after seeing that…that…"

"The Minbari are going to be a while, reducing the planet," he said, not unkindly. "But they know we're out here somewhere. They caught a bit of our passage through hyperspace. They'll be coming. If you can't sleep, then get a meal. A big one. That should help. And we're all going to need all of the rest and energy we can get for what's ahead.
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Hyperspace, Approaching Ch'Lon - Detached Task Force, EAS Eratosthenes - May, 2249

Gideon sat, doing paperwork on his bridge, in the final hours as they made their approach to Ch'Lon. He had so much work, he couldn't let a spare moment pass idle; not even in the lead up to battle.

Lieutenant Commander Kathway approached, her footsteps loud on the quiet bridge. "Captain," she said softly, "sensors have detected a lone Starfury ahead. It approached just close enough to establish a solid sensor lock."

"It must be from the fleet, giving us an update on their status. Presumably they've opened a comm channel with the Nova?"

"It would appear so, Sir."

"And how about our pursuers? Will they detect it?" As expected, planned really, Sheridan's attack had enraged the Koulani. They had detected a large force giving chase, soon after jumping out of the system. Sheridan was still faking engine trouble, so there was a danger of being overtaken. A few energy mines had encouraged the Koulani to maintain their distance, however. For the time being, they were simply maintaining sensor contact, content to wait for the inevitable moment when the humans would revert to normal space, providing a much more favorable battlefield.

"Unlikely. The distance between the two is simply too great, given hyperspace interference. Whoever's in that Starfury is being careful to use tight beam communications. The Koulani should remain ignorant."

"And what about our Starfuries on rearguard? Have they reported any changes to the Koulani fleet?"

"It keeps growing, Sir. Our current pace has given a lot of their ships a chance to catch up. As of last count, we are looking at a dozen battlecruisers, over a hundred heavy cruisers, and nearly as many corvette sized vessels. If they catch us, Sir…"

She left the thought unfinished. It didn't really need a response, but Gideon felt the need to give one anyway. "Not to worry, Janice. The Old Man has a plan." She gave a tight smile, which revealed little of what she actually thought or felt. Gideon had a hard time reading her. He found her to be overly cold and aloof, but she did her job very well. He supposed it must be hard, being second in command to someone who was younger than just about any of the most junior of her officers. He wanted to smooth their working relationship, but she would need to meet him halfway.

A chime sounded from the communications station, currently manned by Lieutenant Sakai. "Captain," she called, turning to glance at him. "We are receiving a tight beam communication from the Starfury. It is designated as private, for you."

He nodded, standing up. "Shunt it to my cabin, I'll take it there." He nodded to Kathway. "Lieutenant Commander, you have the bridge."

His cabin was but a very short walk away, but he reveled again at being able to do something as simple as walk aboard a military space vessel. He felt better for his time on the Eratosthenes, and knew he was regaining both muscle and bone mass. Entering his cabin, he wasted no time in activating his comm screen and accepting the communication.

He was shocked to see Captain Elizabeth Lochley in her flight suit. Sheridan had promoted both her and Levitt to Captain the day after the fleet had departed Deneb. It was just long enough to ensure that both Sheridan and Garibaldi had seniority of rank on them. Captains didn't usually go traipsing around in Starfuries. Of course, she was the CAG. She could choose to play messenger if she wanted. "Liz, it's great to see you. To what do I owe the honor?"

"I just gave a status report to John. It seemed only right that you should be advised as well."

"Thank you. How is the fleet doing?"

"Well enough. We made it past the Ch'Lon beacon, and are now heading towards Zacalth. We didn't see any Ch'Lonan vessels, and are fairly certain we weren't detected. Once we get to Zacalth, we'll need to do a hard maintenance stop. Having the Achilles freighters instead of all of those small craft has helped a hell of a lot, but that's still a long way to go in hyperspace, and it's not as though we got rid of all of the small craft. Those remaining are a lot more robust on average, but they still need more maintenance than the big boys. Regardless, the fleet is clear, so you're free to enact whatever madness John has in mind."

"Don't approve, do we?"

"You know I don't. Whatever he is planning is pure insanity. We're on the verge of being wiped out, and he goes to war with not one, but two more species?"

"You heard Admiral Dean. They attacked us. It was already a war."

"Raids and piracy," she said dismissively. "Even if it was really a war, it was a war with Deneb. Or a war with the Earth Alliance, I suppose. Now it's going to be a war with this fleet, and that's not something we can afford."

"He's the boss, Liz. And Admiral Dean clearly trusted him. Maybe you should to."

"I can't. But that's not why I called. I wanted to see you before you went into this next crazy battle."

"Worried about me?" he asked with a cocky grin.

She smiled back. "Don't let it go to your head. But since I was here anyway...I just wanted to take the opportunity to say…" She took a deep breath. "To say that I love you."

Gideon was stunned. He'd had a lot of girlfriends, but none had ever said that before. And frankly, he'd always known from day one that this woman was way out of his league. Snapping himself out of the daze he was in, he closed his mouth with an audible clop. Funny, I always thought 'jaw dropping' was just an expression. He was trying to formulate a response when she started laughing at him.

"You should see the expression on your face," she said, still chuckling. "It's ok, I know that was a bit of a shock. You figure out how you feel, and get back to me." She cut the line, leaving him staring at a blank screen.

"I love you too," he said to the empty room. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned and walked back to the bridge."

"Captain on Deck!" the Marine guarding the hatch called out.

Having that guard in place was a change Gideon had dictated upon taking command. He would do everything in his power to make sure no ship in his command was ever again caught flat footed by boarders. "As you were," he called out, then strode over to his chair, which Kathway was just exiting. "Status?" he asked her quietly.

"Forty-five minutes to system entry. Otherwise, no change."

"Time for final checks. Things are about to get exciting."

They weren't using the system jumpgate this time. Instead, Gideon had the Eratosthenes open a jump point, as she and the Nova slid into the system together. Having emerged only a few million kilometers from Ch'Lon, they continued forward without changing acceleration. "Full sensor sweep," he ordered. "Let's make sure we know everything that's out there. Maintain contact with the Nova, in case either ship misses anything."

