The discussion was about two entire castes believing in a conspiracy. The two Vorlons weren't visible at all - only one or two Minbari alive at a time knew of them.
Babylon 5 A Fighting Chance --- A Babylon 5 AU
- Thread starter Harlock
- Start date
And now the circumstances are skued all to hell. It might still take Sinclair being taken for the Council
to finally end the war though.
D
Deleted member
Guest
The Vorlons would be frantically trying to preserve the timeline.
Agreed, which would happen if Sinclair is taken as in the OTL. Same result, changed circumstances.
Porkchopper
Active member
D
Deleted member
Guest
But they are certainly aware of how bad the situation is and have a means to act.
A P-12 using a telescope could kill anyone standing in front of a window on another space-ship lightyears away in hyperspace, light seconds in realspace, and several of them gestalted together might just be able to disable it in orbit from the ground using one; in hyperspace the effect is magnified.
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Harlock
I should have expected that really
Not terrible, not great 
Telekinetics are virtually unheard of and the few documented are very weak. Give it another thousand or so years of evolution and they might be a think, but at this point its a very new mutation.
Telepaths of a high level can kill with a thought, or completely rewrite a personality on any level. Potentially they are extremely dangerous and can cause huge problems. But not many are on that level, or are that cruel
Telekinetics are virtually unheard of and the few documented are very weak. Give it another thousand or so years of evolution and they might be a think, but at this point its a very new mutation.
Telepaths of a high level can kill with a thought, or completely rewrite a personality on any level. Potentially they are extremely dangerous and can cause huge problems. But not many are on that level, or are that cruel
Doomsought
Well-known member
The biggest problem was the psi core breeding program and social isolation that prevented telepathic genes from proliferating.Not terrible, not great
Telekinetics are virtually unheard of and the few documented are very weak. Give it another thousand or so years of evolution and they might be a think, but at this point its a very new mutation.
Telepaths of a high level can kill with a thought, or completely rewrite a personality on any level. Potentially they are extremely dangerous and can cause huge problems. But not many are on that level, or are that cruel
Which is a bit ironic given the whole teeps uber alas shtick. All the effort at selective breeding when
The should have been encouraging mixing with, and breeding with mundanes as much as possible,
spreading telepathic potential far, and wide. Perhaps that now will change.
Doomsought
Well-known member
The problem is that the Teep supremicists are bigots, not rational. That sort of self destructive methodology is exactly what you'd expect from Eugenicists. Eugenicists aren't rational and don't understand selective breeding as well as a common farmer let alone having actual scientific understanding of what they want.
D
Deleted member
Guest
The bigots are in EarthGov, which legally mandated the breeding program. As Garibaldi said, “we stuck them all in a little black box called Psi-Corps, what did we expect?”
With @Harlock 's permission....
Enjoying the sight of Dilgar fighting alongside Humans and being the good guys this time? (Well, Jha'dur's not necessarily "good", but you know what I mean). Want to see more?
Well, today, I posted episode 3-12 of the Undiscovered Frontier series, which has the Dilgar under Warmaster Shai'jhur literally fighting their way to the heart of actual Space Nazi Berlin alongside a grand alliance of sci-fi civilizations! And all while Shai'jhur herself leads the allied fleet covering them in orbit! Enjoy Shai'jhur, Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew, and even Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E joining the main protagonists in kicking Nazi ass!
So while waiting for Harlock to give you your next fix of this AU fic, you've got something to tide you over. More, in fact, when @Captain-General begins posting the rest of Undiscovered Frontier: Origins, which is about a starship with a crew that is half-Dilgar, half-other species. The next episode going up even has Ari'shan.
Enjoying the sight of Dilgar fighting alongside Humans and being the good guys this time? (Well, Jha'dur's not necessarily "good", but you know what I mean). Want to see more?
Well, today, I posted episode 3-12 of the Undiscovered Frontier series, which has the Dilgar under Warmaster Shai'jhur literally fighting their way to the heart of actual Space Nazi Berlin alongside a grand alliance of sci-fi civilizations! And all while Shai'jhur herself leads the allied fleet covering them in orbit!
Enjoy Shai'jhur, Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew, and even Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E joining the main protagonists in kicking Nazi ass!So while waiting for Harlock to give you your next fix of this AU fic, you've got something to tide you over. More, in fact, when @Captain-General begins posting the rest of Undiscovered Frontier: Origins, which is about a starship with a crew that is half-Dilgar, half-other species. The next episode going up even has Ari'shan.
Chapter 17
Harlock
I should have expected that really
17
Nocalo Colony
Earth Minbari border.
The defences here were weak, a frontier world far from danger that was little more than a hopping off point for deep space exploration, something the Minbari barely bothered with. At one point Nocalo had been well defended, it had been the first world invaded by the Garmak several centuries ago triggering the first great Minbari war since Valen, but with the Garmak gone Nocalo had also faded in importance.
It's satellite network was sufficient to scare off Raiders or light warships but had little to intimidate a full fleet of heavy ships of the line. In theory it wouldn't matter, no ship would ever get close to Nocalo thanks to the garrison fleet and border patrols, but after recent events there was no longer a garrison. There wasn't a Minbari warship anywhere within twenty lightyears.
Instead local space now belonged to the enemy. Clusters of human, Dilgar, Narn and Drazi ships cruised through Minbari space casually knocking down the short ranged satellites. While still quite dangerous and well armed with antimatter cannons the satellites didn't have the range to hit the Dilgar and Narn heavy ships which simply sniped them with lasers opening the way for Earth Force to close in and begin bombarding the surface.
The combined efforts of the fleet all built up to a single task, a full scale invasion by human mechanised forces. The first planetary assault since the Battle of Balos at the end of the Dilgar war.
“Hemisphere secure Admiral, defensive positions breached above the primary settlements.”
“Very well.” Hamato scanned the information as it filtered through his command deck, a score of aides and staff officers sifting the data in detail to confirm optimal landing sites and targets. “Still no enemy naval contact?”
“Negative Admiral, nothing on any warning buoys or from the patrols.”
Ultimately that didn't mean much, the Minbari were advanced enough to lurk at the edge of beacon range in hyperspace and evade detection until the last second. The possibility of a raid or ambush was constant and weighed heavy on the Admiral's mind. Landing operations were extremely vulnerable to attack with thousands of personnel essentially trapped with a planet and the gravity well pinning them in place. Even a handful of enemy ships well placed and commanded could wreak havoc amid the troop ships and set the campaign back by months.
“Strengthen the perimeter and increase the number of squadrons on patrol.” Hamato decided. “Then signal Sixth flotilla to begin landing operations.”
“Aye sir.”
The veteran Admiral returned to his thoughts as the fleet responded. He was a very cautious man, his reputation was not that of a risk taker but at the same time he had to be decisive. The planet had to be attacked, the message had to be sent to both friend and foe. The legend of Minbari invincibility had been truly shattered and putting human boots on Minbari ground would cement that.
*
“This is it, pull it together! We've got the go order and this time it's the real deal!”
Alfredo Garibaldi rubbed his hands together with malicious glee, the assorted grunts and troopers of his unit dropping their activities and time wasting to focus on the older Sergeant Major. They had been waiting at the edge of the system under heavy escort waiting for their chance to deploy, for the orders to commence the attack on Nocalo. Every passing hour the tension had grown, the anticipation, often the fear of coming battle, but now the moment had arrived those concerns began to fade and were replaced by an eagerness.
The Earth Force Navy had seen most of the glory so far, and shouldered most of the burden losing over a thousand ships over the five months of combat. The Army had done its part fighting a commando war on the occupied colony worlds before relieving them, but those fights had been mere skirmishes compared to the massive fleets exchanging fire above them.
Today finally the Army would have it's moment. They would be the first humans to walk on Minbari soil and they wouldn't be polite about it. The Minbari were reeling and Earth held the initiative but everyone knew that could change back just as rapidly. They needed to hit the Minbari hard and keep hitting them, keep pushing and fighting, make sure their enemy could never threaten genocide again.
They were not lacking in motivation and whatever fear they had, whatever apprehensions and doubts, all of it was overpowered by the simple truth that they had to win. This was a war of survival, defeat meant extermination for all human beings and with those stakes no one was going to give less than everything. The Navy had bled and triumphed in their battles, now it was their turn.
The deck was already shifting as their assault ship burned for orbit, the Tantalus class ship sharing many components with the Omega including a rotating gravity section. In place of cargo or heavy weapons however it carried thousands of soldiers, their equipment and vehicles. Hades class Assault shuttles waited in expansive hangar bays while atmospheric fighters were loaded into drop pods. Tanks, artillery, gunships and command vehicles were transferred in zero gravity to their transports awaiting deployment in follow up waves. The first attack to go in would be infantry to secure the designated landing zones, and the first of the infantry would be the 99th Airborne Infantry, 101st Division, Earth Alliance North American Command.
The Nine-Nine was an elite unit with an excellent combat record including several major battles against the Dilgar. They were specialists in planetary assaults making them the logical choice to lead this attack, and like a few other specialist units they were equipped with the Infantry Combat Exosuit power armour designed for dealing with Dilgar cybernetic soldiers. This would be it's first true test as a system.
“Gather your things, we had a little taste of battle at Jericho but we were late to that party.” Garibaldi remarked on their previous deployment relieving one of the occupied colonies. By the time they had landed and found a pocket of opposition the battle had been virtually over. Most of the work had been done by the EA Marine Corps, notably the 33rd Batallion which had been bragging about beating the Army ever since.
“This time we're gonna be the first ones down, we get first pick of all those smug bone heads and we get to show the Marines who the real professionals are here! Do not make us look stupid by getting yourself killed!”
It was like being right back at home. Garibaldi had done well as a civilian between the wars settling into private security and investigations, but in his heart this was where he belonged. Somewhere his own son was also in uniform, by now he would have been deployed though not in this operation. Around him were young faces most of them around his boy's age, perhaps younger, and he was going to have to make sure they made it back home. Garibaldi wasn't a young man anymore but he was still as tough as old leather which gave those around him confidence. In the last war he had been a normal soldier among his brothers and sisters, but now he was more like the father of this company. It was a different feeling, a greater responsibility that came with his age and the extra stripes on his shoulder.
“Suit up people, we've got business with the Minbari.”
*
The Sixth Flotilla made its way into low orbit over Nocalo, the shining world below casting the harsh grey Earth ships in stark relief compared to the lush green, blue and white below them. The troop ships held station at a slightly higher altitude while a dreadnought and two cruisers dropped down lower to begin the operation. The three warships rotated to orbit broadside on to the planet, the blocky vessels settling into carefully plotted courses that would take them over several landing zones and targets.
Their role was two fold, firstly to eliminate any obvious military targets and secondly to clear landing zones of natural obstructions like trees or undergrowth. While there were various ways of clearing vegetation Earth force prefered a barrage of plasma cannon rounds which turned most anything to ash and glass but left very little cratering. The Navy called it low impact thermal landscaping while the Army just called it the 'Instant Car Park'. The Dilgar had also adopted this same practice on Jha'dur's instruction, citing it as another example of mankind solving every tiny problem with massive applications of military grade firepower.
Plasma cannons were considered obsolete in naval combat but Earth Force maintained a few older cruisers specifically for orbital bombardment duties armed with a variety of weapons suited for different tasks. While the attached dreadnought would level Minbari bases, communication centres and a few other strategic targets with extreme prejudice the cruisers would directly support the landing forces.
Four separate landing zones had been designated each close to a key target. They were close enough to support each other but far enough away to not be overrun by a determined Minbari counter attack. Their main objective was to isolate and then capture the two big cities in this hemisphere, though big was a relative term. Nocalo was not a huge colony and it's main city only had some thirty thousand people living in it. Still, conquering it would likely yield a treasure trove of technology and intelligence for Earth in addition to its symbolic value.
The vessels moved into position and began their attacks, steady and systematic as they glided high above the surface. The Dreadnought naturally provided the greatest spectacle, a mix of beams and pulse barrages falling from the sky to end in bright flashes. Atmospheric diffusion bled off a lot of energy from the weapons meaning their impacts on the surface were not so impressive as their performance in space, but they did the job.
