Chapter 15b

Harlock

I should have expected that really
*


“This isn't working.” Captain Anderson ran the numbers with a chill. “Minbari ships are breaking through the second line, just ploughing through and ignoring losses.”

“Not like the Minbari to leave enemies at their back.” Admiral Tennant noted with concern. “He's going all out for Earth, ignoring every other consideration.”

“The fleet can't stop him, relief forces are bogged down.” Anderson noted.

“So it's our turn.” Tennant cracked his knuckles. “Like destiny isn't it?”

“I'd be happier if someone else had nuked them.” Anderson exhaled. “We're ready sir, all weapons and propulsion systems active. We have no fighter cover but it looks like most enemy craft are tied up anyway.”

“We'll intercept this group of vessels about to break through.” Tennant directed. “Catch them from the flank and light them up.”


Tennant's Dreadnought group moved toward the action, engines straining to shift the massive warships, gradually picking up speed as the Ion drives pressed them ahead. They formed into parallel lines, one above, one below, with Captain Black of the Warspite leading one group while the Nemesis led the other, Captain Hague's cruisers offering escort and support.

“Set target.” Tennant ordered. “Minbari warship group, red four zero.”

“Plotting firing solution.” Anderson reported. “Aligning now.”

“Turn to engage.”

In sequence the dreadnoughts made a sharp turn toward Earth matching course and speed with the Minbari ships. As they turned the massive gun turrets swung out, the warships aligning so the guns on the far side could fire over the hull and between the turrets on the near side.

“They've seen us, enemy targeting sensors are locking us!” Anderson warned.

“Too late Boney.” Tennant grinned widely. “Open fire.”


The broadsides were spectacular even for a Nova, the Nemesis and her group engaging with staggered salvoes of pulse and laser fire, the guns alternating for maximum effect on target. Even more vicious was the Warspite group that unleashed capital grade rail gun rounds accompanied by arcs of lightning and burning gas, the giant cannons slamming back into their mounts as the recoil mechanisms battled to stop the gun barrels smashing through the back of the turret.

The Minbari ships had no defence against that level of firepower, the entire flank crumbled in a growing pall of flame and light, the laser and pulse shots eating away the mass of their targets while the rail guns simply cored clean through literally eviscerating the blue warships.


“Heavy damage to initial targets.” Anderson reported. “Switching position for second set of hostiles.”

“More Minbari inbound, they're turning toward.”

“Hold steady, fire when you have a solution.”

“Incoming.” Anderson warned. “Deploying countermeasures.”

The dreadnoughts launched chaff and smoke from their hull mounts creating a sudden dense smokescreen that blinded Minbari sensors and helped diffuse energy weapons. It saved the battlegroup from the full force of the Minbari response but made their own laser weapons virtually useless until they moved clear.

Luckily it had no effect on rail guns.

“Captain Black is engaging again.”

“Good girl.” Tennant acknowledged. “Alter course, prepare for continuous fire as soon as we clear the smoke.”


The hard edged warships cruised through the black smoke like wraiths, wisps of particulate matter streaming behind them as they caught and disturbed the screen. They began firing at once, staggering their volleys this time to maintain a steady pressure on the Minbari vanguard.

The Minbari had been badly mauled but with the threat established they made their response, the formation flowing and altering to present a rapidly reinforced front to the human dreadnoughts. These were far from the finest ships in the Minbari fleet but they were still formidable and Branmer had prepared them well.

Green beams lanced into Tennants fleet, one of Hague's cruisers reeling out of formation belching atmosphere and debris. Earth force retaliated, smashing another half dozen Minbari cruisers that were replaced almost instantly as Branmer redirected as much firepower as he could spare to this clear threat.

A dreadnought fell to several well timed strikes, stripped to its inner hull and then ripped apart by internal detonations. Two more cruisers fell followed by one of the precious railgun armed battleships.


“Heavy fire incoming!” Anderson barked, the Nemesis rumbling as a fusion beam ran down its hull spraying molten armour into space. “Minbari forces moving to flank us!”

“Keep us close to Earth!” Tennant demanded. “Two points starboard, continuous fire all batteries!”

“We're not going to last long without support sir!”