Shortly, Janice was providing the details on the system defenses. "It's not good, Captain. Either the Ch'Lona weren't beaten down as much as we were led to believe, or they have substantial industry and have managed to rapidly replenish their forces. Either way, they have over a thousand combatant ships in system. The vast majority is small stuff; scouts, frigates, corvettes, a couple flavors of light destroyers, that sort of thing. But, about fifteen percent fall into capital classes. We're looking at heavy destroyers, light and heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, and a couple of flavors of carrier. From the mix that we're seeing, as well as ship disposition within the local task forces and groups, they clearly utilize a well developed combined arms doctrine which is at odds with what we've seen from their attacks on our colonies."

"Explanation?"

She took a deep breath. "The most likely option would seem to be that the Ch'Lonan forces we fought in the past were just raiders and pirates. Civilian or paramilitary, forces either ignored by their government, or possibly supported by it, so long as they turn their attentions outward. If that's the case, then what we're looking at here are the real professionals."

Gideon grunted. "What a pleasant thought. How about their fixed defenses?"

"Just as formidable. Not one, but three Va'Lothar class space stations. And swarms of their Wylera class orbital weapons platforms. Both very heavily armed. As you know, the Ch'Lona favor a mix of laser and projectile weaponry, with some particle beams thrown in for good measure. That's a hard combination to defend against."

"Any good news?"

"They don't seem to have detected our system entry yet. Just like the Koulani, they appear to be limited to light speed sensors, at least, they are not reacting to our presence yet. Also, they've got two of the stations flanking the jump gate, and the third is part of a shipyard orbiting in the local asteroid field, so if we still plan to go after 'just' the planet then we won't actually have to deal with them. Also, they don't seem to go in for mines. We're not detecting a single one in system. That's about it."

"Small favors."

"Very small. Sir," she said tentatively, "this plan…"

"Not confident in the Commodore's plan, Janice?"

"Confident? Not exactly, Sir. In fact, I think it's completely insane, the next best thing to outright suicide. It can't possibly work. And if it doesn't, we'll have an unbeatable force both in front of us and behind us. How did he even come up with something like this?

"Blame your former CO. Then Commander Levitt mentioned in a meeting that she had some whiz kid aboard who was a hell of a programmer. Said she could make AIs emulate actual people."

"Was that while you were covering up General Lefcourt's death?" she asked innocently.

Gideon gave her a dour look. "You are definitely not supposed to know about that. I suppose Levitt spilled the beans?"

"No, Sir. He hadn't been seen for a month, and then he suddenly dies with no real details given? It was a pretty easy farce to see through, if you pay attention. I always pay attention."

He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, making sure that they weren't being overheard. "That's good to know, Lieutenant Commander. And you are correct. Someone did suggest drawing out that masquerade by faking communications from Lefcourt. But, it was rightly pointed out that an AI wouldn't be able to fool people for very long. It's too difficult for one to mimic a specific person. There are too many tells. I'm just as glad we didn't go that route. It's one thing to maintain OpSec. It's something else to lie to everyone about something so important."

"A lie of omission is still a lie," she said just as quietly. "Besides Captain, if it was a mistake then, why are we considering it now? Kate's good...the best I've ever heard of. But your concerns about the Lefcourt proposal are just as valid now."

"Actually, they're not. I had your same concerns, but the Commodore pointed out three reasons they don't apply. First, we don't need the deception to last very long; just a few seconds, actually. Second, we aren't trying to emulate a particular person, just a generic 'person.' And finally, from the perspective of our intended targets, we'll be emulating an alien. How well do you know the native characteristics and speech patterns of, for instance, a Narn, to be able to tell if a single transmission is real or fabricated? This plan stands a real chance of working."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then we turn around and run like hell," he offered with a shrug.

"Except that the Koulani are right behind us."

"Picky, picky, Lieutenant Commander. Do you want to live forever?"

"Yes, that would be nice actually," she said with a chuckle. A gesture from the officer manning sensors caused her to straighten and walk over. She studied his feed for a few moments, then turned and said, "Captain, we're starting to get movement from several of the ships in the system. Primarily moving to intercept. Their movement patterns and timing are consistent with their detection of us via EM sensors."

They watched sensor readings come in over the next few minutes, as more and more of the Ch'Lonan's defending vessels noticed them and began to head in their direction. Finally, with another chime from the sensor station, they received the news they had been awaiting. "Koulani fleet has entered the system, Captain," Janice advised. "They have increased to their maximum fleet acceleration."

Lieutenant Sakai, manning communications, turned her head, stating, "Message from the Nova. Commodore Sheridan orders us to initiate Project Semblance."

"Acknowledge," Gideon ordered. "Lieutenant Libby. You're up."

The dark haired young officer gave a smile and a nod, and launched the program without a word. Her fingers danced over her panel, and she ran and monitored the transmissions she had spent the last week perfecting. She had gotten to work directly with the Commodore in crafting those transmissions. She wasn't about to let anything go wrong.

The starfield displayed on the main screen suddenly winked out. In its place, four different images were displayed, dividing the screen into quadrants. Two of the images, those on the right hand side of the screen, were of Commodore Sheridan. The remaining two images, on the left, were both alien, one Ch'Lonan, the other Koulani.

"Forward transmitters aboard the Nova and Eratosthenes are synced and aligned," Lieutenant Libby called out. "Beginning transmission."

Suddenly, the two top images, one of the Sheridans and the Koulani, began to move. The images greeted each other. Their backgrounds clearly showed the bridges of two very different ships, giving the overall impression of two military commanders greeting each other. "Detecting no reflectance or bleedback. Images appear to be free of distortion or other artifacts."

Gideon nodded. That part was very important. The transmission was aimed forward only, so as to be picked up by the Ch'Lonans but not by the pursuing Koulani. It had been spread between the transmitters of the Nova and Eratosthenes, in an attempt to keep the Ch'Lonans from pinpointing the transmission and realizing that it was entirely one sided. But all of that work would be for nothing if something in the signal itself tipped off the Ch'Lonans that it was a fake.