The batteries of guns on the Dreadnought razed the Warrior Caste buildings and bases in grand style, the intense laser beams igniting the air as they passed through it scattering clouds and wreathing themselves in shimmering heat and flame. The sheer volume of gunfire turned the sky red like a rolling apocalypse shearing through structures, cutting roads and bridges, then flash boiling millions of gallons of water as they scythed through rivers and lakes, then jungles and plains.
It was a ferocious sight and designed precisely to intimidate anyone watching it as much as possible. A Minbari ship with antimatter weapons would have been far more destructive but none of the people on Nocalo had ever seen such a thing for comparison. All they knew of war was the dozens of red beams burning across their land with such destruction and fury as to seem a herald of the end times. The thunderclaps of each shot, the tumult in the sky, the clouds of smoke and shredding of clouds were an experience like nothing else for the civilian population. Earth Force had wanted to send a message and it was received loud and clear on the planet below.
Less theatrical the cruisers set to their work too, Nocalo was a humid world of shallow seas and thick jungles which was going to cause issues for heavy mechanised forces. Minbari grav vehicles had little trouble skimming over the thick jungles but the tracked human vehicles would suffer. To that end Earth Force could have deployed its forces in some of the relatively clear plains where the Minbari cities stood and where the Warriors were waiting, but instead it decided to make its own plains, roads and passageways.
The cruisers started their own carefully plotted bombardments firstly incinerating large patches of forest and jungle to create landing zones and then walking their barrage outwards clearing wide channels through the jungle. These plasma cleared paths were a hundred metres wide and would reach from the deep jungles to the plains and cities twenty or thirty miles away. An instant highway for the tanks and logistics of the human army to travel down free from any ambush by the unprepared Minbari.
It would take time to clear all the paths but with the initial landing zones clear the attack itself could begin. By the time the main force landed the way would be clear and in theory Earth Force would have tanks in the streets of the capital before sunset.
*
“We drop in five minutes!” Garibaldi called out as the unit sealed themselves into their combat gear. “Five minutes! Once we go we won't be back for a while so if you need it make sure it's in your pack right now!”
Everyone knew the routine, how to equip themselves for war, to ensure their kit was operational and ready. They helped each other, made sure their combat armour was sealed and clean before hooking up their heavy PPG rifles. Larger than the slender carbines used by troops deployed to ships and stations the Army issue rifle fired a stronger pulse with a faster recycle rate. With no concern about damaging the inside of a pressurised can floating through space Earth Force ground troops didn't need to restrain themselves like their orne brethren. The rifles could be fired using energy caps the same as any other PPG or could be attached by cable to the power suits own internal power supply giving the rifle virtually unlimited ammunition.
“Take your places, move to the loading bays!” Garibaldi shifted them to the next part of their task. “You know how this works, no mistakes, get on the right shuttle or no amount of ceramic laminate armour is going to save your ass from my boot!”
The platoon hustled past him joining the rest of the brigade as they tramped through the grey metal corridors to their departure stations, a large hangar deck with several Hades class assault shuttles lined up for them. The Hades had the same aerodynamic body as the more familiar Peregrine type atmospheric shuttle but was much larger and sported several turreted pulse cannons for defence and close air support. They could carry a few hundred soldiers if they had to but standard procedure was to deploy a single platoon and support totalling no more than thirty people with the rest of the space devoted to cargo and other support gear. Officially it kept the shuttle light enough to be able to take evasive action on approach, but the unwritten truth was it meant if a bird went down it didn't take too many troopers with it.
Garibaldi counted them through and slapped each one on their metallic shoulder as they ran past him into the shuttle taking their seats. They had more space than regular troops due to their slightly bulkier gear, though not by much. Their armour was angular painted in standard Earth Force olive drab with a few yellow stripes and chevrons indicating their unit and position to other friendly units. Each also had a small degree of customisation, a painted in badge, crest or message offering a sign of pride or a declaration to their enemies. Right now their equipment was still pristine lacking the scratches, scorches and dents of combat. That would soon change.
“Lock in!” Garibaldi dropped the seat restraints pinning each trooper in place for the bumpy descent. They had all experienced a fast de-orbit with several having done so under combat conditions more than once, but it was always a nerve wracking episode. Once he was satisfied the Sergeant Major locked himself down and gave a thumbs up to the shuttle load master.
“Troop compartment secure!” The crewman reported to his pilot. “Closing hatch, ready to go.”
The ramp at the back rolled upward, most of the passengers watching as it closed off their view of the ship, their last look at friendly territory for at least the next few days. Maybe forever.
“Anyone want to get off?” Groller joked darkly before the ramp clicked shut. “Last chance.”
“Gotta get past me first.” Garibaldi glared over. “Easier to face a Minbari Cavalry division, trust me.”
The ramp locked into place leaving them in the dim internal lighting of the shuttle.
“Switch to combat mode.” Captain Fox ordered. “Make sure your datalinks are working and sensors are good. If it needs fixing do it now, not when the plasma starts flying.”
The shuttle jolted as it began to move, transported on a lift out of the troop loading dock and up toward the launch racks passing through the airlocks and up into vacuum. Beside it a dozen other shuttles made ready each laden with their own formidable cargo. Elsewhere in the launch bay fighters also prepared to deploy both Starfuries for the initial escort to orbit and then Banshee atmospheric fighters ready to deploy in their own drop pods to support the landings.
“Position set.” The pilot reported. “Standby for launch.”
The engines glowed into life casting blue light across the wide bay, the armoured doors silently grinding open revealing space beyond. The Starfuries left first deploying to screen the assault force before the countdown ended and the shuttles kicked into motion. The passengers endured the sudden push of acceleration and adjusted, breathing steadily as the shuttles turned sharply and angled for the planet below.
“Launch successful, following flight plan.”
The shuttles carrying the 99th were joined by others from across the fleet, two full divisions of nearly twenty thousand men and women would be landing today in four waves. The first wave was built on four thousand elite heavy infantry in combat suits to establish an initial perimeter for heavier units to follow up and begin the real attack. It was a very dangerous task, while the first wave were all well armed and equipped they'd be facing the potentially the best of the Minbari ground forces with limited support. If it went wrong their chances of survival were slim.
Fortunately Earth had fought this kind of battle frequently and was well prepared for any eventuality. As the shuttles hit the atmosphere the Starfuries peeled away to be replaced by the Banshee drop pods, each diamond shaped container holding a fully fuelled jet fighter ready to go instantly into action once it reached the right altitude.
This was the most vulnerable moment of the landings, none of the craft could manoeuvre until they decelerated and their passage through the atmosphere was marked by the intense heat of friction against the underside of their vehicles. If any ground defences had survived the naval bombardment the assault forces would be easy targets and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Several salvoes sailed by as the supporting cruisers put a few more rounds of suppressive fire down around the shuttles as a final precaution, pulse rounds slamming into suspicious locations to keep any Minbari defenders in cover. It was only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity before the atmosphere thickened, the heat subsided and the shuttles nosed down and began their landing approach.
Beside them the Banshee fighters also went into action, their drop pods splitting open to release the fully armed and ready fighters directly into action, the squadrons forming up and splitting to perform their assigned tasks. One batch moved away to intercept Minbari aircraft while others stayed close to offer air support for the infantry.
“This is our stop!” Garibaldi announced. “When the ramp drops fan out and hit the dirt! I want a full scan before we move and don't get knocked down by the jet wash! Just embarrassing.”
The Hades shuttle fired its retro thrusters and came into the landing zone smoothly going into a hover a few feet above the surface, engines growling as gun turrets swept for targets.
“Everybody out! Move! Now!”
The soldiers leapt down easily, their exosuits easily handling the fall and carrying the wearers left or right to clear the shuttle. Once everyone was off the loadmaster dumped his remaining cargo and then signalled the pilot to climb. The shuttle open its throttles and pulled up and away with a ripping thunderous roar ready to pick up the next wave of ground pounders.
“First squad sector clear!”
“Second squad sector clear!”
“Red Platoon sector clear.” Garibaldi relayed. “Ready to advance.”
“Red Platoon, dig in on the perimeter.” Captain Fox ordered from the company command post a few hundred metres behind them. “Be advised possible Minbari movement thirty miles to the east. Be prepared for contact.”
“Okay people you heard the lady, grab your gear and get some digging done!”
*
It didn't take long for the unit to create a series of foxholes, their powered suits effortlessly cracking through the glassed top soil and shovelling aside the rich deeper soil beneath. They used their standard entrenching tools, a short space mixed with an axe which was both a useful tool and effective weapon up close. Elsewhere other units were likewise digging in and preparing to meet any Minbari response.
“Get the CPPG here.” Garibaldi directed the massive tripod mounted plasma gun into a suitable position. “I want missiles distributed to all positions, do not waste them! Cooper, you're the marksman, find a good spot.”
“On it Sarge.”
“Keep an eye on your buddies, watch each other's backs.” Garibaldi reminded. “This is the real deal now, those suits are tough but they won't stop a direct hit from a Fusion rifle. Be smart, keep low, and don't worry about ammo. If you see a Minbari shoot until it drops then give it another fifty rounds just to make sure.”
“Perimeter posts, be advised Minbari advanced elements confirmed.” A cool voice informed from a safe distance. “Watch East and standby for support fire.”
“We could have used some electrified razor wire and some claymores.” Cooper grimaced. “Nothing between us and the Minbari.”
“We're Air Assault, we're used to being under equipped, outnumbered and surrounded.” Garibaldi smiled. “No fun otherwise.”
“Red Platoon, I'm setting you up with a direct line to our air support.” Captain Fox cut in over the radio. “We only have one attack run so save it until you really need it.”
“Copy that.”
“I also have mortars ready for sustained fire. If you see something really big I can get a cruiser to drop some plasma but we're danger close.”
“Understood Captain, we'll be ready.”
“Second wave is already on the way with tank support, hold the line people, time for us to do our jobs.”
“Possible movement front.” The warning came in. “Scouting party.”
“Hold your fire, don't let them see our firepower yet.” Garibaldi ordered. “Cooper, got a shot?”
“I see them.” The marksman lined up his scoped gauss rifle, less powerful than a true sniper rifle but still a very potent weapon. “Taking the shot.”
The rifle cracked throwing back one of the Minbari scouts by the treeline. The remainder at once darted backwards, one of them pausing to launch a bright blue flare into the sky. It was answered by other flares from several different locations followed by the hum of incoming vehicles.
“Keep your eyes front, focus on your sector!” Garibaldi called out. “Designate your targets, be liberal with your rifles and careful with your missiles! Remember they are warriors, not soldiers, they'll be looking for a fair and noble fight. Murder them before they get a chance.”
At that moment the Minbari burst from the treeline and charged for the human lines, bolting across the three hundred yards of open flattened ground toward the dug in well entrenched soldiers. Even without razor wire the attack was suicide, running over open ground in the face of automatic weapons hadn't been a sensible strategy for centuries and nothing much had changed that fact.
“Let 'em have it!” Garibaldi yelled simultaneously blasting a storm of plasma rounds toward the charging Minbari. An instant after the rest of the platoon engaged with other units along the perimeter joining the defence. It was a massacre, the running Minbari were cut down long before they reached the halfway point.
“The hell are they doing?” Groller glanced around. “They think that's going to work?”
“Red Platoon incoming!” Captain Fox suddenly shouted down the line. “Get down!”
“Everybody flat!” Garibaldi echoed before ducking into his foxhole exactly as a series of massive explosions and blinding lights engulfed the line. He stayed as low as possible until the fury subsided, peering out gingerly once the initial thunder faded.
“Nukes?” Cooper's helmeted head popped up nearby, the landscape smoking.
“Heavy artillery, the Minbari use antimatter.” The old Sergeant figuered. “Looks worse than it is, platoon, sound off.”
Everyone checked in, the blasts had shredded anything in the open but fortunately the wisdom of digging in had proven entirely justified.
“Minbari front! Vehicles!”
“Take them!”
Their opponents were now beginning to show their strategy. The first wave of suicidal warriors had been those too young or too enraged to fight with discipline and could have been more a hindrance than a help to an organised attack. The Minbari commander had sent them in first to in part test the defences and in part rid himself of a source of future problems. It was ruthless and cynical, but it also strengthened his hand and mirrored what Branmer was doing elsewhere.