“Continuous fire!” Tennant repeated through his teeth. “We've got nowhere else to run.”

The Nemesis responded, the veteran dreadnought rippling gunfire as she took on four enemy cruisers simultaneously. She survived the response, her hull standing up just barely to the Minbari fusion weapons that gouged and cut her flanks. The damage built moment by moment, her wounds grew, her allies fell aside in flame, but the Nemesis did not flinch in the face of the onslaught streaming smoke and debris behind her.

With the blue Earth behind them the Dreadnought group made their stand before the Tempest.



**



“Reinforcements are due any second!”

“Can we raise them?” Admiral Ferguson called, the entire ship shuddering as the Charlemagne pumped out salvo after salvo.

“Negative sir, comms are jammed!”

The Minbari had gotten smart, in addition to taking an unexpectedly aggressive stance and trying to pin his fleet away from Earth they were also jamming his signals making it impossible to coordinate his forces or link up with General Denisov and the main defence force.

Luckily his fleet knew their business well enough to act independently and fight back on their own, meeting the Minbari head on and pushing back hard. His officers knew that linking up with Earth was their goal and worked towards it, aiding their fellow ships and forming ad hoc battlegroups from any unit close enough to pick up close range communications.

It was working, slowly but surely his units were making progress, they were driving forward, but the Minbari were preventing him from massing his forces for a decisive break through.


The Charlemagne and her escorts hammered a pair of cruisers at short range, the Minbari ships taking a dreadnought with them before they dissolved in flames.

“Enemy forces shifting again, we're having a hard time keeping track of them with all the ECM.”

“Just focus on overwhelming the closest groups, we'll whittle them down one at a time if we have to.” Ferguson ordered. “Try and move us closer to the next group of ships.”

“Aye sir, cruiser group at...Minbari contacts! Dead ahead using debris for cover!”

“Number and type?”

“Capital ships, three, they're locking on!”

“Open fire, don't wait for a solution, barrage fire!”


*


“Enemy flagship has seen us. She's firing.”

“So noted.” Neroon replied icily. “Not soon enough.”

Neroon's command group made their final preparations, gunfire from the Charlemagne scattering around them. Even surprised a Nova was still an enemy not to be faced lightly and Neroon was quietly proud of his new crew as they kept their wits and laid their guns precisely before signalling ready.

“Target locked.”

“Destroy it.”


The Shargotti shrugged off the several pulses that struck it, the heavy armour superior to it's smaller Sharlin class cousins. She opened her gunports, the Charlemagne still turning hard to bring its maximum power to bear, the heavy guns stuttering orange bolts that hammered one of Neroon's escorts. It wasn't going to be fast enough, they both knew it, both knew how this was going to end.

The Heaven's Wrath fired her forward Neutron lances on behalf of every Star Rider that had fallen to human firepower. Her main gun speared the Charlemagne clean through her hull at a shallow angle, fire and molten metal erupting from either side. The veteran warship reeled but didn't instantly explode, the Charlemagne unbelievably absorbing the initial strike from the most powerful Minbari vessel ever created.

The dreadnought was doomed, its reactors were melting through their casings, reactant venting or igniting, the interior decks immolating as oxygen combusted. On the command deck power failed, the deck pitched amid shouts and screams, the thunder of snapping metal and the expanding hull drowning out most noise an instant later.

The Charlemagne and her crew were consumed in fire, but not before Ferguson emptied the capacitors one last time, a final full broadside blasting defiantly from the warship even as it melted away, the two dozen pulses gutting Neroon's nearest Sharlin escort. Ferguson's war ended that instant, but he did not depart without taking a final tribute with him to the gods of war.

The Minbari guns now spoke again, but this time their word was final.


“Human flagship destroyed Alyt.”

“That will hinder their efforts and buy Branmer time to end this.” Neroon nodded. “Well done, all of you, know we face a fierce enemy and you have conducted yourselves as warriors should.”

He took a moment to acknowledge his staff, he had known them mere hours but already he would trust them with his life.

“Now, find me another target.”

“You may have your wish Alyt, jump points forming.”

“The Earth reserves.” Neroon observed dispassionately. “Our duty is clear, prepare to engage.”



**



“Coordinates aligning, we have clear lock on Earth Beacon Prime.”