As the prerecorded Sheridan and Koulani began to discuss the local Ch'Lonan fixed and mobile defenses, as well as suggested combat tactics, the Lieutenant continued. "Aft facing transmitters aboard the Nova and Eratosthenes are synced and aligned. Beginning transmission." Now the bottom two images, the other Sheridan and the Ch'Lonan, also began to speak. They greeted each other and began a very similar discussion. This transmission was being sent to the Koulani and masked from the Ch'Lonans. The AI was adjusting the recordings in real time, feeding in details of system defenses and the two fleets which could not have been prerecorded, as they had only been detected by the most recent scans.

Gideon watched all four panels raptly, looking for anything that might tip off either set of aliens. He was having a hard time following two simultaneous conversations, but he was well aware of what was being said. Sheridan and the Ch'Lonan were discussing the successful implementation of their trap. Sheridan was stating how easy it was to break through the Koulani home defenses and destroy their infrastructure, just as their joint plan had called for. He further stated how easy it was to get the foolish Koulani to give chase with the bulk of their forces. The Ch'Lonan officer encouraged Sheridan to head for the safety of the shipyard, while his own forces would envelop and destroy the Koulani fleet, thus leaving Koula ripe for invasion.

Meanwhile, the other digital Commodore was advising his Koula counterpart that they had clearly caught the Ch'Lonans unprepared, given how spread out their fleet was. He proposed that the human forces, and perhaps a small supporting contingent of Koulani vessels, would head for and destroy the shipyards. The Koulani agreed, and stated that his own forces would smash the Ch'Lonan defenses and then bombard their homeworld. He finished by noting that the "Ch'Lonans will be slaves before the day is out."

All four images said their farewells and signed off. The main screen snapped back to the prior display of the Starfield, some Ch'Lonan vessels in the far distance. "Transmissions completed," Libby noted.

"This can't possibly work," Kathway muttered under her breath, not quite quiet enough to avoid being heard.

"Give it a minute, LC," he called softly to her. "You never know."

Lieutenant Libby who, having closed out Project Semblance, had taken over the sensors station, suddenly called out, "Bearing change!"

"Report," Gideon ordered calmly, burying his excitement.

"Over ninety percent of the Koulani fleet has reoriented on the Ch'Lonan homeworld. Heading there under maximum acceleration. The remaining vessels are still oriented on us." She paused for a moment, then resumed. "The Nova has altered course, now heading towards the Ch'Lonan shipyards."

"Follow them in," Gideon ordered. "What about the Ch'Lona?"

"Most of them won't have gotten the message yet," Lieutenant Libby replied. "It was aimed at their homeworld, who will have to send out orders to their fleets. However, we're now picking up a flurry of activity in the Ch'Lon orbitals. They appear to be assembling a blocking force. A number of the closest Ch'Lonan task forces have reoriented on the Koulani fleet under their own volition. They can't possibly have received orders yet. Numerous forces now closing on the Koulani." She did some more checking and then stated, "the Koulani forces still chasing us will be within weapons range in just over half an hour, at our current acceleration. A Ch'Lonan task force will enter weapons range of us at about that same time.

"How long before the Ch'Lonan and Koulani force confront each other?"

In response, Kate pulled up a display of the main Koulani force. A pair Ch'Lonan destroyers had pulled up parallel to the force, perhaps in an attempt to ask them what the hell they were doing there. In response, over a hundred Koulani vessels opened fire on them, burning them from the sky.

"Frag me, it worked," Kathway muttered quietly.

Gideon displayed a Cheshire grin. "Excellent work, Lieutenant Libby. Very well done."

"Thank you, Captain. Sir, in about twenty minutes, the most serious of the Ch'Lonan mobile defense forces will hit the Koulani fleet. It's a major strike force, containing their newest and most combat oriented classes. It's centered on a half dozen Xer'Enthain class battlecruisers and another half dozen On'Thari class attack carriers. Their remaining capital ships appear to be ten Xer'Thari class strike cruisers, fifteen Tek'Kashi class heavy destroyers, and twenty-five Tra'Vora class light cruisers. The force is rounded out with a mix of Va'Kan class battle frigates and Mer'Tan class corvettes. There are roughly a hundred total of the lighter classes. There's one other significant, but smaller, task force that will intercept that Koulani before they enter weapons range of the Ch'Lon fixed planetary defenses. It's comprised of older and less combat capable ships, though. Other than those two task forces, everything will be coming piecemeal at the Koulani."

"The Koulani have the advantages of being concentrated, and mad as hell," Gideon commented aloud, not to anyone in particular. "But the Ch'Lona have more and likely better forces and doctrine. It's going to be a hell of a battle."

"What do we do now?" Janice inquired.

"We maintain our current heading, making it look like we are moving to attack the shipyards. We need to maintain the illusion for as long as possible, until those fleets out there are well and truly at each other's throats. Then we get the hell out of dodge. The Nova wouldn't last long in an environment this hot, much less an oversized exploration ship.

It was almost exactly a half hour later, when they were about to be hit by both the Ch'Lona from the front and the Koulani from the rear, that Gideon ordered a jump point opened. As the two ships slipped into hyperspace, their last view of the system was of the massive battle roiling between the two alien forces. Despite being beset from all sides, the Koulani fleet continued to press doggedly forward towards Ch'Lon. Sensors detected swarms of tugs in operation around the planet's orbitals, madly dragging weapons platforms into a notional wall, meant to block the Koulani advance as far out from Ch'Lon as possible. And then the jump point closed, leaving the two ships in the relative peace of hyperspace.

"Commodore Sheridan would like a word, Captain," Lieutenant Sakai advised.

"Main screen."