With the fanatics gone the real attack now began, Star Rider warriors advancing under artillery cover with vehicles keeping pace. Small squads darted forward spaced between slender fighting vehicles and bulky tanks laying down suppressive fire against the Earth positions.
“This is the main event now!” Garibaldi ducked as a pulse from one of the tanks thudded into the ground next to him showering him with rough glass. “Focus on the tanks, everyone else cover the tank hunters!”
Those tasked and armed with missiles took centre stage, lowering their rifles and quickly shouldering one of the small Hammer class anti tank missiles. The system automatically locked the nearest vehicle and fired, several rapid projectiles racing out and slamming into the Minbari with a deafening crack.
The sheer power of the human weapons was enough to blast through even the strong Minbari vehicle armour shattering their targets which dropped to the ground with a crackle and hiss of flame. It was a strong blow, but the Minbari did not falter closing their ranks and increasing their fire.
“They're still advancing!” Cooper warned.
“I can see that!” Garibaldi snapped. “First Company actual, Red Platoon, we're under heavy fire, request support fire mission!”
“Red Platoon, mortars are gone!” Fox replied. “Call the air force and designate the target!”
“Roger that!” He switched frequencies. “Thunderclap, repeat, Thunderclap! Request immediate support danger close!”
One of his foxholes vanished launching a pair of soldiers into the air. Their armour protected them but out in the open they were struck by dozens of energy blasts that overwhelmed their defences. Another missile or two streaked back toward the Minbari but with the intensity of the attack increasing it was almost suicide to peek out for a shot.
“Red Platoon, Thunderclap, stand by.” A voice answered. “We see you, standby.”
The sky roared overhead as a pair of Banshee fighters swept over at less than a hundred feet scattering cluster bombs in their wake, the hundreds of projectiles creating a rippling series of explosions that shredded vehicles and infantry both. In a heartbeat the soul was torn from the Minbari attack, their closely aligned advance ripped apart by the swift strike.
“Finish the job!” Garibaldi stood up and fired, cutting down a pair of dazed warriors just a few yards away from the Earth lines. “Clear them away!”
The remaining platoon quickly attacked, the surviving Minbari offering a brief but futile resistance. Their fate was sealed by a sudden blast originating from behind the lines, Garibaldi peering over his shoulder to see a quartet of grimy looking Thor battle tanks rolling up in support.
“The main force is here!” He cheered. “Go get 'em!”
The tanks trundled through the lines gunning down the Minbari survivors and switching to move toward the cleared path to the city. They accelerated, turbine engines whining until the lead vehicle simply vanished in a yellow sheet of flame.
Garibaldi's unit at once dropped, the tanks swinging instantly around as something crashed out of the treeline, a blue wall of hardened crystal mounting several guns dwarfing the human vehicles staring at it.
“Red platoon here, Minbari super heavy tank in our sector!” Garibaldi called in frantically. “Request air support!”
“This is Thunderclap, munitions expended, lining up for a gun run.”
“Air support on the way! Tank hunters, hit it!”
The new opponent was in a different league to the regular Minbari vehicles, where the average human tank had enough firepower and armour to stand a chance against the average Minbari tank this beast was something else. The Wndsword super heavy tank was the Sharlin of the battlefield armed with neutron weapons and massive armour it was a vast vehicle almost impervious to anything that could be thrown against it. They were fortunately rare but where they did show up they dominated the scene.
The Thor tanks slammed into reverse, grinding on the glassed ground and popping smoke. They fired a shot each as they pulled back to no effect, the solid metal darts bouncing off the Minbari hull with a loud ding. While the smoke obscured them the Minbari didn't care, unlike the pulse weapons of the smaller tanks the Wind Sword swept the battlefield with a green neutron beam more usually found on assault bombers. All three tanks exploded one after the other, the Minbari mobile fortress slowly advancing.
Garibaldi's people hit it with as many missiles as they had left to no effect, the purple and blue mass soaking up the hits to its flank without concern, secondary turrets rotating to force the Earth troopers into cover. Overhead the Banshees attacked again ripping up the ground with pulse cannons that did nothing but scorch the Minbari super tank.
“What the hell do they make those things outta?” Groller threw himself flat as a storm of gunfire soared overhead. Several more dings were heard as another Thor tank unit tried to flank the beast only to run into Minbari support troops coming up behind.
“We need gunships!” Cooper winced as more Earth vehicles exploded. “That's the only thing that'll stop it!”
“Not the only thing.” Garibaldi risked a look as the tank moved past. “Captain Fox, Red Platoon, Minbari forces have broken through, request naval gunnery support.”
“I see them, but we're too close for a warship shoot.”
“With respect Captain nothing else is going to work, call down the fire.”
“Your position is within the blast radius.”
“We'll keep low, call it Captain.”
“Understood Sergeant, bury yourselves low and brace for impact.”
“Did she say we were within the blast radius?” Cooper let his jaw drop. “Hey Sarge, I don't know if this is such a great...”
“Red Platoon get in your foxholes and get as low down as you can! Something big is on the way, this is going to suck!”
“I hate this, I hate this, I hate...” Groller muttered as he dropped back in his hole, the others following suit.
“Ever get this close to a naval strike in the last war?” Cooper checked.
“Nope, but we didn't have these suits last time either.”
“Think they'll help?”
“Ask me again in thirty seconds.”
The situation was desperate and as such so was the response. With insufficient firepower on the ground Captain Fox called upstairs for a smiting, the sky parting as a single blue orb of plasma fell from above in a haze of flame and heat. Several cubic metres of superheated material simply immolated everything it touched, splashing out to eliminate an entire company of Minbari troops and vehicles. The Wind Sword class tank was reduced to a puddle of minerals and metal, the land around it again cooked to glass by the furious attack, a final note underline the importance of holding the high ground.
Red Platoon were literally buried in their holes, the sides caving in under the shock of the orbital strike less than a hundred metres away. Being buried turned out to be fortunate, the dirt above helping shield them from the heat and blast of the plasma impact that ravaged the Minbari forces.
Without their armoured suits they would not have survived, with them after a few moments they began to emerge cracking through the glassed sand like ugly hatchlings. They were shaken and lightheaded but still alive, indeed the only things alive for several hundred metres.
“Red Platoon, check in.” Garibaldi put some steel in his voice to distract from the fact that his knees were still shaking. “Come on, check in, you'd think nobody had ever sat under an orbital strike before!”
“Am I dead?” Cooper checked.
“If you were I wouldn't still be standing over you.” Garibaldi helped him up.
“Yeah, the devil would be less shouty.” Groller brushed off loose chunks of sand from his gear.
“Good news, Private Groller just volunteered to go fetch us all some rations!” Garibaldi grinned. “As all our stockpile just got vaporised.”
“Thanks Sarge.”
“Everyone else back in your holes until relief shows up.” The Sergeant ordered. “I think that was the last of the Minbari but no chances. Back on overwatch.”
“We lost three to the Minbari, the rest of us made it.” Cooper reported. “Backup is on the way.”
“Alright, hold here. We don't give up this ground until officially relieved. Not after we paid for it.”
“Pretty intense Sarge, this what it was like in the last war?”
“Nah, that was a lot worse. Now get back in your pit and stop talking. We're still on the clock.”
*
Omelos
Homeworld of the Dilgar
Everything was ash. This world that once been a living world was now a barren waste touched by the flames of the distant sun above. Cleansed by flame many in the League had said, but there was nothing purifying here. Burnt out buildings, the charred trunks of trees, the ash that still blew in the air like a deathly fog. It wasn't even hellish, it was just a waste.
“It has improved believe it or not.” Jha'dur looked around the city she had known so well, that she still did. “The initial nova evaporated all of the surface water and blew away a large amount of atmosphere. Some of that has returned, the magnetic field is still stable so it's just a matter of time until this world is habitable again. Radiation is an issue of course but that's fading fast in most areas.”
She knelt in the ash, flattening it with the padded knee of her environmental suit. The flakes fell easily between her fingers staining her gloves grey, the thin winds carrying them away to the far distance.
“This ash is everything we had, all we have now become. Plants, animals, people, buildings. Our greatest art, our most meagre possessions, lords and slaves alike. Has to be some sort of message there don't you think?”
“I don't really have time for it.” Her companion exhaled. “Can we move on.”
“Death and destruction is the great equaliser.” She stood ignoring his complaints. “But why should it be? Why should we be slaves to death and random chance? Death is our enemy, it wages eternal war with us until one day it wins and we lose. I don't like losing.”
She had returned to this world a few times, at least once a year to remind herself of these unchanging facts. While they had saved many lives and rebuilt their nation it didn't change the fact the bulk of her people had died on this world in a single day. She had been powerless to stop it, the forces involved infinitely greater than anything a simple spacefaring race could halt. Her brother had his theories of course, a head full of them he could speak about for hours seemingly without breath. The image brought her a small smile that faded as quickly as the ash on the breeze around her.
“We can speak privately ahead, I have a little place to myself.” She began to walk. “Come along Sineval, I thought you might appreciate a tour.”
“What I would appreciate is learning why your fleets engaged a Warrior Caste force led by Shakiri, and why you are apparently now supporting Earth!” The warrior was clearly rather vexed, his voice aggressive even over the speakers.
“I cannot control every action of my government no more than you can control yours.” She returned calmly. “But rest assured plans are in place. By the end of the month I will be the one in charge.”
She turned to ensure he could see her grinning through the visor of her helmet.
“And so will you Sineval.”
They walked through a burned out village, the buildings mostly shattered. Some had survived better than others, the Dilgar had a tendency to designate some buildings and homes as defensive structures and construct them with thick concrete walls and narrow windows. One of those buildings had been enclosed within a dome with an airlock at the entrance, not a huge structure but sufficient to enclose a decent sized home.
“We can speak privately in there.” Jha'dur activated the airlock and stepped in. “Who would think to find two people in a remote village on a long dead world at the edge of known space?”
“It isn't the talking that concerns me, it's the answers.”
“We have known each other for years Sineval. You know what I want and the methods I prefer. Have I not given you every weapon you asked for?”
“You have honoured your word so far.”
“Good, I have a way to end this war but I need your help.”
She closed the airlock behind them and filtered the air.
“I also have some more samples for you, human viral agents. This time I suggest you just deploy them to their homeworld without asking for Council approval.”
“They are weak, it is time for a Council of Warriors, like your Warmasters.”
“It works for us.”
The airlock finished cycling and allowed them into a dome. Within was a normal looking home surrounded by grass and a small tree. The air was cool and clearly filtered but otherwise quite pleasant.
“An experiment to bring life back to this planet.” Jha'dur noted. “Not all my work is destructive, I have also created some hardy plants and bacteria already being seeded outside. The first step in restoring the environment.”
“You should focus more on the war, no point restoring this world if you become my enemy.” Sineval intoned dangerously. “How do you plan to reverse this situation? To pull your fleets back and make amends for firing on our ships?”
“Firstly, your warriors fired on mine first.” She opened the door to the house. “And secondly Sineval you should show some respect when you are a guest in my home.”
“Your home?”
“This was my home when I was younger. Did you think I selected a random place for this experiment?” She grinned. “Enter, I have some tea available, fresh I might add.”
Sineval did so, the house as plain inside as outside. It had clearly been restored, freshly painted and with new furniture. In the centre of the main room were two couches at either side of a low table. One was empty, the other one to his surprise was not.
Sat on that far couch under a black robe was an entity he had only seen in ancient data files, it's face grey and bony, eyes blood red. It did not move, it just stared at him.
“Drakh.” Jha'dur said softly as she stood behind Sineval. “An old friend of mine, I thought you might like to get better acquainted.”
“You... you bring me into the same place as a Servant of Darkness?”
“It would be hard to set you up if I didn't.”
Sineval's mind clicked. He had been played, the Dilgar had played him. Jha'dur had played him. This was a trap, he didn't know what type exactly but he had to act, had to do something immediately before the jaws closed.
He spun on his heel and grabbed his fighting pike, the metal staff extending and swinging toward the smiling feline in a single fluid move. He wasn't a master like some warriors but he was fully confident that a Dilgar Female wasn't going to do a damn thing to stop him. The pike swung down and hit something, juddering in his hand as it halted several inches from the Warmasters head. It remained restrained in thin air until a shape materialised from thin air beside Jha'dur, a large figure with one hand gripping the end of the pike and the other a short particle carbine aimed at the Minbari.