“Standby for immediate jump.” Sheridan pressed himself down in his chair, the muscles in his jaw contracting as he felt the deck shift momentarily as the destroyer made a final course correction.

“We only have the Athena on our flank, rest of the fleet will be jumping about seventy thousand clicks behind us.”

“We'll take the chance, we need to get these ships into action right now, every second counts.”

“Aye sir.” Commander Carol accepted without further comment. “Tachyon projectors online, initiating vortex.”

“We're jumping head first into hell people, all batteries weapons free, engage any target of opportunity as soon as the sights clear.”

The Agamemnon lunged forward as she made the transition swapping the swirling chaos of hyperspace for the swirling chaos of war. Almost instantly they found two Minbari capital ships dead ahead well within weapons range, A Sharlin accompanying a much larger battleship. Sheridan didn't even need to give the order.

Both the Agamemnon and Athena engaged with every forward weapon, the energy arrays walking red beams over the two targets while the chin mounted energy mine launchers belched their green projectiles at the reacting Minbari.

“Focus fire on the battleship! Take it out before it can return fire!”


Neroon remained upright as his vessel shuddered, the heavy forward armour deflecting most of the energy from the lasers. The holographic display showed two Earth capital ships, ugly machines that looked like they were powered by clockwork. Behind them more ships were arriving but outside effective range, for the moment it was just these two targets.

“Main batteries online, locking both targets.”

Neroon waited, the targeting data displaying on the holographic curtain draped around the flag deck. The Wrath had more than enough firepower to kill both Earth ships simultaneously.

“Incoming! Energy mines!”

“Switch priorities, intercept them!”

Beside the massed fire of Dreadnoughts, Energy mines were the only weapons he feared. Acquired from the Narn who in turn had crudely reverse engineered them from Centauri technology they were barely contained spheres of antimatter that would casually blast through the heaviest of armour and cause catastrophic internal damage. Even if the ship survived the shock of impact would likely rip up decks, crush bulkheads and destabilise reactors. Given how unexpectedly delicate the reactors on a Shargotti had proven to be that was a serious concern.

The range was much too close and the Earth ships managed no less than six mines between them, a saturation strike even his mighty ship could not survive. Neroon subconsciously braced, he had expected this end and did not flinch from it, a true warrior accepted death without hesitation in service of his duty. An instant before impact a blue shape ghosted ahead of his display, the elegant form of his escorting cruiser racing to put itself between the flagship and the barrage of human weapons.

In a final act of heroism the Sharlin took the full force of the Energy mines, simply dissolving in white light. It saved the Wrath but the explosion was still close enough to pelt the battleship with debris and radiation flash boiling the outer armour and shattering its prow cannons.


“Hard to starboard! Clear the debris!” Neroon snarled. “Damage report!”

“Main guns down, targeting sensors fused!”

“Heavy damage to forward armour, multiple breaches!”

“Secondary guns?” He demanded.

“Available, but tracking is down!”

“Switch to manual targeting, return fire!”

The Wrath turned lazily, her flank mounted propulsion fins perforated by pieces of the broken Sharlin. Her forward hull was still glowing in places, white streams of oxygen leaking from a thousand fractures and freezing in the vacuum. Never the less she still had power and she still had teeth. By the time the fireball engulfing her escort dissipated she was ready to make her reply.


“She's still moving!” Carol warned sharply. “Enemy battleship, powering up! Energy spike!”

“Evasive port!” Sheridan barked. “Fire at will!”

Both destroyers turned as hard as they could in opposite directions spitting fire from their secondary guns as they came about. The Minbari replied with a lattice of green energy. While the Wrath had lost her Neutron weapons her secondary Fusion beams were still extremely formidable, each beam gouging deep into the Earth Force armour.

The Athena took the brunt, pitching upwards at the bow as if she'd received an uppercut from a prize fighter. More hits hammered her engines and ripper up her flanks leaving the ship to roll away wreathed in burning atmosphere and molten metal, her crew furiously working to restore control.

The Agamemnon also took damage, her hangar bays collapsing inward and crumpling in a gust of fire.

“Taking heavy fire!”

“Bring us about! Standby time on target!”

“Aye sir, brace for emergency turn!”