The solemn face of John Sheridan appeared on the screen. "Excellent work, Captain. Please relay my congratulations to your entire crew, especially Lieutenant Libby. But you still have some work to do. The Nova will stand on the defense, in case anyone decides to chase us into hyperspace. In the meantime, you have half an hour, forty-five minutes at the outside, to hunt down the mass shadow of Ch'Lon. Report in once you have located it. Show me just what an Explorer class can do. Now, get to work." With that, he cut the channel.

"Alright folks, you heard the man. We've got work to do."

It was almost exactly forty-eight minutes later that one of Gideon's sensor techs spotted the mass shadow. If they had been farther away, or hadn't know exactly where the planet was in real space, they never would have had a prayer. As it was, it was a minor miracle that they were able to find it so quickly.

Gideon reported to Sheridan, the Nova still in a guard position, though not a single ship of either species had come through after them. "Commodore, we found it."

"It's about time," Sheridan grumped. "Are your Starfuries prepped and armed as I specified?"

"Aye, Sir."

"Then get them launched, and have them form up on the Nova. I want them in position in no more than three minutes." Sheridan cut the comm channel. The image that returned to the screen showed the Nova swinging about and heading towards the Eratosthenes. She was already launching her own fighters.

"Launch fighters, now," Gideon ordered, already knowing what would come next. "Is the jump engine charged?"

"Aye, Captain," Kathway responded.

This time the Eratosthenes crew met their deadline, and Sheridan commed again. "Time for the final act, Matt. Open a jump point for us, but the Eratosthenes is to remain in hyperspace. The Nova and our fighter escort will head through and engage the enemy. If we aren't back in fifteen minutes, head for Zacalth and rejoin the fleet. Let Sinclair know that he is to assume command. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Then open that jump point."

The jump engines discharged, and the blue swirl of an exit vortex sprung up, starkly clear against the churning red hues of hyperspace. In the center of the vortex loomed the massive bulk of the planet Ch'Lon, the lights of numerous cities sprinkled across it's night side. The blur of a weapons platform streaking past the opening was seen, but otherwise the skies were clear.

The Nova fired a pair of energy mines through the gate. There was a pause of a few seconds, and then the bright flash of the detonating mines washed back through the vortex. Only then did the Nova and her fighter escort charge forward, crossing the threshold back into normal space. And then the jump point winked closed behind them.

The next several minutes felt like some of the longest in Gideon's life. Maintaining his calm Captain's face was a real struggle. He nearly sagged in relief when, just over seven minutes later, Lieutenant Libby reported a jump point forming, and put it up on the screen. The orangish tones of an entry vortex washed across the bridge.

"Train all guns on that vortex," Gideon ordered. "Let's not make any assumptions on who's coming though."

Happily, though, it was the Nova which slid gracefully into hyperspace. Several plasma fires burned on her surface, and one cannon turret hung at an odd angle. But by and large she seemed to have gotten off pretty light. Unfortunately, there were more than a few holes in her fighter screen. Gideon wasn't looking forward to finding out how many of those holes were his people. But, for now, just getting most of them back was a victory.

As the Nova slid clear of the vortex opening, the bulk of the planet was briefly visible. Where before the lights of numerous cities had sparkled, there was now only darkness. Good, Gideon though with grim resolve. Enjoy neolithic living, assholes.

"Comm signal from the Nova," Lieutenant Sakai advised.

"Put it through." When Sheridan's slightly more haggard features appeared on the screen, Gideon offered, "Welcome back, Sir."

"It's good to be back."

"How were things on the other side?"

"Surprisingly light. The fighting between the Ch'Lona and Koulani has bogged down into a nasty bloody slog. The Ch'Lona stopped them well short of their home world, but they did it by throwing everything they had at them, including rerouting much of their planetary defenses. I wouldn't be surprised if even now most of the Ch'Lonan forces have no idea that their planet was hit. I don't think much in the way of a Koulani fleet is going to make it out of that system, though."

"I'm not going to shed any tears."

Sheridan grinned. "I don't blame you. Still, it won't be much longer before someone decides to pop into hyperspace to look for us."

"Ahh. Time to run like hell then, Sir?"

"Captain," Sheridan said, doing his best to scowl. "The proper military term is to withdraw in the face of superior forces."

"Ahh. I always get that one confused."
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Deneb, Earth Alliance Space - Ragnarok Station - May, 2249

For one of the very few times in Admiral Richard Dean's career, the attack didn't come at an inopportune moment. He wasn't sleeping, shitting, or screwing. He wasn't trying to catch a bite to eat, or exercising halfway across the station. In fact, he was sitting at his station, scrolling through sensor feeds and checking weapons readiness reports. He was, in fact, fully and completely ready when the attack came. It was a fraggin' miracle.

The alarms began to blare, warning of an opening hyperspace vortex. Three, in fact. Out of each slid a Sharlin warcruiser and a pair of Tinashi frigates. The Minbari had arrived. His crew was already rushing to battlestations, but there would be no need for them. His people had been working tirelessly to increase the defenses of this facility, since well before the Exodus fleet had arrived. The tools to repulse this attack were in place. The Admiral was already looking at the sensors. Their stealth systems might mask the Minbari ships themselves from a weapons lock; the jump points were another matter altogether. The sensors told him exactly where those were located, just a few dozen kilometers away, and his people had seeded nukes all throughout that area. Before the Minbari vessels had even completed their transition to normal space, Richard had armed and keyed those nukes to detonate.

Over a hundred warheads went off in a rolling wave across that area of space. The blast whited out his sensor feeds, obscuring the Minbari craft. When the visuals cleared, there was nothing left but scorched and tumbling debris. It was over before most of his people had reached battlestations.

He manually silenced the alarms himself. Keying the intercom, he said, "At ease, people. We just took out nine Minbari ships. But, make no mistake, they won't be the last. Get to your stations and buckle in. It's about to get rather exciting."

The waiting seemed to stretch on forever. It was tedium, rather than excitement, which was setting in when the next attack came, roughly thirty-seven minutes later. Instead of coming in close to the station, they had pulled back a good distance, nearly a couple of hundred kilometers, right to the inner edge of the thickest part of the rubble field which made up the massive planetary ring system.