“I never understood why a race that had such remarkable weapons chose a metal pole as its sidearm of choice.” Jha'dur gave a disappointed tut. “I'd prefer not to have my shadow cut you in half with a burst of pulse fire but I will if you don't start behaving.”
The grip on his fighting pike tightened, the figure covered in a type of black light suit ensuring he could not perform any sudden moves. He had no choice but to surrender his weapon to the figure and step back.
“Good, I'd rather we were civilised about this.”
“I will say nothing to a Drakh.” Sineval spoke with fury. “Or their allies!”
“I'm not an ally of the Drakh, and you need to sit down.” Jha'dur replied flatly. “Right now Sineval or I'll have Fei'nur shoot out your kneecaps.”
He stood for a moment, then headed for the free couch not doubting for a moment the Dilgar would happily open fire.
“Now then.” Jha'dur smiled happily. “About that tea.”
“I am not thirsty.”
“You Fei'nur?”
“I can wait a little while Warmaster.”
The shrouded figure removed her hood to smile at Sineval, the warrior glaring back at her.
“How did a mere Dilgar stop my attack? You are weaker than humans, you don't have the strength of a Minbari.”
“My Shadow, pardon the reference, I know Minbari and Shadows don't go well.” Jha'dur filtered some boiling water through assorted leaves. “I call Fei'nur my shadow because where I go she is never more than two steps behind. You didn't notice her on the ship ride over? Or the footprints in the ash? Admittedly she did a good job hiding them but I thought you'd be more alert.”
She picked up two teacups.
“Fei'nur has benefitted from several cybernetic upgrades, she could break every bone in your body if I told her to, but there's no benefit to it.” She shrugged. “I've already seen her do it multiple times when calibrating her implants. It gets boring after the thirtieth occasion.”
She put one cup in front of Sineval and the other on the other side, settling herself down next to the Drakh who hadn't moved anything more than his eyes since they arrived.
“Please, try the tea, it's a local blend. Grown on Alaca of course but from plants that grew near here once upon a time.”
Sineval fixed the Drakh with a glance.
“What about him?”
“He doesn't like tea, I'm not being impolite.”
“I mean why hasn't he moved?”
“Oh, Salasine here won't be moving anywhere. He didn't really want to be here either but I insisted.” Jha'dur took a sip of tea. “Please, drink.”
“What did you give him?” Sineval looked at the tea. “I think I'll pass.”
“You think there's something in the tea?” Jha'dur smiled. “Don't assume I'm as blunt as the people you usually consort with. There's nothing in the tea.”
“I'll decide for myself if...”
“It's in the air.” She continued between sips. “You've been breathing it since you entered. How are your legs?”
Sineval made to leap up and failed, the muscles in his legs failing to move. He still had sensation in them, they just didn't respond to orders.
“Wasn't easy to create a paralysing agent which doesn't affect nerve transmissions. You can feel, you just can't move.” Jha'dur smiled. “In fact your senses will sharpen, become more acute and sensitive. You'd think it would be rather enjoyable, heighten your sense of pleasure, but turns out it's like having sandpaper scraped across your every inch of flesh. Something to think about.”
She sipped her tea casually.
“Your internal organs keep working of course but after a while your eye lids seize open, I think Salasine is at that stage.” She examined the Drakh beside her, flicking a little tea in his eyes which did not respond to the stimulus. “Yes, there it is. That must be very uncomfortable.”
“I'm going to kill you.”
Jha'dur giggled a little. Peering over her tea cup.
“I'm so tempted just to stab you in the thigh but I like looking at your angry face right now more than your in pain face. Impotent anger amuses me immensely. You should know better.”
“Why then?” Sineval asked. “Why do this now?”
“It should be obvious.” She sighed slightly. “I know you weren't blessed with much grey matter under that head bone but at least try.”
“If this is your idea of a game then it's a waste.” Sineval grunted. “Through me you have access to the inner circle of the Warrior caste. You would throw that away?”
“No, I'm just upgrading. By the end of this month I'll have a member of the Grey Council owing me a massive favour, and probably Branmer too.” Jha'dur responded calmly. “You have reached the end of your usefulness old friend, especially as your Warrior castes are now obsolete.”
“You do not understand us.”
“On the contrary I understand better than most, and more importantly so does Branmer. Do you think this shift in power is arbitrary? Accidental? This change to a new, or should I say very old style of warfare just something he invented on the fly? No, no my poor out of touch little Warrior, Branmer is building a united fleet, one made of worker, warrior and religious combining the strengths of all three. A fleet he is training personally, one he will command. One the Caste Elders will have no real influence over, maybe not even the Grey Council itself.”
“Why would he do that? Why change a millennium of tradition?”
“Because it is no longer fit for purpose. And this isn't a new idea, someone else did the exact same thing, a joint fleet taking orders only from him.”
“Valen.” Sineval narrowed his eyes. “Is he trying to enact a coup?”
“Nothing so vulgar.” Jha'dur dismissed. “He's getting ready to fight a real war, against half the galaxy if he has to but mainly it is the Shadows he fears. You know them don't you Sineval? Salasine here is one of their harbingers.”
She tapped the paralysed Drakh beside her.
“They have been useful, given us some technology, some assistance in exchange for us tilting our philosophy toward their ideal. They were recruiting potential allies for the day their masters rise, new servants of chaos for the Shadows of Za'Ha'Dum. People to be the first wave in this grand proxy war, they are apparently thrilled we are now at war with you Minbari. They no doubt seek to take credit for throwing us at their old enemies.”
Jha'dur topped up her tea.
“You really should drink. Once your muscles stop working you won't be able to and I'd be sad if you died of dehydration before the game is over.”
“I will take nothing you offer.”
“Stubborness is why your caste is dying out.” The Warmaster shrugged and sipped. “But as I was saying the Drakh sought to improve their favour with their Masters, but nobody steals my credit.”
She took the kettle of boiling water and placed it on Salasine's lap, watching his eyes dart as the only reaction to the intensely hot sensation assaulting his thighs.
“Nobody, Salasine. Nobody uses me for their own ends. Nobody uses my people. We had a use for you, but as we are upgrading past dear Sineval so I am upgrading past you. Very soon we won't need you as middle men, I'll be talking to your masters directly.”
“You will seek out the Ancient Enemy?” Sineval shot her a fresh look of hatred. “Even you can't be that foolish!”
“Careful Sineval, I don't like outbursts from idiots.” Jha'dur tutted. “If they are useful I'll speak with them, the Great Eye of Za'Ha'Dum is already active and watching this war, I'll give it something interesting to see, enough to make it curious enough to allow one of our ships to land.”
“No one who goes to Za'Ha'Dum comes back the same. If at all.”
“I suppose we'll find out won't we?”
“How will you get the attention of something so evil?”
“About a billion dead Minbari.” Jha'dur reasoned. “That's my estimate, but it depends how easy it is to breach your homeworld's defences.”
“My homeworld...”
“I'm going to break them Sineval. Snap their will to fight, drive them to despair as they see their great cities of crystal burning.” She looked at him with burning eyes, lips involuntarily curling into a smile. “I will do what no one has done in a thousand years, I'm going to assault your homeworld at the head of a united fleet and end this war in an afternoon.”
She grinned widely, her eyes looking past him.
“I'm going to be the only person to ever bring down the Minbari, to defeat them completely. Whenever someone says the name Minbari they will see my name right beside it, and they will sigh in sorrow at the thought of what I did to your arrogant race.”
“You will fail.” Sineval spoke the words but wasn't sure if he believed them.
“Your fleet is gutted and scattered, they can't stop me.”
“If you kill so many this war will never end. This is not a bluff Deathwalker, the fury of the Minbari is incalculable. If you kill so many they will throw everything at you.”
“I am already hated by most of the galaxy, a few billion more is nothing to me.” She dismissed over her teacup. “Besides, I'm just doing my job, a consequence of this war. I didn't start it. You did Sineval.”
“The humans started this war.”
“That's one version of the truth.”
“There is only one version of the truth!”
“If you really believe that then it explains why you are sitting there paralysed staring at a Drakh.” Jha'dur smiled. “You started the war Sineval, you and the Windsword elders who are all now conveniently dead and unable to contradict that truth. You were tired of peace, you wanted a short victorious conflict but you picked the wrong enemy. How many have died for your ambition Sineval? How much blood was shed for your desire to restore the warriors to dominance?”
“None of that is true!”
“But the humans will believe it, and the total destruction and dissolution of the Wind Sword Clan may well be enough for them to sit at the peace table.”
“Dissolution? Have you lost your senses? We are one of the great clans! We will exist forever!”
“You really are that foolish?” She laughed harshly. “Poor Sineval, Branmer has been erasing your clan since the war began. He will take your warriors and resources, retrain them, and turn them into his own soldiers. And they will be happy for it. More importantly Branmer is intelligent enough to seize this opportunity with both hands. I will give him on a plate the thing he wants more than anything else, an excuse to destroy his only real rivals at home and as a bonus placate Earth in the process.”
She leaned back, tea cup in hand.
“That is how I upgrade from a mere clan elder to a Shai Alyt, one who will become the new Valen in place of Dukhat. Quite a friend to have.”
“It won't work, they won't believe you!” Sineval began to shout. “I will not be a pawn in your games!”
“You always were Sineval, nothing more.” She watched him becoming more slack in his seat, her chemical agent doing its work. “But you are right, the Minbari may not believe your war like ways were so selfish, or may not care. Fortunately Sineval, the Minbari will assume you were deceived into starting the war.”
She tapped the Drakh.
“Deceived by this man right here.”
“We would never be fooled by a Servant of Darkness!”
“They offered you power, prestige, a way to climb in strength and influence. You just needed an easy war and they provided the target. Except it wasn't easy, they turned you on a race who should have been your allies. They wanted you weakened before the Shadows rose.”
“Lies!”
“And it worked, you are both weakened. This whole war is a plot by the Shadows to weaken you. Your people were betrayed by your ambitions, the Windswords set up the war at the behest of the Drakh, you are all pawns of the Shadows. The only logical action is to stop fighting, every day you battle further only serves your true enemy.”
“They will never believe that!”
“They will believe it when a Satai of the Grey Council tells them that story. They will embrace it when they see my ships levelling their cities and they cry for a solution. They will focus all that rage and sorrow and hate on the Drakh and on you. Not me, or the humans, or anyone else. You Sineval and your arrogance.”
“You can't do this!”
“It's already done. They will find you here with him sat over tea, a Windsword and a Drakh with documents suggesting you are trying to use the Drakh to get you out of the current disaster. You begging them for help.” She showed a Minbari data crystal.
“I wrote it myself, I really played up the hysteria to guarantee your reputation drops like a stone beside a singularity. You are going to be hated and ridiculed forever Sineval, sneered at with the same disgust people feel after walking through a sewer. Not the type of hate I bring based on fear and grief, but hate for your weakness and stupidity.”
She finished her tea and stood up, walking around the table to lean in close to Sineval, his body trying to stretch up it's arms to throttle her and failing.
“You tried to use me Sineval and as I hope I've made clear I don't like it when people do that. The biological weapons I gave you are harmless, a mild fever that by now will have died out.”
“You did all this because I tried to use you to gain weapons?” Sineval glared at her in anger and confusion.
“Of course not. You tried to abduct me just after the Battle of Balos. My people drove you off, but you killed four thousand eight hundred and nineteen excellent Dilgar officers and ratings in the process. Highly skilled crews on first rate ships, lives worth immeasurably more than any of your smug proud warriors. You killed them like they were nothing to you, and for that you and your entire clan will be reviled for the rest of history. Disgraced, dissolved, mocked for their stupidity. Well, those who weren't slaughtered.”
She signalled over Fei'nur who took Jha'dur's tea cup and kettle away.
“The Anla'shok will be here in a couple of weeks, you will of course be dead by then but in the days it takes for you to slowly wither away I want you to reflect on what a bad idea it was to get in my way and kill my faithful soldiers.”
“That's why you are doing this? Revenge?”
“I'm doing this to end the war and improve the standing of my people among both humans and Minbari, and to give me a little leveredge over a Satai and the Shai Alyt.” She answered honestly. “All very practical and planned. But the method? Oh yes Sineval, you are right, this is revenge. I didn't know exactly how I was going to do it but I knew killing you wasn't enough. I had to destroy you in such a way that for the next thousand years your name becomes a synonym for a proud vain idiot.”