With the Athena out of the fight it was now a duel between the two damaged capital ships and the two most celebrated Captains on either side. The Wrath of Heaven was the better ship but she was damaged and her crew rank amateurs compared to the experienced veterans Sheridan commanded. The Agamemnon responded faster, her flank guns peppering the Wrath with particle pulses, each hit gradually attriting the hull.

“Energy spike!”

The Agamemnon threw herself about, the Minbari gun crews slightly behind the curve without their advanced sensors. Even so several hits struck the Destroyer cutting deep into the hull and slicing away a pair of gun turrets.

“Bring us about! Continue firing all batteries!” Sheridan roared over the din of collapsing bulkheads deep in the ship.

“We can't take much more of this Captain!”

“Continue firing!” Sheridan repeated furiously. “Time on target, fire everything we've got!”

The wounded destroyer slewed sharply about to face her enemy, driving hard for the Minbari battleship. Her forward guns engaged in overload capacity, staggering fire between pulse and beam mode, crack and burn as the crews called it. On her flanks the missile silos popped open and launched in sequence, the grey darts ejected in clouds of frozen glittering gas before their engines engaged and looped them in at point blank range. Finally were the energy mines, the massive projectors devouring the last of the magazines with a steady thump.

Space around the Agamemnon glowed, her engines blazing, her flanks streaming burning atmosphere from a dozen hits, every available gun unloading on the Minbari warship as the missiles billowed about the vehement warship a vision of fury unleashed.


Neroon suppressed his awe at the image of retribution bearing down on him, he knew Earth ships were well armed, knew how dangerous they were at close range, and he knew that losing his calm would send them all to the next incarnation before they completed their duty.

“Point defences, final barrier fire! Engage! Prioritise energy mines!”

The Wrath retaliated, pulse guns hammering the mines and the cloud of missiles. Some would get through, it was inevitable, but he trusted his crews to do enough to keep them alive. The ship vibrated as the Agamemnon carved into her already weakened armour, the Earth weapons now cutting deep into the hull blasting through to the inner heart of the battleship. Systems were failing, weapons going off line, power was fluctuating. He had mere seconds to save his command.

“Standby missile batteries.” Neroon ordered, the rarely used weapons hopefully coming as a surprise to their opponent. “Coordinate with remaining Fusion cannons, plot solution and fire.”


“Incoming! Missiles inbound!”

“Interceptors, now!” Sheridan snapped. “This is going to be close!”

The point defences changed targets rotating sharply and spitting fire. The Minbari missiles were incredibly dangerous, a contact hit from the multi megaton devices would end their fight in an instant even if at this range they might just end up taking the Minbari ship with them. It was a desperate move, a daring one, Sheridan had to respect the nerve of his opponent.

The interceptors proved their worth knocking the missiles down despite the incredibly close range. Most were brought down a few miles away but one penetrated the defences, the interceptors grazing it, sending it spinning wildly out of control. It passed just metres from the ship, passing over the stern where it was thrown backwards by the wash from the engines. That was where it detonated.

The pulse of hard radiation killed the Agamemnon's engines, tearing up the propulsion chambers and pushing the ship sharply off course, angling it directly toward the Wrath.


“Evasive action!” Neroon commanded. “Maintain fire!”

“Helm barely responding, our manoeuvring systems are too heavily damaged!”

“Then I suggest we all brace for impact.”

It was a fascinating image, the torn up burning mass of grey metal barrelling down on him, the holographic display making it look like it was aimed directly at him personally rather than the ship surrounding him. The Wrath was turning but too slow, her damage catching up with her. This was not going to be pleasant.


“Emergency power to thrusters! Blow the airlocks, jettison everything!” Sheridan yelled.

The helm officer did what he could, the manoeuvring and docking thrusters melting themselves open and emptying their fuel in a couple of seconds. It tilted the ship a few degrees, enough to turn a direct hit into a glancing blow, but it wasn't going to be enough to stop the collision.

“Sound collision alert, all hands brace!”

Both vessels were moving at a high velocity but the sheer size of the vehicles made the impact look much slower than it really was. The Agamemnon buried its forward port quarter into the Minbari ship, ploughing along its side in a fountain of bent metal and fragmented crystal. Both ships scraped alongside each other absorbing the massive forces involved, distorting and twisting as they snagged and snapped free.