Twenty-seven jump points blossomed across a very wide arc, each spitting out a single vessel. Once again it was a mix of Sharlins and Tinashis. Their distance from the station meant that there were a fair number of asteroids between them, blocking any clear shot. But, their range and spread were clearly intended to ensure they occupied a large enough volume of space that no possible minefield could cover it. Clearly they had learned something from their mistake.

Too bad it was the wrong damned lesson, he mused with satisfaction. They'd have been better off coming in at their previous coordinates. We've already used up the nukes there. On the other hand, that belt of rubble they've snuggled up to will make for some really excellent fragmentation. He blew the next set of mines. They were, of necessity, a hell of a lot more spread out. However, these nukes were all much more powerful, and emplaced on various large asteroids within the ring. As the nukes blew, they shattered the asteroids, sending rubble flying at high velocities in every direction. That rubble crashed into other rocks, sending both careening off at wild angles, leading to a massive chain reaction, a chaos of moving and bounding rocks, like the galaxy's largest game of billiards.

Within moments, the Minbari found themselves enveloped in an abattoir of flying debris. The commanders of several those vessels clearly knew they were doomed. Rather than attempting to evade or shoot down the inbound rocks, those ships began firing madly, attempting to hit the station and destroy it so no further waves of Minbari would have to chance the human traps. Unfortunately for them, there was far too much rubble in the way. Only a single Neutron beam managed to impact the station, digging into one of the most heavily armored areas. And then all of the ships succumbed to the maelstrom.

The station shuddered around the Admiral, but he ignored if for the moment. There was a wall of debris that was headed their way fast. "Get us under cover!" he ordered sharply. He felt a new lurch, as Ragnarok station began to move.

It had been his aide who suggested bringing all of Deneb's tugs with them, for use in supplementing Ragnarok's station keeping drives. Positioned around the periphery of the base, they increased the station's movement capabilities by an order of magnitude. Admiral Dean made good use of that added mobility now, sliding the base behind an enormous nearby asteroid, just in time for the wave of shrapnel to wash past them.

"Damage report," he finally commanded.

"Penetration on deck twelve," called out Master Chief al-Saud. He was one of the Old Salts whom Admiral Dean had swiped from the Exodus Fleet. Richard was glad to have him. "One section open to vacuum, which is helping to contain the ongoing plasma fires. Minimal damage, otherwise. Damage Control and Repair crews are working on it."

With a nod, Richard relegated that information to the back of his mind. He was already trying to predict the next attack. He didn't actually expect to survive it, but it was his job to keep planning and fighting until someone actually managed to kill him. Besides, as the numbers went, he should have been dead already. That might actually be good information to share with the crew. Still sorting rapidly through the available data, he activated the intercom and stated, almost absentmindedly, "Just in case anyone is keeping track, we've already taken out over three times the number of Minbari ships the bean counters back on Earth expected us to. I expect we'll take out a few more." He didn't try to offer them any empty platitudes about surviving this fight. They all knew the score. There were only three people who might make it off of this station alive, and the odds for them were miniscule at best. No, everyone who had come here had done so in the clear knowledge that they would be fighting a suicidal rearguard action. An attempt to buy the Exodus fleet just a little bit more time before the Minbari resumed their chase.

Despite his encouragement, he figured the next attack would punch their ticket. After two such significant losses, he was betting that the Minbari would perform a jump point assault. He considered launching his final assault, but it was a little too early. He wanted to buy as much time as possible for Sheridan to widen their lead. If his attack failed, the Minbari would be immediately free to head off in pursuit. We've got to try to survive one or two more attacks. Then we can bring this thing to a close, and I can finally catch up on all that sleep I said I would get when I was dead.

He looked over at Major Carrie Samuels, whom he had assigned to their jury rigged navigation and flight control station. The grizzled harridan had practically built the interface herself; Ragnarok's previous station keeping controls being entirely insufficient for the task ahead. She was now able to tie in those station keeping drives as well as coordinate all of the tugs attached to the station. Feeding in the sensors and tracking systems provided her with an exacting viewpoint of their surroundings. All of it together allowed her to fly the beast with no small amount of precision. "Evasive maneuvers," he ordered.

She nodded, and the station lurched once more as she began a random series of evasions. They had discussed in advance the need to keep the station close to the mass shadows of the larger asteroids, in the hopes of spoofing the Minbari sensors. She now performed that task with her customary efficiency. The station darted from one to another, pausing for only a few moments before changing cover again. The station swayed and shimmied under the shifting accelerations, and anyone not buckled in had difficulty remaining upright. The onboard inertial compensation was not designed for the task now demanded of it, and there had been no way to upgrade it with the resources and time available.

As the station continued to lurch and vibrate, its structural members groaning alarmingly, Admiral Dean unfastened his harness and took a stroll around the room. He seemed completely oblivious to the shaking and sudden lurches of the evasive maneuvers. Solid as a rock, he moved sedately about Command and Control, checking on the various stations, as everyone else clung tightly to their safety harnesses.

Major Samuels glanced up at him and quirked an eyebrow. He smiled and said, "I got my sea legs in the Dilgar war. Our inertial compensation only worked half the time, and wasn't all that effective even when it was working. It's been a while since I had a chance to use them. It's kinda nice."

She grunted and refocused on her task, but he thought he caught a flash of hidden amusement and approval. Damn, he thought. If I was twenty years younger, wasn't her superior officer, and we weren't both about to die, I might have to take a shot at that one. Of course, his dating skills were even rustier than his sea legs, so it was probably just as well.

It was almost exactly thirty-seven minutes later, well after Richard had returned to his seat, that the next attack came. It wasn't a jump point attack, but the Admiral was less concerned about his error than he was about the timing. Damn. They can't be that stupid, can they? If any of his officers had made such a mistake, he would have chewed them a new one. All in all, though, he would take the gift. He just hoped he would have the opportunity to use it.

He focused on the Minbari vessels entering the system. Twenty-seven jump points. Eighty-one Minbari ships, mostly Tinashis but also a handful of Sharlin. They were entering the space midway between their previous two attacks. It was too far out to have been mined, and too close in to be near the shrapnel friendly ring system.