She stood straight, her expression gleeful.
“I have destroyed you utterly Sineval along with everything you love and value. Reflect on this as you starve for it is the most perfect torture I have ever inflicted. For the sake of my brothers and sisters you massacred so casually, I have ended you and all you have lived for utterly and irrevocably. This is my retribution, and I will still be smiling over it thousands of years from now.”
*
It was still cold, this far north it always was and the fall of Omelos had only made matters worse. Deathwalker breathed through her mask insulated from the atmosphere of her home, a cruelty she did not particularly approve of. Beside her Fei’nur closed up the building and erased the record of their visit.
“Ambassador G’Kar will inform the Minbari of this soon. He will request a Satai of the Grey Council be present with the Rangers to guarantee the correct result.”
“Very good.” Jha’dur approved. “Then I suppose we should return to the fleet.”
She said the words but did not move, eyes still viewing the dead land.
“Warmaster?”
“There is still hope we can bring this planet back. But science alone won’t do it.” She observed. “Restore the magnetic field, bring back plants, scrub the radiation, all of this we can do over time. But what will stop this happening again? What we do now is the real work, this is how we restore our people.”
“If the Shadows are real and Branmer is right, that an even bigger war is coming, our position is difficult.”
“Extremely.” Jha’dur nodded. “We would be the first to fall,but after this if all goes to plan perhaps we may find ourselves stronger. All I do I do so this world may live. I failed to save it the first time, but I will not fail twice. Even if it takes me a hundred lifetimes I will see my people thriving once again on this world.”
“I do not doubt it Warmaster.”
“Thankyou Fei’nur. Now I believe we have a few billion Minbari to kill. You know that old human saying?”
She grinned wide again.
“No rest for the wicked.”
Nocalo Colony
Earth Minbari border.
The defences here were weak, a frontier world far from danger that was little more than a hopping off point for deep space exploration, something the Minbari barely bothered with. At one point Nocalo had been well defended, it had been the first world invaded by the Garmak several centuries ago triggering the first great Minbari war since Valen, but with the Garmak gone Nocalo had also faded in importance.
It's satellite network was sufficient to scare off Raiders or light warships but had little to intimidate a full fleet of heavy ships of the line. In theory it wouldn't matter, no ship would ever get close to Nocalo thanks to the garrison fleet and border patrols, but after recent events there was no longer a garrison. There wasn't a Minbari warship anywhere within twenty lightyears.
Instead local space now belonged to the enemy. Clusters of human, Dilgar, Narn and Drazi ships cruised through Minbari space casually knocking down the short ranged satellites. While still quite dangerous and well armed with antimatter cannons the satellites didn't have the range to hit the Dilgar and Narn heavy ships which simply sniped them with lasers opening the way for Earth Force to close in and begin bombarding the surface.
The combined efforts of the fleet all built up to a single task, a full scale invasion by human mechanised forces. The first planetary assault since the Battle of Balos at the end of the Dilgar war.
“Hemisphere secure Admiral, defensive positions breached above the primary settlements.”
“Very well.” Hamato scanned the information as it filtered through his command deck, a score of aides and staff officers sifting the data in detail to confirm optimal landing sites and targets. “Still no enemy naval contact?”
“Negative Admiral, nothing on any warning buoys or from the patrols.”
Ultimately that didn't mean much, the Minbari were advanced enough to lurk at the edge of beacon range in hyperspace and evade detection until the last second. The possibility of a raid or ambush was constant and weighed heavy on the Admiral's mind. Landing operations were extremely vulnerable to attack with thousands of personnel essentially trapped with a planet and the gravity well pinning them in place. Even a handful of enemy ships well placed and commanded could wreak havoc amid the troop ships and set the campaign back by months.
“Strengthen the perimeter and increase the number of squadrons on patrol.” Hamato decided. “Then signal Sixth flotilla to begin landing operations.”
“Aye sir.”
The veteran Admiral returned to his thoughts as the fleet responded. He was a very cautious man, his reputation was not that of a risk taker but at the same time he had to be decisive. The planet had to be attacked, the message had to be sent to both friend and foe. The legend of Minbari invincibility had been truly shattered and putting human boots on Minbari ground would cement that.
*
“This is it, pull it together! We've got the go order and this time it's the real deal!”
Alfredo Garibaldi rubbed his hands together with malicious glee, the assorted grunts and troopers of his unit dropping their activities and time wasting to focus on the older Sergeant Major. They had been waiting at the edge of the system under heavy escort waiting for their chance to deploy, for the orders to commence the attack on Nocalo. Every passing hour the tension had grown, the anticipation, often the fear of coming battle, but now the moment had arrived those concerns began to fade and were replaced by an eagerness.
The Earth Force Navy had seen most of the glory so far, and shouldered most of the burden losing over a thousand ships over the five months of combat. The Army had done its part fighting a commando war on the occupied colony worlds before relieving them, but those fights had been mere skirmishes compared to the massive fleets exchanging fire above them.
Today finally the Army would have it's moment. They would be the first humans to walk on Minbari soil and they wouldn't be polite about it. The Minbari were reeling and Earth held the initiative but everyone knew that could change back just as rapidly. They needed to hit the Minbari hard and keep hitting them, keep pushing and fighting, make sure their enemy could never threaten genocide again.
They were not lacking in motivation and whatever fear they had, whatever apprehensions and doubts, all of it was overpowered by the simple truth that they had to win. This was a war of survival, defeat meant extermination for all human beings and with those stakes no one was going to give less than everything. The Navy had bled and triumphed in their battles, now it was their turn.
The deck was already shifting as their assault ship burned for orbit, the Tantalus class ship sharing many components with the Omega including a rotating gravity section. In place of cargo or heavy weapons however it carried thousands of soldiers, their equipment and vehicles. Hades class Assault shuttles waited in expansive hangar bays while atmospheric fighters were loaded into drop pods. Tanks, artillery, gunships and command vehicles were transferred in zero gravity to their transports awaiting deployment in follow up waves. The first attack to go in would be infantry to secure the designated landing zones, and the first of the infantry would be the 99th Airborne Infantry, 101st Division, Earth Alliance North American Command.
The Nine-Nine was an elite unit with an excellent combat record including several major battles against the Dilgar. They were specialists in planetary assaults making them the logical choice to lead this attack, and like a few other specialist units they were equipped with the Infantry Combat Exosuit power armour designed for dealing with Dilgar cybernetic soldiers. This would be it's first true test as a system.
“Gather your things, we had a little taste of battle at Jericho but we were late to that party.” Garibaldi remarked on their previous deployment relieving one of the occupied colonies. By the time they had landed and found a pocket of opposition the battle had been virtually over. Most of the work had been done by the EA Marine Corps, notably the 33rd Batallion which had been bragging about beating the Army ever since.
“This time we're gonna be the first ones down, we get first pick of all those smug bone heads and we get to show the Marines who the real professionals are here! Do not make us look stupid by getting yourself killed!”
It was like being right back at home. Garibaldi had done well as a civilian between the wars settling into private security and investigations, but in his heart this was where he belonged. Somewhere his own son was also in uniform, by now he would have been deployed though not in this operation. Around him were young faces most of them around his boy's age, perhaps younger, and he was going to have to make sure they made it back home. Garibaldi wasn't a young man anymore but he was still as tough as old leather which gave those around him confidence. In the last war he had been a normal soldier among his brothers and sisters, but now he was more like the father of this company. It was a different feeling, a greater responsibility that came with his age and the extra stripes on his shoulder.
“Suit up people, we've got business with the Minbari.”
*
The Sixth Flotilla made its way into low orbit over Nocalo, the shining world below casting the harsh grey Earth ships in stark relief compared to the lush green, blue and white below them. The troop ships held station at a slightly higher altitude while a dreadnought and two cruisers dropped down lower to begin the operation. The three warships rotated to orbit broadside on to the planet, the blocky vessels settling into carefully plotted courses that would take them over several landing zones and targets.
Their role was two fold, firstly to eliminate any obvious military targets and secondly to clear landing zones of natural obstructions like trees or undergrowth. While there were various ways of clearing vegetation Earth force prefered a barrage of plasma cannon rounds which turned most anything to ash and glass but left very little cratering. The Navy called it low impact thermal landscaping while the Army just called it the 'Instant Car Park'. The Dilgar had also adopted this same practice on Jha'dur's instruction, citing it as another example of mankind solving every tiny problem with massive applications of military grade firepower.
Plasma cannons were considered obsolete in naval combat but Earth Force maintained a few older cruisers specifically for orbital bombardment duties armed with a variety of weapons suited for different tasks. While the attached dreadnought would level Minbari bases, communication centres and a few other strategic targets with extreme prejudice the cruisers would directly support the landing forces.
Four separate landing zones had been designated each close to a key target. They were close enough to support each other but far enough away to not be overrun by a determined Minbari counter attack. Their main objective was to isolate and then capture the two big cities in this hemisphere, though big was a relative term. Nocalo was not a huge colony and it's main city only had some thirty thousand people living in it. Still, conquering it would likely yield a treasure trove of technology and intelligence for Earth in addition to its symbolic value.
The vessels moved into position and began their attacks, steady and systematic as they glided high above the surface. The Dreadnought naturally provided the greatest spectacle, a mix of beams and pulse barrages falling from the sky to end in bright flashes. Atmospheric diffusion bled off a lot of energy from the weapons meaning their impacts on the surface were not so impressive as their performance in space, but they did the job.
The batteries of guns on the Dreadnought razed the Warrior Caste buildings and bases in grand style, the intense laser beams igniting the air as they passed through it scattering clouds and wreathing themselves in shimmering heat and flame. The sheer volume of gunfire turned the sky red like a rolling apocalypse shearing through structures, cutting roads and bridges, then flash boiling millions of gallons of water as they scythed through rivers and lakes, then jungles and plains.
It was a ferocious sight and designed precisely to intimidate anyone watching it as much as possible. A Minbari ship with antimatter weapons would have been far more destructive but none of the people on Nocalo had ever seen such a thing for comparison. All they knew of war was the dozens of red beams burning across their land with such destruction and fury as to seem a herald of the end times. The thunderclaps of each shot, the tumult in the sky, the clouds of smoke and shredding of clouds were an experience like nothing else for the civilian population. Earth Force had wanted to send a message and it was received loud and clear on the planet below.
Less theatrical the cruisers set to their work too, Nocalo was a humid world of shallow seas and thick jungles which was going to cause issues for heavy mechanised forces. Minbari grav vehicles had little trouble skimming over the thick jungles but the tracked human vehicles would suffer. To that end Earth Force could have deployed its forces in some of the relatively clear plains where the Minbari cities stood and where the Warriors were waiting, but instead it decided to make its own plains, roads and passageways.
The cruisers started their own carefully plotted bombardments firstly incinerating large patches of forest and jungle to create landing zones and then walking their barrage outwards clearing wide channels through the jungle. These plasma cleared paths were a hundred metres wide and would reach from the deep jungles to the plains and cities twenty or thirty miles away. An instant highway for the tanks and logistics of the human army to travel down free from any ambush by the unprepared Minbari.
It would take time to clear all the paths but with the initial landing zones clear the attack itself could begin. By the time the main force landed the way would be clear and in theory Earth Force would have tanks in the streets of the capital before sunset.
*
“We drop in five minutes!” Garibaldi called out as the unit sealed themselves into their combat gear. “Five minutes! Once we go we won't be back for a while so if you need it make sure it's in your pack right now!”
Everyone knew the routine, how to equip themselves for war, to ensure their kit was operational and ready. They helped each other, made sure their combat armour was sealed and clean before hooking up their heavy PPG rifles. Larger than the slender carbines used by troops deployed to ships and stations the Army issue rifle fired a stronger pulse with a faster recycle rate. With no concern about damaging the inside of a pressurised can floating through space Earth Force ground troops didn't need to restrain themselves like their orne brethren. The rifles could be fired using energy caps the same as any other PPG or could be attached by cable to the power suits own internal power supply giving the rifle virtually unlimited ammunition.