The rotating section on the Agamemnon slammed into the Wrath's main drive fin, crumpling the thinly made propulsion system which in turn dislodged the gravity section from its bearings causing it to grind to a halt. After six eternal seconds the two warships separated and drifted slowly apart, shredded, powerless, connected by a glittering string of debris and frozen atmosphere but still determined to win their vicious duel.


The entire right side of Sheridan's body was numb, he couldn't move his arm and had to physically check in order to make sure it was still attached. Emergency lighting filtered through electrical smoke, the stink of ozone and burnt plastics assailing his senses, the crackle of shorting systems mingling with coughs as his screw scrambled back to their stations.

“Damage report?” He called. “Tell me we hit them as hard as they hit us?”

“Main power down, we're zero gravity.” Carol squinted to make out the details on his partially destroyed console. “No weapons, no propulsion, minimal life support.”

“And that big son of a bitch out there?”

“Hard to say but I have minimal power readings from hostile warship. No sensor locks, no apparent power to weapons.”

“He's dead in space too?”

“Yes sir, but still partially operational.”

“You can bet whoever is in command over there is yelling at his people to restore power so he can finish us. Well like hell I'm going to give that bonehead the satisfaction. We've started this job and we're gonna damn well finish it! Do we have any chance to restore partial main power?”

“Unlikely sir, and even if we did main gun turrets are destroyed.”

“Missiles? Energy mines?”

“Missiles expended but we do have two energy mines remaining, number one launcher looks intact but we have no power to reload.”

“Then load manually.” Sheridan ordered. “You get as many men as you need and you damn well push that mine into the launcher if you have to.”

“Yes sir.”

“Then find a way to turn us around, use the airlocks as thrusters, we need to point that launcher at that ship before he does the same.”

“At this range sir an energy mine detonation is probably going to kill us too.”

“If it takes out a Minbari battleship it'll be worth it. I know I'm asking the impossible but it isn't the first time and I hope it won't be the last. Give me a weapon and point it at the target. We're going to finish this fight.”


*


While the Agamemnon struggled in its own life or death battle the rest of the fleet emerged in force, hundreds of warships hungry for retribution and unflinching in their determination to defend Earth. Defence fleets drawn from Proxima and Mars took station with Admiral Hamato's battle worn elite, brand new ships and crews mixing with twenty year veterans and vessels that had seen combat back in the earliest of humanity's skirmishes. They were a cross section of mankind, every race, creed, background and belief united in this single simple task.

They began to immediately bite into the Minbari line, chewing up Branmer's rearguard and driving the Minbari steadily back, the sheer weight and volume of gunfire hammering the blue lines of alien ships. It took only a few minutes to break through and link up with General Denisov's hard worn defence fleet, the exhausted and battered crews raising a cheer as reinforcements flooded the system.

The tide was turning, Hamato applying immense pressure, but Branmer had predicted this, he knew it was coming and contracted his forces, brought them in closer to support each other and continue to hold against the mass of Earth ships. He had just minutes until his rear guard broke under the offensive, and for Branmer that was going to be just about enough.



“The Minbari are pulling back, setting up a final line.” Jha'dur observed. “A last barrier to protect their bombardment ships and it might work, there's nothing much between Branmer and Earth.”

The Dilgar dreadnought had emerged at the edge of the far flank not far from Sheridan detached from Hamato's main reinforcements. While Hamato and Denisov now faced Branmer the remains of Neroon's forces still battled what was left of Ferguson's still substantial but leaderless fleet.

“Branmer will break the satellite line before Earth Force can stop him. He can do a lot of damage to Earth.” Shai'jhur reviewed grimly. “Antimatter weapons.”

“And if Earth is heavily damaged it robs us of a useful ally and diminishes our influence in the galaxy.” Jha'dur grumbled. “I think we're going to have to do something. The two main human fleets are fully committed to the attack, what about this fleet? Who is in command?”

“Communications show no single commander, the fleet is operating in several independent task forces.”

“The Charlemagne?”

“Destroyed.”