"Get us under cover!" he ordered. The Major did her best, sliding behind the large asteroid they were nearest. It still took time, and the Minbari took advantage, opening fire. Less than a quarter of the station was exposed when they did so, but that quarter was still horribly savaged by a half dozen neutron laser hits. The thick, heavily reinforced armor helped a bit, but only a bit. Damage alarms began to wail, and the shaking on the bridge intensified substantially. "Launch the scrubbers!"

A dozen large asteroids, sitting far off to the side of the battle space, suddenly stirred to motion, and began accelerating towards the Minbari. Although millions of tons of asteroid can't exactly be said to zoom, the acceleration they achieved was actually quite impressive. One of the final acts of the workers of Zanzibar station had been producing hundreds of surplus engines and emplacing them on those asteroids.

The Minbari ignored them, accelerating themselves towards the station and the rock behind which it sheltered. Within minutes they would be around that obstacle and carving up the last remnants of humanity within the system. The use of asteroids as projectile weapons wasn't unknown. Several species had used them, including the Dilgar and the Centauri. Of course, those species used mass drivers rather than engines to propel them, but the difference was immaterial. They were weapons of mass destruction, unwieldy and imprecise. Even if the humans had cracked their stealth, and the trajectory of those asteroids strongly indicated that they hadn't, simple maneuver and evasion would ensure that they'd miss by miles.

And so they did, passing just to the rear of the last Minbari ship as they made their final approach towards the humans' hiding place. And then the first of those asteroids detonated, the hundreds of megatons of ordinance dug down and buried deep in its core exploding as one. It erased over a dozen Minbari ships by itself. The explosion caused the next asteroid to tumble a bit off course, but it was still well within range when it blew, taking several more Minbari ships with it.

As the asteroids detonated one by one, they shredded the Minbari formation, chasing it with a wall of debris. The very lead Minbari ships engaged maximum acceleration, attempting to outrun the deadly projectiles. Only three succeeded, charging hard past the human station and its asteroid shield and towards the planet filling their displays. Several moments later, once they had comfortably escaped the latest human trap, they slowed and began to turn. The human station was now on the wrong side of its shelter, exposed and open for destruction. The Minbari would be happy to provide it.

They never got the chance. Their trajectory took them too close to the planet. Deneb I was very close to its parent star, and that star, roughly six orders of magnitude brighter than Sol, pumped an enormous amount of energy into the planet. The enormous gravity of the planet allowed it to retain something of an atmosphere, but that atmosphere was essentially one giant thunderstorm. It was filled to the brim with ionized gas and a massive electric charge just looking for a ground.

The trio of Minbari vessel, two Sharlins and a Tinashi, became the ground. The electrical discharge that struck them was less like a lightning bolt, and more like the finger of God. Watching it from an only marginally safe distance, Admiral Richard Dean knew that the kind of energies involved there could only be comfortably discussed in scientific notation. Frankly, he didn't care. Let the eggheads do the math. It might keep them busy for the next thirty-seven minutes.

"Shall I resume evasive maneuvers, Admiral?" the Major asked.

"Negative, snuggle us in close to this asteroid, and be ready to pull us back upon my order, with everything you've got."

"Aye, Sir."

The stress continued to build over the next half hour, as damage control teams attempted to repair everything they could. They focused on restoring the weapon systems in the damaged quarter, and were largely successful. The station was ready when, at exactly thirty-six minutes and forty five seconds, Admiral Dean ordered the Major to evade.

The jump point attack came twenty-eight, rather than fifteen, seconds later. Even then, the station wasn't quite fast enough to get away unscathed. While the massive rock they had been sheltering near was blown to rubble by the expanding jump point, they just caught the outer edge of it. That was still enough to mangle the outer edge of the station, and send it into a violent spin.

The station shrieked around them, and they were all hurled into their restraints. "Fifteen decks open to vacuum!" shouted al-Saud. "One of the reactors just SCRAMed! At least one of our primary structural members has shattered. We won't survive any significant acceleration."

"It doesn't matter," Major Samuels shouted over the noise of the still shuddering station. "We just lost two thirds of the tugs entirely. All of the rest have sustained at least limited damage. We aren't going anywhere fast."

"Shargotti emerging!" someone called.

"Open fire, all guns!" Dean commanded.

The station was severely damaged, its power was spotty, and it had lost over a quarter of its external weaponry. That still left it with a firepower equivalent to several Nova class dreadnoughts, and it was firing point blank directly up the enemy's rear. The Shargotti clearly wasn't expecting them to have survived. It hadn't even begun to turn; perhaps it hadn't even noticed them, before the station let loose with every gun it had remaining. At such short range, the Minbari stealth systems didn't do much more than throw off their aim by a few degrees, and the majority of the attacks struck home.

Shargottis, unfortunately, were built much more substantially than Sharlins, both internally and externally. The ship, burning and listing, managed to hold together through the barrage. It belatedly began to turn, now slowed by massive systems damage, in an attempt to bring its weapons to bear on the station. Weapons that were more than powerful enough to finish off that station. It was a race between the station's recharging weapons and the damaged engines of the Shargotti.

The station won, its second salvo shattering the Minbari vessel. However, that vessel had time to get off a single shot with a neutron laser, spearing directly through the heart of the station, and taking two more reactors offline. By some miracle, neither of those reactors blew, but the station was now down below minimum power levels.

Fresh alarms blared around the Admiral and he knew that, despite beating off yet another Minbari assault, this fight was now all but over. He wasn't going to wait another thirty-seven minutes to finish it up.

He keyed the intercom. "In a moment, we will be performing our final assault. Messengers, mount up. Let me take this moment to tell all of you...what an incredible honor it has been serving with you. You have done your world and your species proud. You have done the impossible, not once, but several times, and accomplished more than anyone thought you could. Your work was probably critical to the survival of the human race. Now, here, in our final hour, I just want to say...thank you. Commencing attack."