“Take your places, move to the loading bays!” Garibaldi shifted them to the next part of their task. “You know how this works, no mistakes, get on the right shuttle or no amount of ceramic laminate armour is going to save your ass from my boot!”
The platoon hustled past him joining the rest of the brigade as they tramped through the grey metal corridors to their departure stations, a large hangar deck with several Hades class assault shuttles lined up for them. The Hades had the same aerodynamic body as the more familiar Peregrine type atmospheric shuttle but was much larger and sported several turreted pulse cannons for defence and close air support. They could carry a few hundred soldiers if they had to but standard procedure was to deploy a single platoon and support totalling no more than thirty people with the rest of the space devoted to cargo and other support gear. Officially it kept the shuttle light enough to be able to take evasive action on approach, but the unwritten truth was it meant if a bird went down it didn't take too many troopers with it.
Garibaldi counted them through and slapped each one on their metallic shoulder as they ran past him into the shuttle taking their seats. They had more space than regular troops due to their slightly bulkier gear, though not by much. Their armour was angular painted in standard Earth Force olive drab with a few yellow stripes and chevrons indicating their unit and position to other friendly units. Each also had a small degree of customisation, a painted in badge, crest or message offering a sign of pride or a declaration to their enemies. Right now their equipment was still pristine lacking the scratches, scorches and dents of combat. That would soon change.
“Lock in!” Garibaldi dropped the seat restraints pinning each trooper in place for the bumpy descent. They had all experienced a fast de-orbit with several having done so under combat conditions more than once, but it was always a nerve wracking episode. Once he was satisfied the Sergeant Major locked himself down and gave a thumbs up to the shuttle load master.
“Troop compartment secure!” The crewman reported to his pilot. “Closing hatch, ready to go.”
The ramp at the back rolled upward, most of the passengers watching as it closed off their view of the ship, their last look at friendly territory for at least the next few days. Maybe forever.
“Anyone want to get off?” Groller joked darkly before the ramp clicked shut. “Last chance.”
“Gotta get past me first.” Garibaldi glared over. “Easier to face a Minbari Cavalry division, trust me.”
The ramp locked into place leaving them in the dim internal lighting of the shuttle.
“Switch to combat mode.” Captain Fox ordered. “Make sure your datalinks are working and sensors are good. If it needs fixing do it now, not when the plasma starts flying.”
The shuttle jolted as it began to move, transported on a lift out of the troop loading dock and up toward the launch racks passing through the airlocks and up into vacuum. Beside it a dozen other shuttles made ready each laden with their own formidable cargo. Elsewhere in the launch bay fighters also prepared to deploy both Starfuries for the initial escort to orbit and then Banshee atmospheric fighters ready to deploy in their own drop pods to support the landings.
“Position set.” The pilot reported. “Standby for launch.”
The engines glowed into life casting blue light across the wide bay, the armoured doors silently grinding open revealing space beyond. The Starfuries left first deploying to screen the assault force before the countdown ended and the shuttles kicked into motion. The passengers endured the sudden push of acceleration and adjusted, breathing steadily as the shuttles turned sharply and angled for the planet below.
“Launch successful, following flight plan.”
The shuttles carrying the 99th were joined by others from across the fleet, two full divisions of nearly twenty thousand men and women would be landing today in four waves. The first wave was built on four thousand elite heavy infantry in combat suits to establish an initial perimeter for heavier units to follow up and begin the real attack. It was a very dangerous task, while the first wave were all well armed and equipped they'd be facing the potentially the best of the Minbari ground forces with limited support. If it went wrong their chances of survival were slim.
Fortunately Earth had fought this kind of battle frequently and was well prepared for any eventuality. As the shuttles hit the atmosphere the Starfuries peeled away to be replaced by the Banshee drop pods, each diamond shaped container holding a fully fuelled jet fighter ready to go instantly into action once it reached the right altitude.
This was the most vulnerable moment of the landings, none of the craft could manoeuvre until they decelerated and their passage through the atmosphere was marked by the intense heat of friction against the underside of their vehicles. If any ground defences had survived the naval bombardment the assault forces would be easy targets and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Several salvoes sailed by as the supporting cruisers put a few more rounds of suppressive fire down around the shuttles as a final precaution, pulse rounds slamming into suspicious locations to keep any Minbari defenders in cover. It was only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity before the atmosphere thickened, the heat subsided and the shuttles nosed down and began their landing approach.
Beside them the Banshee fighters also went into action, their drop pods splitting open to release the fully armed and ready fighters directly into action, the squadrons forming up and splitting to perform their assigned tasks. One batch moved away to intercept Minbari aircraft while others stayed close to offer air support for the infantry.
“This is our stop!” Garibaldi announced. “When the ramp drops fan out and hit the dirt! I want a full scan before we move and don't get knocked down by the jet wash! Just embarrassing.”
The Hades shuttle fired its retro thrusters and came into the landing zone smoothly going into a hover a few feet above the surface, engines growling as gun turrets swept for targets.
“Everybody out! Move! Now!”
The soldiers leapt down easily, their exosuits easily handling the fall and carrying the wearers left or right to clear the shuttle. Once everyone was off the loadmaster dumped his remaining cargo and then signalled the pilot to climb. The shuttle open its throttles and pulled up and away with a ripping thunderous roar ready to pick up the next wave of ground pounders.
“First squad sector clear!”
“Second squad sector clear!”
“Red Platoon sector clear.” Garibaldi relayed. “Ready to advance.”
“Red Platoon, dig in on the perimeter.” Captain Fox ordered from the company command post a few hundred metres behind them. “Be advised possible Minbari movement thirty miles to the east. Be prepared for contact.”
“Okay people you heard the lady, grab your gear and get some digging done!”
*
It didn't take long for the unit to create a series of foxholes, their powered suits effortlessly cracking through the glassed top soil and shovelling aside the rich deeper soil beneath. They used their standard entrenching tools, a short space mixed with an axe which was both a useful tool and effective weapon up close. Elsewhere other units were likewise digging in and preparing to meet any Minbari response.
“Get the CPPG here.” Garibaldi directed the massive tripod mounted plasma gun into a suitable position. “I want missiles distributed to all positions, do not waste them! Cooper, you're the marksman, find a good spot.”
“On it Sarge.”
“Keep an eye on your buddies, watch each other's backs.” Garibaldi reminded. “This is the real deal now, those suits are tough but they won't stop a direct hit from a Fusion rifle. Be smart, keep low, and don't worry about ammo. If you see a Minbari shoot until it drops then give it another fifty rounds just to make sure.”
“Perimeter posts, be advised Minbari advanced elements confirmed.” A cool voice informed from a safe distance. “Watch East and standby for support fire.”
“We could have used some electrified razor wire and some claymores.” Cooper grimaced. “Nothing between us and the Minbari.”
“We're Air Assault, we're used to being under equipped, outnumbered and surrounded.” Garibaldi smiled. “No fun otherwise.”
“Red Platoon, I'm setting you up with a direct line to our air support.” Captain Fox cut in over the radio. “We only have one attack run so save it until you really need it.”
“Copy that.”
“I also have mortars ready for sustained fire. If you see something really big I can get a cruiser to drop some plasma but we're danger close.”
“Understood Captain, we'll be ready.”
“Second wave is already on the way with tank support, hold the line people, time for us to do our jobs.”
“Possible movement front.” The warning came in. “Scouting party.”
“Hold your fire, don't let them see our firepower yet.” Garibaldi ordered. “Cooper, got a shot?”
“I see them.” The marksman lined up his scoped gauss rifle, less powerful than a true sniper rifle but still a very potent weapon. “Taking the shot.”
The rifle cracked throwing back one of the Minbari scouts by the treeline. The remainder at once darted backwards, one of them pausing to launch a bright blue flare into the sky. It was answered by other flares from several different locations followed by the hum of incoming vehicles.
“Keep your eyes front, focus on your sector!” Garibaldi called out. “Designate your targets, be liberal with your rifles and careful with your missiles! Remember they are warriors, not soldiers, they'll be looking for a fair and noble fight. Murder them before they get a chance.”
At that moment the Minbari burst from the treeline and charged for the human lines, bolting across the three hundred yards of open flattened ground toward the dug in well entrenched soldiers. Even without razor wire the attack was suicide, running over open ground in the face of automatic weapons hadn't been a sensible strategy for centuries and nothing much had changed that fact.
“Let 'em have it!” Garibaldi yelled simultaneously blasting a storm of plasma rounds toward the charging Minbari. An instant after the rest of the platoon engaged with other units along the perimeter joining the defence. It was a massacre, the running Minbari were cut down long before they reached the halfway point.
“The hell are they doing?” Groller glanced around. “They think that's going to work?”
“Red Platoon incoming!” Captain Fox suddenly shouted down the line. “Get down!”
“Everybody flat!” Garibaldi echoed before ducking into his foxhole exactly as a series of massive explosions and blinding lights engulfed the line. He stayed as low as possible until the fury subsided, peering out gingerly once the initial thunder faded.
“Nukes?” Cooper's helmeted head popped up nearby, the landscape smoking.
“Heavy artillery, the Minbari use antimatter.” The old Sergeant figuered. “Looks worse than it is, platoon, sound off.”
Everyone checked in, the blasts had shredded anything in the open but fortunately the wisdom of digging in had proven entirely justified.
“Minbari front! Vehicles!”
“Take them!”
Their opponents were now beginning to show their strategy. The first wave of suicidal warriors had been those too young or too enraged to fight with discipline and could have been more a hindrance than a help to an organised attack. The Minbari commander had sent them in first to in part test the defences and in part rid himself of a source of future problems. It was ruthless and cynical, but it also strengthened his hand and mirrored what Branmer was doing elsewhere.
With the fanatics gone the real attack now began, Star Rider warriors advancing under artillery cover with vehicles keeping pace. Small squads darted forward spaced between slender fighting vehicles and bulky tanks laying down suppressive fire against the Earth positions.
“This is the main event now!” Garibaldi ducked as a pulse from one of the tanks thudded into the ground next to him showering him with rough glass. “Focus on the tanks, everyone else cover the tank hunters!”
Those tasked and armed with missiles took centre stage, lowering their rifles and quickly shouldering one of the small Hammer class anti tank missiles. The system automatically locked the nearest vehicle and fired, several rapid projectiles racing out and slamming into the Minbari with a deafening crack.
The sheer power of the human weapons was enough to blast through even the strong Minbari vehicle armour shattering their targets which dropped to the ground with a crackle and hiss of flame. It was a strong blow, but the Minbari did not falter closing their ranks and increasing their fire.
“They're still advancing!” Cooper warned.
“I can see that!” Garibaldi snapped. “First Company actual, Red Platoon, we're under heavy fire, request support fire mission!”
“Red Platoon, mortars are gone!” Fox replied. “Call the air force and designate the target!”
“Roger that!” He switched frequencies. “Thunderclap, repeat, Thunderclap! Request immediate support danger close!”
One of his foxholes vanished launching a pair of soldiers into the air. Their armour protected them but out in the open they were struck by dozens of energy blasts that overwhelmed their defences. Another missile or two streaked back toward the Minbari but with the intensity of the attack increasing it was almost suicide to peek out for a shot.
“Red Platoon, Thunderclap, stand by.” A voice answered. “We see you, standby.”
The sky roared overhead as a pair of Banshee fighters swept over at less than a hundred feet scattering cluster bombs in their wake, the hundreds of projectiles creating a rippling series of explosions that shredded vehicles and infantry both. In a heartbeat the soul was torn from the Minbari attack, their closely aligned advance ripped apart by the swift strike.
“Finish the job!” Garibaldi stood up and fired, cutting down a pair of dazed warriors just a few yards away from the Earth lines. “Clear them away!”
The remaining platoon quickly attacked, the surviving Minbari offering a brief but futile resistance. Their fate was sealed by a sudden blast originating from behind the lines, Garibaldi peering over his shoulder to see a quartet of grimy looking Thor battle tanks rolling up in support.
“The main force is here!” He cheered. “Go get 'em!”
The tanks trundled through the lines gunning down the Minbari survivors and switching to move toward the cleared path to the city. They accelerated, turbine engines whining until the lead vehicle simply vanished in a yellow sheet of flame.
Garibaldi's unit at once dropped, the tanks swinging instantly around as something crashed out of the treeline, a blue wall of hardened crystal mounting several guns dwarfing the human vehicles staring at it.