“Admiral Ferguson.” Jha'dur pursed her lips. “Pity, but his death will motivate the Drazi. He was a personal friend of Warleader Stro'kath and you haven't seen fury until you've seen a Drazi avenging a friend. Still, we're in a good position here, we can bypass the main battle and try to reach Earth before Branmer does.”

“When you say 'we' Warmaster...”

“I mean Ferguson's fleet. Do we still have the Earth frequencies?”

“Yes Warmaster.”

“Open a channel, this is going to be an interesting experiment.”


Shai'jhur didn't question the orders, the anticipation electric as tapped a few controls then nodded to her senior officer.

“Earth Forces, sensors show your Admiral and the next three flagships in the chain of command have been destroyed. As senior officer present I am assuming command of this fleet. This is not a request, it is a necessity. I am sure your sensors are telling you who I am and most of you are dismissing these words.

I am Deathwalker, I was once your enemy but today I am here to fight for your world. I hate the Minbari as much as you do, I have my reasons for being here and I will fight with all my ability to drive the enemy away and save your home. You know me, you know my reputation for winning battles, for success despite overwhelming odds. I can lead you to victory as I led others to victory if you will trust me!

I am going to attack the Minbari flank and break through to Earth and I will do it alone if I have to. This is my fight and I will give my life in this battle if that is needed. All I ask is that you follow me, fight with me, I will not ask you to take risks I will not take. This is your home and only by uniting as one force can we save it. I am the best fleet commander in this system, I believe that and I need you to believe it too.

A lot of you will die, I will not lie, but we will succeed, we will save Earth, and your sacrifice will not be wasted. I can win this fight, many of you have seen what I can do in battle, let me lead you now and show the Minbari that old enemies can become new friends! All I ask is for you to follow me.”


She cut the channel with a huge grin.

“That felt good, I always preferred the old scary speech but that really wasn't bad. Did it work?”

“I think so, we're linking into the fleet battlenet, receiving status reports.” Shai'jhur raised a surprised eyebrow. “Earth Force fleet awaiting orders.”

“This is going to be delicious.” Jha'dur steepled her fingers, mind swiftly mapping out a plan. “We need to disengage from these forces, Star Riders by the look. They will try to follow us, leave four groups to keep them busy, buy us time to move.”

“Those four groups won't last long Warmaster. It's suicide.”

“But their sacrifice will let the rest of us drive for Earth.” Jha'dur noted. “It's a Dilgar tactic, perhaps a little ruthless for humanity, but these are desperate times. Give the orders.”

On her word the fleet began to reform, the bulk disengaging while several battlegroups held back the Star Riders. Without Neroon to command them they failed to respond to the sudden change in Earth Force strategy letting Jha'dur gather her force.

“Set course for Earth, maximum speed.” She ordered. “With Branmer busy fighting Hamato we should have no problem breaking through to orbit.”

“I can't believe we're leading an attack to save Earth.” Shai'jhur shook her head. “No one is going to believe this.”

“I've wanted to command an Earth Force fleet for a long time, today wishes come true.” Jha'dur adjusted their angle of approach, vectoring them in on the Minbari flank. “Now I have one of the finest fleets in history at my command waging war with Akira Hamato on one side and Branmer on the other. This is just my perfect day, so let’s try not to spoil it by dying.”




*



“Ferguson's fleet is back on the move, they're disengaging and moving toward orbit.”

Lefcourt diverted his gaze up to the massive display screen looming over the darkly lit room, ranks of consoles manned by grimly focused officers arrayed before it like pews in a temple. From this post deep below Geneva Lefcourt had taken responsibility for the planetary defence grid, the network of satellites, missiles and cannons defending Earth itself along with the warships and atmospheric fighters supporting them.

“Still a lot of Minbari ships up there.” He observed. Denisov's fleet had held its position well, funnelling the Minbari into a single region of space which was now being assaulted by Hamato's newly arrived ships. Even so the Minbari had carved through every defence line despite heavy casualties and were now dangerously close to Earth itself.

“Range to Minbari fleet?”

“Enemy forward elements coming into firing range, satellite platforms ready to fire, ground based railguns ready to fire, ballistic missiles ready to fire.”

“All stations confirm readiness, planetary defence grid fully operational and ready to engage.”