He killed the intercom. "Is the Hermes ready?" Tucked away in one of their docking bays were their last two Hermes class priority transports, mounting the last two human jump engines in the Deneb system. One of those two transports had been connected directly to the station's reactors and power reserves, it's jump engines overcharged way past capacity.

"Yes, Admiral," his aide replied. "You know, Sir, that there is a very good chance that the moment you hit that button, the jump engine will simply explode, and take the whole station with it. Not to mention how unlikely the engine is to actually work. We'll have to be insanely lucky to pull this off."

Richard gave him a small smile. "We've already had quite a bit of luck today. Or maybe somebody upstairs approves of us. Either way, let's hope it lasts."

"Yes, Admiral."

He drew in a deep breath, then ordered, "Jump.

Power surged through the jump engines of the Hermes, and several fires broke out on board. Miraculously, it held together, and the swirling blue vortex of a hyperspace entry point appeared practically on top of the station. It was far larger than the Hermes's jump engines would normally be able to produce, and it churned and flickered unstably, but it held. In the center, the shadows of Minbari warships could be seen on the far side.

"Fire all missiles," he calmly commanded.

One hundred of the largest, most powerful missiles the Earth Alliance had ever produced leaped from their silos. In the early days of the war, there had been a lot of work creating high speed missiles, in the hopes that sheer speed would overcome both Minbari point defense and their stealth. Those experiments, though promising, had been ultimately unsuccessful. And the missiles installed on Ragnarok weren't even the most advanced produced during that time. In fact, Richard didn't expect to take out a single Minbari ship with the salvo. He didn't actually expect to get a single hit. He simply hoped that the Minbari point defense didn't take out too many of the missiles, and that they ignored them once they had gone past. More than anything, he hoped none of them noticed that as many as three of those missiles just happened to be travelling in the direction of the beacon route to Koula. He waited several moments, giving the missiles as much chance as possible to get well past the Minbari fleet."

"Jump point destabilizing," he aide called.

"Transfer all power to that jump engine! Shut down everything else...guns, life support, everything!" Turning his head towards Major Samuels, he barked, "use whatever tugs you have left to push us through."

The station began to move, but not quickly. Certainly, not quickly enough. On the main screen, the spinning vortex became visibly less stable. It began to shrink.

"Push us through!" he ordered again.

"We won't fit!" al-Saud shouted. Both Admiral Dean and Major Samuels ignored him, and the station slammed into the too small hyperspace vortex.

People were slammed against their restraints, many losing consciousness. The station screamed, dying around them. The guard at the hatch was hurled across the room, his heavy PPG spinning loose and striking the Admiral, shattering his left shoulder. His scream of pain was only one of many. The guards flight was stopped short when he contacted a support pillar, ending is a horribly wet and squishy sounding thud. One of the girders supporting the ceiling snapped, a huge chunk of it sweeping across the room, decapitating his aide, and cutting Major Samuels in half. It continued on punching partially through the rear wall, and smoke laden air was sucked rapidly through the penetration. There was vacuum on the other side of that wall. They were practically at the center of the station, and there was vacuum on the other side of that wall.

Looking around, Richard noticed a strange flickering. Looking for the source, his eyes traveled across the window in the formerly guarded hatch. There was a massive plasma fire racing down the corridor on the other side. Continuing to look around, he realized he might be the only person left alive in Command and Control. He couldn't see al-Saud anywhere, but there was a vast amount of blood at his station.

And then they were through, the broken station practically falling into hyperspace. Somehow, the main display was still operational. The view outside was astonishing. They were surrounded by rubble. Bit and pieces, entire wings of the station, broken loose and floating around them. And beyond that were the Minbari. My God, there must be at least two hundred ships out there.

He armed the nuclear trigger. Every single nuke stored on Ragnarok or mass produced on Deneb IV over the last year, every single nuke which hadn't been taken by the Exodus fleet or put into the mine fields or kamikazes, had been activated and emplaced around the station's reactors. What had remained was actually a pretty small percentage of the original numbers, but it would be enough.

Admiral Richard Dean took one last deep breath, watching the screen as a few ships in the Minbari fleet began to shoot the rubble of his station. "Catch you later, boneheads." He pulled the trigger.

The nukes detonated in unison, and the reactors added to the blast. The better part of seventeen gigatons of explosive fury swept out into space to greet the tightly packed Minbari fleet. The medium of hyperspace itself churned insanely. Less than a handful of Minbari ships, those both farthest from the blast and in the shadow of other, larger ships; survived the attack with living crew. Two of those stayed functional long enough to report in to their superiors far outside the system. Not a one ever made it out of Deneb.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zacalth, Neutral Space - EAS Nova, Exodus Fleet - May, 2249

"Now entering the Zacalth system, Commodore," Takashima reported happily.

"Acknowledged," Sheridan responded, not looking up. Now that they were rejoining the fleet, he was out of time. His crew felt victorious, and they had every right to. They had dealt a crippling blow to not one, but two enemy nations. And they had done so while taking ridiculously light casualties. But, that didn't mean no casualties. Those men and women often had family in the fleet, and that family deserved letters of acknowledgement from Sheridan, preferably to be delivered with, or not long after, the officers performing the death notification. Which meant he was running out of time. It was a grim task, and one he truly hated, but he would never consider shirking this duty.

Despite his distraction, he picked up on the change in atmosphere as all chatter on the bridge stopped, and silence descended. He glanced around, then looked up at the main screen. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing. When he understood what he was seeing he silenced a curse. The fleet was right where it was supposed to be, waiting to meet them. Only, over a third of it was missing. And there, in the middle of the screen, was the gutted remains of one of the cruise liners. Its main reactor appeared to have breached, tearing the enormous ship in half. Rubble drifted everywhere around the cold, dead ship. Sheridan did not order the image magnified. He did not want to see the thousands of bodies he was certain would be there, floating in the vacuum.

Laurel cleared her throat. "It would appear to be the Britannic, Commodore."

"Find out what the hell happened, Lieutenant Commander, and…" he was cut off by the alert from the communications station.