“Red platoon here, Minbari super heavy tank in our sector!” Garibaldi called in frantically. “Request air support!”
“This is Thunderclap, munitions expended, lining up for a gun run.”
“Air support on the way! Tank hunters, hit it!”
The new opponent was in a different league to the regular Minbari vehicles, where the average human tank had enough firepower and armour to stand a chance against the average Minbari tank this beast was something else. The Wndsword super heavy tank was the Sharlin of the battlefield armed with neutron weapons and massive armour it was a vast vehicle almost impervious to anything that could be thrown against it. They were fortunately rare but where they did show up they dominated the scene.
The Thor tanks slammed into reverse, grinding on the glassed ground and popping smoke. They fired a shot each as they pulled back to no effect, the solid metal darts bouncing off the Minbari hull with a loud ding. While the smoke obscured them the Minbari didn't care, unlike the pulse weapons of the smaller tanks the Wind Sword swept the battlefield with a green neutron beam more usually found on assault bombers. All three tanks exploded one after the other, the Minbari mobile fortress slowly advancing.
Garibaldi's people hit it with as many missiles as they had left to no effect, the purple and blue mass soaking up the hits to its flank without concern, secondary turrets rotating to force the Earth troopers into cover. Overhead the Banshees attacked again ripping up the ground with pulse cannons that did nothing but scorch the Minbari super tank.
“What the hell do they make those things outta?” Groller threw himself flat as a storm of gunfire soared overhead. Several more dings were heard as another Thor tank unit tried to flank the beast only to run into Minbari support troops coming up behind.
“We need gunships!” Cooper winced as more Earth vehicles exploded. “That's the only thing that'll stop it!”
“Not the only thing.” Garibaldi risked a look as the tank moved past. “Captain Fox, Red Platoon, Minbari forces have broken through, request naval gunnery support.”
“I see them, but we're too close for a warship shoot.”
“With respect Captain nothing else is going to work, call down the fire.”
“Your position is within the blast radius.”
“We'll keep low, call it Captain.”
“Understood Sergeant, bury yourselves low and brace for impact.”
“Did she say we were within the blast radius?” Cooper let his jaw drop. “Hey Sarge, I don't know if this is such a great...”
“Red Platoon get in your foxholes and get as low down as you can! Something big is on the way, this is going to suck!”
“I hate this, I hate this, I hate...” Groller muttered as he dropped back in his hole, the others following suit.
“Ever get this close to a naval strike in the last war?” Cooper checked.
“Nope, but we didn't have these suits last time either.”
“Think they'll help?”
“Ask me again in thirty seconds.”
The situation was desperate and as such so was the response. With insufficient firepower on the ground Captain Fox called upstairs for a smiting, the sky parting as a single blue orb of plasma fell from above in a haze of flame and heat. Several cubic metres of superheated material simply immolated everything it touched, splashing out to eliminate an entire company of Minbari troops and vehicles. The Wind Sword class tank was reduced to a puddle of minerals and metal, the land around it again cooked to glass by the furious attack, a final note underline the importance of holding the high ground.
Red Platoon were literally buried in their holes, the sides caving in under the shock of the orbital strike less than a hundred metres away. Being buried turned out to be fortunate, the dirt above helping shield them from the heat and blast of the plasma impact that ravaged the Minbari forces.
Without their armoured suits they would not have survived, with them after a few moments they began to emerge cracking through the glassed sand like ugly hatchlings. They were shaken and lightheaded but still alive, indeed the only things alive for several hundred metres.
“Red Platoon, check in.” Garibaldi put some steel in his voice to distract from the fact that his knees were still shaking. “Come on, check in, you'd think nobody had ever sat under an orbital strike before!”
“Am I dead?” Cooper checked.
“If you were I wouldn't still be standing over you.” Garibaldi helped him up.
“Yeah, the devil would be less shouty.” Groller brushed off loose chunks of sand from his gear.
“Good news, Private Groller just volunteered to go fetch us all some rations!” Garibaldi grinned. “As all our stockpile just got vaporised.”
“Thanks Sarge.”
“Everyone else back in your holes until relief shows up.” The Sergeant ordered. “I think that was the last of the Minbari but no chances. Back on overwatch.”
“We lost three to the Minbari, the rest of us made it.” Cooper reported. “Backup is on the way.”
“Alright, hold here. We don't give up this ground until officially relieved. Not after we paid for it.”
“Pretty intense Sarge, this what it was like in the last war?”
“Nah, that was a lot worse. Now get back in your pit and stop talking. We're still on the clock.”
*
Omelos
Homeworld of the Dilgar
Everything was ash. This world that once been a living world was now a barren waste touched by the flames of the distant sun above. Cleansed by flame many in the League had said, but there was nothing purifying here. Burnt out buildings, the charred trunks of trees, the ash that still blew in the air like a deathly fog. It wasn't even hellish, it was just a waste.
“It has improved believe it or not.” Jha'dur looked around the city she had known so well, that she still did. “The initial nova evaporated all of the surface water and blew away a large amount of atmosphere. Some of that has returned, the magnetic field is still stable so it's just a matter of time until this world is habitable again. Radiation is an issue of course but that's fading fast in most areas.”
She knelt in the ash, flattening it with the padded knee of her environmental suit. The flakes fell easily between her fingers staining her gloves grey, the thin winds carrying them away to the far distance.
“This ash is everything we had, all we have now become. Plants, animals, people, buildings. Our greatest art, our most meagre possessions, lords and slaves alike. Has to be some sort of message there don't you think?”
“I don't really have time for it.” Her companion exhaled. “Can we move on.”
“Death and destruction is the great equaliser.” She stood ignoring his complaints. “But why should it be? Why should we be slaves to death and random chance? Death is our enemy, it wages eternal war with us until one day it wins and we lose. I don't like losing.”
She had returned to this world a few times, at least once a year to remind herself of these unchanging facts. While they had saved many lives and rebuilt their nation it didn't change the fact the bulk of her people had died on this world in a single day. She had been powerless to stop it, the forces involved infinitely greater than anything a simple spacefaring race could halt. Her brother had his theories of course, a head full of them he could speak about for hours seemingly without breath. The image brought her a small smile that faded as quickly as the ash on the breeze around her.
“We can speak privately ahead, I have a little place to myself.” She began to walk. “Come along Sineval, I thought you might appreciate a tour.”
“What I would appreciate is learning why your fleets engaged a Warrior Caste force led by Shakiri, and why you are apparently now supporting Earth!” The warrior was clearly rather vexed, his voice aggressive even over the speakers.
“I cannot control every action of my government no more than you can control yours.” She returned calmly. “But rest assured plans are in place. By the end of the month I will be the one in charge.”
She turned to ensure he could see her grinning through the visor of her helmet.
“And so will you Sineval.”
They walked through a burned out village, the buildings mostly shattered. Some had survived better than others, the Dilgar had a tendency to designate some buildings and homes as defensive structures and construct them with thick concrete walls and narrow windows. One of those buildings had been enclosed within a dome with an airlock at the entrance, not a huge structure but sufficient to enclose a decent sized home.
“We can speak privately in there.” Jha'dur activated the airlock and stepped in. “Who would think to find two people in a remote village on a long dead world at the edge of known space?”
“It isn't the talking that concerns me, it's the answers.”
“We have known each other for years Sineval. You know what I want and the methods I prefer. Have I not given you every weapon you asked for?”
“You have honoured your word so far.”
“Good, I have a way to end this war but I need your help.”
She closed the airlock behind them and filtered the air.
“I also have some more samples for you, human viral agents. This time I suggest you just deploy them to their homeworld without asking for Council approval.”
“They are weak, it is time for a Council of Warriors, like your Warmasters.”
“It works for us.”
The airlock finished cycling and allowed them into a dome. Within was a normal looking home surrounded by grass and a small tree. The air was cool and clearly filtered but otherwise quite pleasant.
“An experiment to bring life back to this planet.” Jha'dur noted. “Not all my work is destructive, I have also created some hardy plants and bacteria already being seeded outside. The first step in restoring the environment.”
“You should focus more on the war, no point restoring this world if you become my enemy.” Sineval intoned dangerously. “How do you plan to reverse this situation? To pull your fleets back and make amends for firing on our ships?”
“Firstly, your warriors fired on mine first.” She opened the door to the house. “And secondly Sineval you should show some respect when you are a guest in my home.”
“Your home?”
“This was my home when I was younger. Did you think I selected a random place for this experiment?” She grinned. “Enter, I have some tea available, fresh I might add.”
Sineval did so, the house as plain inside as outside. It had clearly been restored, freshly painted and with new furniture. In the centre of the main room were two couches at either side of a low table. One was empty, the other one to his surprise was not.
Sat on that far couch under a black robe was an entity he had only seen in ancient data files, it's face grey and bony, eyes blood red. It did not move, it just stared at him.
“Drakh.” Jha'dur said softly as she stood behind Sineval. “An old friend of mine, I thought you might like to get better acquainted.”
“You... you bring me into the same place as a Servant of Darkness?”
“It would be hard to set you up if I didn't.”
Sineval's mind clicked. He had been played, the Dilgar had played him. Jha'dur had played him. This was a trap, he didn't know what type exactly but he had to act, had to do something immediately before the jaws closed.
He spun on his heel and grabbed his fighting pike, the metal staff extending and swinging toward the smiling feline in a single fluid move. He wasn't a master like some warriors but he was fully confident that a Dilgar Female wasn't going to do a damn thing to stop him. The pike swung down and hit something, juddering in his hand as it halted several inches from the Warmasters head. It remained restrained in thin air until a shape materialised from thin air beside Jha'dur, a large figure with one hand gripping the end of the pike and the other a short particle carbine aimed at the Minbari.
“I never understood why a race that had such remarkable weapons chose a metal pole as its sidearm of choice.” Jha'dur gave a disappointed tut. “I'd prefer not to have my shadow cut you in half with a burst of pulse fire but I will if you don't start behaving.”
The grip on his fighting pike tightened, the figure covered in a type of black light suit ensuring he could not perform any sudden moves. He had no choice but to surrender his weapon to the figure and step back.
“Good, I'd rather we were civilised about this.”
“I will say nothing to a Drakh.” Sineval spoke with fury. “Or their allies!”
“I'm not an ally of the Drakh, and you need to sit down.” Jha'dur replied flatly. “Right now Sineval or I'll have Fei'nur shoot out your kneecaps.”
He stood for a moment, then headed for the free couch not doubting for a moment the Dilgar would happily open fire.
“Now then.” Jha'dur smiled happily. “About that tea.”
“I am not thirsty.”
“You Fei'nur?”
“I can wait a little while Warmaster.”
The shrouded figure removed her hood to smile at Sineval, the warrior glaring back at her.
“How did a mere Dilgar stop my attack? You are weaker than humans, you don't have the strength of a Minbari.”
“My Shadow, pardon the reference, I know Minbari and Shadows don't go well.” Jha'dur filtered some boiling water through assorted leaves. “I call Fei'nur my shadow because where I go she is never more than two steps behind. You didn't notice her on the ship ride over? Or the footprints in the ash? Admittedly she did a good job hiding them but I thought you'd be more alert.”
She picked up two teacups.
“Fei'nur has benefitted from several cybernetic upgrades, she could break every bone in your body if I told her to, but there's no benefit to it.” She shrugged. “I've already seen her do it multiple times when calibrating her implants. It gets boring after the thirtieth occasion.”
She put one cup in front of Sineval and the other on the other side, settling herself down next to the Drakh who hadn't moved anything more than his eyes since they arrived.
“Please, try the tea, it's a local blend. Grown on Alaca of course but from plants that grew near here once upon a time.”
Sineval fixed the Drakh with a glance.
“What about him?”
“He doesn't like tea, I'm not being impolite.”
“I mean why hasn't he moved?”
“Oh, Salasine here won't be moving anywhere. He didn't really want to be here either but I insisted.” Jha'dur took a sip of tea. “Please, drink.”
“What did you give him?” Sineval looked at the tea. “I think I'll pass.”
“You think there's something in the tea?” Jha'dur smiled. “Don't assume I'm as blunt as the people you usually consort with. There's nothing in the tea.”
“I'll decide for myself if...”