On paper the defences were formidable, the sheer volume of destruction they could unload on an enemy prodigious, but against an enemy like the Minbari there were never guarantees. All Lefcourt could do was his duty and hope the defences could halt the Minbari long enough for Hamato to finish them.

“Activate defence grid, prioritise enemy capital ships, weapons free.”

“Aye sir, weapons free, all systems responding.”

“Begin firing sequence, coordinate strikes for maximum effect.”

“Firing solutions plotted, time on target set.”

The large display screens began lighting up with status symbols showing the cluster of incoming ships being locked onto by dozens of separate weapons systems, the various officers rapidly coordinating the immense variety of weapons.

“Defence grid armed and firing.”


Everything erupted, on sensors across the system a massive surge of energy and fresh contacts and warnings heralded the last barrier between Earth and the Minbari. An entire sky full of satellites started dumping missiles by the thousand into orbit, a growing river of ordnance flowing out from the planet fed by the satellites as they ripple fired missile after missile.

Many of the older satellites had only missiles, old nuclear tipped devices dating back to the era after First Contact, but mixed in where newer constructs armed with pulse cannons, plasma weapons and a handful mounting Narn derived heavy lasers. These added a more direct power to the fight working in conjunction with the missile salvoes to saturate and overwhelm the formidable Minbari defences.

The Minbari were not surprised, they had anticipated this and deployed accordingly. Escorts and heavy warships took point forming a wall ahead of the bombardment units and began systematically erasing the incoming missiles. While vast in numbers the missiles were relatively slow large targets which the Minbari guns cut down in droves, effortlessly sweeping dozens away with each slice of their beams.

The energy weapons were harder to handle, with the long range guns busy dealing with the missiles they couldn't task them with picking off the satellites themselves, the warships had to go full defensive until the immediate threat was passed. To counter those the Minbari released their fighter squadrons, the Nials more than capable of destroying the weakly armoured satellites and clearing the way to orbit for the attack fleet.

Once again though Earth had anticipated this and had its own countermeasures.


“Alpha Wing, all remaining units, move to intercept enemy fighters.”

Sinclair was tired, even under the adrenalin he was tired. A Starfury wasn't the most comfortable experience on a good day but the constant jinking and evasion, the pummeling of gravity and acceleration, the strain of always being alert, always moving, his body was on the edge of exhaustion.

“This is Sun leader, fuel at eight percent.” Warned Shiro, his decorated Fury falling in a hundred metres off Sinclair's wing.

“Six percent here.” Mitchell called in from the other wing. “Most of the other guys are about the same.”

That wouldn't give them long in combat, the constant use of the thrusters would burn through that in ten minutes or so of all out combat and they didn't have the time to dock and refuel. If they couldn't finish the job in ten minutes they'd be dead.

“Understood, try to keep the Minbari away from the satellites and watch their firing lanes. Don't think they'll hold fire just because you drift into the way.”

“Copy that, I have enemy craft inbound, fifty plus.”

“We'll make a start there. Follow me in, maximum thrust.”


The depleted squadrons turned back into the cauldron, scorched and scarred but still unbroken. Facing them was the last wave of the Minbari fighter wings and arguably the best, the units Branmer had held back specifically for this final push. The Earth defence grid was formidable barrier but it had it's weaknesses, it was designed to be used as long range artillery firing past a more mobile defence of ships and fighters. It was lethal against warships but vulnerable to massed fighter strikes, something Branmer had deduced and now exploited.

The strongest parts of the defence grid were underpinned by the six Orion class battlestations at key points in orbit, the ring type stations pumping out prodigious amounts of firepower and making any approach suicidal. The Minbari avoided them and instead threw their fighters at thinner parts of the grid to create a breach follow up units could exploit.


“Fresh contacts burning for the satellite nodes!” Sakai called out the warning as she rolled the heavy Starfury, the cockpit illuminating blue with each flare of the engines.

“Move to intercept!” Sinclair hastily disengaged. “Raptors watch our back, Suns and Ghosts with me!”

The fighters plunged into the thick of the fighting mixing with Starfuries and Minbari craft from hundreds of different units. This was a titanic duel where the usual rules of the dogfight were slipping away. Space was too choked, ECM blinding sensors as the pilots on both sides fought to keep their awareness in the heart of the melee. It was an assault on every sense with attacks appearing from nowhere, confusion reigned as both sides upped the pressure.