The officer there checked his panel, and turned. "Commodore, it's Captain Sinclair, he's…"

"Put him through to my panel," Sheridan interrupted.

The young man cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Err...Commodore, he says he wishes to speak with you in person. He's inbound in a shuttle with Colonel Garibaldi."

John thought furiously. If Jeff and Michael were coming here for a face to face, now, at a time like this, then whatever they had to say must be sensitive enough that they didn't want it being said over an open comm line, or even a secure one. At the same time, if they felt comfortable leaving their ships, then clearly the fleet was not in imminent danger. He ground his teeth in frustration, then said, "Tell them they are cleared to come aboard." Turning to Laurel, he ordered, "Bring them to my ready room the moment they get aboard."

Laurel waited outside, closing the door behind them, as John's two senior most officers entered the room. Jeff offered a crisp salute. Michael did something that looked more like a muscle spasm than anything else. John waved them to their seats. "Alright, what the hell happened?"

Jeff and Michael glanced at each other, and Jeff nodded for Garibaldi to speak up. "It was Lochley and Levitt, Sir. Apparently, they've been meeting secretly with all of the most important civilian captains for some time now, trying to form some sort of representative government. I'm sorry, Sir. I should have picked up on it, and…."

"Recriminations later," John snapped. "Details. Right now, I need details."

Garibaldi's posture straightened, his expression firmed up. "I'm not sure what exactly set them off, Commodore. It may have been Admiral Dean's promotions, which was clearly an attempt to pull Lochley, Levitt and Bester further away from top command. Or it may be that they were as upset by your assault on the Ch'Lona and Koulani as they said they were. Either way, Lochley and Levitt both left the Midway under the guise of a pilot training exercise. They somehow assembled three squadrons of Starfury pilots loyal to them, right under my nose, and just took off with them and disappeared. Right now, no one has any idea exactly where they are hiding. I wasn't even aware anything was amiss yet, when an open broadcast from them went out to all of the ships in the fleet."

Jeff cleared his throat, taking over the tale. "They called for all ships to resist the leadership of an unhinged and detrimental military command. They called for your removal, Sir. You, specifically, by name. They said that under the circumstances, you were far more likely to cause the extinction of the human race than to save it. Finally, they called for all ships who wished to join them to separate themselves from the main fleet and join them in Torlig. Then ships started heading for the gate."

Garibaldi resumed the tale. "Apparently, some of the civilian captains got it in their heads to disarm any Marine or GroPos contingents or other military folks on their ships, attempting to catch them by surprise, and keep them separated from their armories and weapons lockers. This lead to several violent conflicts. Since nobody was answering communications, we didn't even have any idea it was happening until some of the troops managed to seize their own long range comm devices.

"In a few cases, the troops managed to seize control of the ship, and return it back to the fleet. Somehow, the Captain of the Princess managed to space her entire marine contingent. And then there was the Britannic. The GroPos on board attempted to seize the reactor room, to shut them down and prevent the ship from leaving. The Captain attacked them with his ship's security forces. We don't if it was the fault of our forces or theirs or just a damned accident, but the reactor went critical and blew a few minutes into the fight. Not a single survivor."

"At which point," Sinclair broke in again, "I sent out a system wide broadcast to all of our forces operating on ships under the control of the mutineers. I ordered them to cease operations and shelter in place. I ordered them not to cooperate with the civilian leadership, but to take no action against them, unless they themselves came under attack. I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, but our lives are too precious to just be throwing them away."

"What else?" John asked tersely.

"Not much. We let them depart for Torlig, while we stayed here to wait for you. I sent Commander Locarno and his cutters to tail them and keep an eye on things. I also dispatched scouts to all of the surrounding systems. I know it's counter to our tactics to date, but this problem with the mutineers isn't going to solve itself overnight. I didn't want the Minbari sneaking up on us while we try to sort out this mess. Also, it wouldn't hurt to know if there are any habitable planets in the vicinity. That was just over twenty-four hours ago."

"What about Commander Bester? Did he join them?"

Garibaldi hesitated, then reluctantly said, "No. He's still aboard the Mother, which stayed with the fleet."

"But you think he's involved."

"My gut says so, yeah."

"Or it's just your dislike and suspicion of Commander Bester. Did any telepaths go with them?"

Michael looked as though he had bitten into something sour. "A few. A very few. Almost all of the telepaths assigned to the Midway stayed behind. None of the ships that have building concentrations of telepaths went either. John, I think what we are looking at is a fifth column…"

"Possibly," Sheridan cut in, "but we have bigger problems to deal with right now. Focus on the mutineers, Michael. If they didn't get the Midway or the Mother, and obviously not the Lexington, then they don't have any military vessels. How are they going to support the Starfurys they took?"

"If they have the parts and the space, it's possible to support Starfurys out of a freighter," Sinclair offered. "It won't be efficient or fast, but it's possible. Frankly, missing military ships may be one of their lesser problems. The fleet they took doesn't look very survivable. Given the mix of ships they ended up with, they are missing several critical resources. Unfortunately, they also managed to monopolize a couple of critical resources we will need. We might be able to find workarounds, but without those ships, our survivability goes way down."

Sheridan stood up and began heading for the door.

"Commodore," Jeff called, "we have a lot of details to discuss. The fleet...the remaining fleet...is in chaos. We've got a thousand problems to deal with."

"And we'll be dealing with all of them. Don't worry, I'll be assembling the command staff so we can work on it. Right now, however, you both need to get back to your ships. I want the fleet ready to move out in half an hour."

"Commodore?" Jeff inquired as both he and Garibaldi arose, preparing to leave.

"This fleet stands a far better chance of survival united. We're putting the family back together. Prepare to make way for Torlig." They both nodded and began to step past him, but he had one more thing to say. "Mr. Garibaldi."

"Commodore?"

"I need you to pass an order on to your troops and security forces."

"Shoot."

"Exactly. Should any of your troops or security forces catch sight of Captains Levitt or Lochley aboard any of our vessels...shoot to kill."