“It's in the air.” She continued between sips. “You've been breathing it since you entered. How are your legs?”
Sineval made to leap up and failed, the muscles in his legs failing to move. He still had sensation in them, they just didn't respond to orders.
“Wasn't easy to create a paralysing agent which doesn't affect nerve transmissions. You can feel, you just can't move.” Jha'dur smiled. “In fact your senses will sharpen, become more acute and sensitive. You'd think it would be rather enjoyable, heighten your sense of pleasure, but turns out it's like having sandpaper scraped across your every inch of flesh. Something to think about.”
She sipped her tea casually.
“Your internal organs keep working of course but after a while your eye lids seize open, I think Salasine is at that stage.” She examined the Drakh beside her, flicking a little tea in his eyes which did not respond to the stimulus. “Yes, there it is. That must be very uncomfortable.”
“I'm going to kill you.”
Jha'dur giggled a little. Peering over her tea cup.
“I'm so tempted just to stab you in the thigh but I like looking at your angry face right now more than your in pain face. Impotent anger amuses me immensely. You should know better.”
“Why then?” Sineval asked. “Why do this now?”
“It should be obvious.” She sighed slightly. “I know you weren't blessed with much grey matter under that head bone but at least try.”
“If this is your idea of a game then it's a waste.” Sineval grunted. “Through me you have access to the inner circle of the Warrior caste. You would throw that away?”
“No, I'm just upgrading. By the end of this month I'll have a member of the Grey Council owing me a massive favour, and probably Branmer too.” Jha'dur responded calmly. “You have reached the end of your usefulness old friend, especially as your Warrior castes are now obsolete.”
“You do not understand us.”
“On the contrary I understand better than most, and more importantly so does Branmer. Do you think this shift in power is arbitrary? Accidental? This change to a new, or should I say very old style of warfare just something he invented on the fly? No, no my poor out of touch little Warrior, Branmer is building a united fleet, one made of worker, warrior and religious combining the strengths of all three. A fleet he is training personally, one he will command. One the Caste Elders will have no real influence over, maybe not even the Grey Council itself.”
“Why would he do that? Why change a millennium of tradition?”
“Because it is no longer fit for purpose. And this isn't a new idea, someone else did the exact same thing, a joint fleet taking orders only from him.”
“Valen.” Sineval narrowed his eyes. “Is he trying to enact a coup?”
“Nothing so vulgar.” Jha'dur dismissed. “He's getting ready to fight a real war, against half the galaxy if he has to but mainly it is the Shadows he fears. You know them don't you Sineval? Salasine here is one of their harbingers.”
She tapped the paralysed Drakh beside her.
“They have been useful, given us some technology, some assistance in exchange for us tilting our philosophy toward their ideal. They were recruiting potential allies for the day their masters rise, new servants of chaos for the Shadows of Za'Ha'Dum. People to be the first wave in this grand proxy war, they are apparently thrilled we are now at war with you Minbari. They no doubt seek to take credit for throwing us at their old enemies.”
Jha'dur topped up her tea.
“You really should drink. Once your muscles stop working you won't be able to and I'd be sad if you died of dehydration before the game is over.”
“I will take nothing you offer.”
“Stubborness is why your caste is dying out.” The Warmaster shrugged and sipped. “But as I was saying the Drakh sought to improve their favour with their Masters, but nobody steals my credit.”
She took the kettle of boiling water and placed it on Salasine's lap, watching his eyes dart as the only reaction to the intensely hot sensation assaulting his thighs.
“Nobody, Salasine. Nobody uses me for their own ends. Nobody uses my people. We had a use for you, but as we are upgrading past dear Sineval so I am upgrading past you. Very soon we won't need you as middle men, I'll be talking to your masters directly.”
“You will seek out the Ancient Enemy?” Sineval shot her a fresh look of hatred. “Even you can't be that foolish!”
“Careful Sineval, I don't like outbursts from idiots.” Jha'dur tutted. “If they are useful I'll speak with them, the Great Eye of Za'Ha'Dum is already active and watching this war, I'll give it something interesting to see, enough to make it curious enough to allow one of our ships to land.”
“No one who goes to Za'Ha'Dum comes back the same. If at all.”
“I suppose we'll find out won't we?”
“How will you get the attention of something so evil?”
“About a billion dead Minbari.” Jha'dur reasoned. “That's my estimate, but it depends how easy it is to breach your homeworld's defences.”
“My homeworld...”
“I'm going to break them Sineval. Snap their will to fight, drive them to despair as they see their great cities of crystal burning.” She looked at him with burning eyes, lips involuntarily curling into a smile. “I will do what no one has done in a thousand years, I'm going to assault your homeworld at the head of a united fleet and end this war in an afternoon.”
She grinned widely, her eyes looking past him.
“I'm going to be the only person to ever bring down the Minbari, to defeat them completely. Whenever someone says the name Minbari they will see my name right beside it, and they will sigh in sorrow at the thought of what I did to your arrogant race.”
“You will fail.” Sineval spoke the words but wasn't sure if he believed them.
“Your fleet is gutted and scattered, they can't stop me.”
“If you kill so many this war will never end. This is not a bluff Deathwalker, the fury of the Minbari is incalculable. If you kill so many they will throw everything at you.”
“I am already hated by most of the galaxy, a few billion more is nothing to me.” She dismissed over her teacup. “Besides, I'm just doing my job, a consequence of this war. I didn't start it. You did Sineval.”
“The humans started this war.”
“That's one version of the truth.”
“There is only one version of the truth!”
“If you really believe that then it explains why you are sitting there paralysed staring at a Drakh.” Jha'dur smiled. “You started the war Sineval, you and the Windsword elders who are all now conveniently dead and unable to contradict that truth. You were tired of peace, you wanted a short victorious conflict but you picked the wrong enemy. How many have died for your ambition Sineval? How much blood was shed for your desire to restore the warriors to dominance?”
“None of that is true!”
“But the humans will believe it, and the total destruction and dissolution of the Wind Sword Clan may well be enough for them to sit at the peace table.”
“Dissolution? Have you lost your senses? We are one of the great clans! We will exist forever!”
“You really are that foolish?” She laughed harshly. “Poor Sineval, Branmer has been erasing your clan since the war began. He will take your warriors and resources, retrain them, and turn them into his own soldiers. And they will be happy for it. More importantly Branmer is intelligent enough to seize this opportunity with both hands. I will give him on a plate the thing he wants more than anything else, an excuse to destroy his only real rivals at home and as a bonus placate Earth in the process.”
She leaned back, tea cup in hand.
“That is how I upgrade from a mere clan elder to a Shai Alyt, one who will become the new Valen in place of Dukhat. Quite a friend to have.”
“It won't work, they won't believe you!” Sineval began to shout. “I will not be a pawn in your games!”
“You always were Sineval, nothing more.” She watched him becoming more slack in his seat, her chemical agent doing its work. “But you are right, the Minbari may not believe your war like ways were so selfish, or may not care. Fortunately Sineval, the Minbari will assume you were deceived into starting the war.”
She tapped the Drakh.
“Deceived by this man right here.”
“We would never be fooled by a Servant of Darkness!”
“They offered you power, prestige, a way to climb in strength and influence. You just needed an easy war and they provided the target. Except it wasn't easy, they turned you on a race who should have been your allies. They wanted you weakened before the Shadows rose.”
“Lies!”
“And it worked, you are both weakened. This whole war is a plot by the Shadows to weaken you. Your people were betrayed by your ambitions, the Windswords set up the war at the behest of the Drakh, you are all pawns of the Shadows. The only logical action is to stop fighting, every day you battle further only serves your true enemy.”
“They will never believe that!”
“They will believe it when a Satai of the Grey Council tells them that story. They will embrace it when they see my ships levelling their cities and they cry for a solution. They will focus all that rage and sorrow and hate on the Drakh and on you. Not me, or the humans, or anyone else. You Sineval and your arrogance.”
“You can't do this!”
“It's already done. They will find you here with him sat over tea, a Windsword and a Drakh with documents suggesting you are trying to use the Drakh to get you out of the current disaster. You begging them for help.” She showed a Minbari data crystal.
“I wrote it myself, I really played up the hysteria to guarantee your reputation drops like a stone beside a singularity. You are going to be hated and ridiculed forever Sineval, sneered at with the same disgust people feel after walking through a sewer. Not the type of hate I bring based on fear and grief, but hate for your weakness and stupidity.”
She finished her tea and stood up, walking around the table to lean in close to Sineval, his body trying to stretch up it's arms to throttle her and failing.
“You tried to use me Sineval and as I hope I've made clear I don't like it when people do that. The biological weapons I gave you are harmless, a mild fever that by now will have died out.”
“You did all this because I tried to use you to gain weapons?” Sineval glared at her in anger and confusion.
“Of course not. You tried to abduct me just after the Battle of Balos. My people drove you off, but you killed four thousand eight hundred and nineteen excellent Dilgar officers and ratings in the process. Highly skilled crews on first rate ships, lives worth immeasurably more than any of your smug proud warriors. You killed them like they were nothing to you, and for that you and your entire clan will be reviled for the rest of history. Disgraced, dissolved, mocked for their stupidity. Well, those who weren't slaughtered.”
She signalled over Fei'nur who took Jha'dur's tea cup and kettle away.
“The Anla'shok will be here in a couple of weeks, you will of course be dead by then but in the days it takes for you to slowly wither away I want you to reflect on what a bad idea it was to get in my way and kill my faithful soldiers.”
“That's why you are doing this? Revenge?”
“I'm doing this to end the war and improve the standing of my people among both humans and Minbari, and to give me a little leveredge over a Satai and the Shai Alyt.” She answered honestly. “All very practical and planned. But the method? Oh yes Sineval, you are right, this is revenge. I didn't know exactly how I was going to do it but I knew killing you wasn't enough. I had to destroy you in such a way that for the next thousand years your name becomes a synonym for a proud vain idiot.”
She stood straight, her expression gleeful.
“I have destroyed you utterly Sineval along with everything you love and value. Reflect on this as you starve for it is the most perfect torture I have ever inflicted. For the sake of my brothers and sisters you massacred so casually, I have ended you and all you have lived for utterly and irrevocably. This is my retribution, and I will still be smiling over it thousands of years from now.”
*
It was still cold, this far north it always was and the fall of Omelos had only made matters worse. Deathwalker breathed through her mask insulated from the atmosphere of her home, a cruelty she did not particularly approve of. Beside her Fei’nur closed up the building and erased the record of their visit.
“Ambassador G’Kar will inform the Minbari of this soon. He will request a Satai of the Grey Council be present with the Rangers to guarantee the correct result.”
“Very good.” Jha’dur approved. “Then I suppose we should return to the fleet.”
She said the words but did not move, eyes still viewing the dead land.
“Warmaster?”
“There is still hope we can bring this planet back. But science alone won’t do it.” She observed. “Restore the magnetic field, bring back plants, scrub the radiation, all of this we can do over time. But what will stop this happening again? What we do now is the real work, this is how we restore our people.”
“If the Shadows are real and Branmer is right, that an even bigger war is coming, our position is difficult.”
“Extremely.” Jha’dur nodded. “We would be the first to fall,but after this if all goes to plan perhaps we may find ourselves stronger. All I do I do so this world may live. I failed to save it the first time, but I will not fail twice. Even if it takes me a hundred lifetimes I will see my people thriving once again on this world.”
“I do not doubt it Warmaster.”
“Thankyou Fei’nur. Now I believe we have a few billion Minbari to kill. You know that old human saying?”
She grinned wide again.
“No rest for the wicked.”
D
Deleted member
Guest
Oh that was perhaps the very finest of all Jha’dur revengeance moments. And three cheers for Fei’nur showing up in another universe!
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mwkillkenny84
Well-known member
Why I get a Khan Noonien Singh impression from Deathwalker in this chapter (moreso in the very piece I quoted)?
mwkillkenny84
Well-known member
He was a great theatrical villain, playing up a bit is rather fun I think for these type of characters
Thanks for the reply.
I said it because what Deathwalker did to Sineval and his Clan is basically "I did not kill you, no, I did something worse: I made you suffer. And I will continue to do so." on a larger scale than what Khan wanted to do with Kirk.
Damn....Jha'dur is freakin Scary. Loved how Earth also creates instant Car Parks.