Sinclair's unit blew past the closest group of satellites, the grey and blue structures spitting out nukes and pulse cannon shots against the approaching Minbari ships barely visible from the cockpit of a Fury. Several waves of Minbari fighters were closing, tearing through the nearest Starfury wing with surprising coordination and opening a path for a run on the satellites.


“There's our target, stay loose and try to break them up.” Sinclair accelerated, the nearest Minbari craft altering to meet him. “These guys aren't fools, get in close and take them!”

Green beams lashed out to meet him but too far away, he had already anticipated and positioned himself to avoid them, the lights flashing past with a comfortable five or six metres to spare. He held fire, waited until there was no chance of missing, until the Minbari fighter was so close he could see the controls illuminating the face of his opponent, the Minbari looking right at him as he flung his Fury into a sideways pivot to slide past within arms reach. Only then did he fire, so close that evasion was impossible.

“Ghost Leader, Break right!”

Sinclair didn't hesitate, he heard Mitchell's warning and moved at once rolling and dropping as several beams converged on his former position. It was damn close, their current enemy working as a team showing they were clearly professionals.


“Ghost Squad regroup, watch your buddies!” Sinclair threw his fighter about. “Watch the gun satellites!”

The Minbari were doing all they could to reach orbit, their fighter squadrons pushing slowly through the concentrated Earth Force ranks to clear the way for units of Minbari Flyers to exploit any opportunities. The Flyers were strictly utility craft, armed shuttles and transports mainly, but they packed respectable firepower into their frames making them a serious threat to anything to slow to dodge. Like Satellites.

Despite their full efforts the Earth pilots just weren't able to put enough steel between the Minbari and the defence grid, the blue fighters falling in droves but with barely any effect. Starfuries darted across the attack, elderly Belt Alliance fighters and armed shuttles joining in as they could and all taking their toll. The Minbari continued their advance, a mix of brand new Nial and older Tishat fighters striving to keep the Furies back whatever the cost.

Both units were giving all they had, none were holding back, this was building to the critical moment and it was inching toward the Minbari.


“Enemy fighters are inside the Grid!” Sakai spotted blue shapes darting past behind them, a few flashes of green reaching out to smash the closest satellite rupturing it in a burst of red and orange.

“Switch targets, get in closer!” Sinclair responded. “We have to keep those satellites firing!”

They accelerated hard, acutely aware of their fuel situation but having no choice. The weary craft dove in on the nearest Minbari dodging past the flaming wreckage of a missile satellite to fall in behind the enemy. Minbari fighters were fast but not faster than a barrage of pulse cannon shots.

“More coming through!” Mitchell spotted. “They're all around us!”

The Line was fracturing, Minbari fighters pouring through the gaps in coverage. Starfuries did all they could to push back but by this time they were virtually spent. The Minbari were also on the edge of exhaustion but thanks to their superior craft they didn't have to fight g-forces like their human counterparts. They still had the strength to fight on while Earth Force wavered.

“Where's our support?” Sinclair scanned the sensors. “What happened to Raptor Squadron?”

“They're gone! Minbari on all sides!” Mitchell turned hard. “They're locking on!”

“Break!”


The remaining Ghosts and Suns split and scattered before a swarm of Minbari fighters, the smaller Tishat class banking after them. Smaller and lighter than Nial's the Tishat class didn't hit as hard but they were terrifyingly agile. Three Furies vanished in a heartbeat, Sinclair turning with a snarl but only able to claim one Minbari back in vengeance.

“We need to get out of here!” Hanji yelled. “They're everywhere!”

“We've got nowhere left to go.” Shiro replied flatly, his voice calm and resigned. “Rising Suns, pick your targets and I'll meet you again under the blossoms.”

Each fighter made its own attempts to stay alive, each pilot desperate to grab a few more seconds from the Reaper, to try and bring down another Minbari fighter, to lessen the odds for whoever might follow them. Sinclair's unit was the best in the Force but even they couldn't manage odds like this. One by one they met their end, cut down or shredded by neutron and fusion weapons. Around them the satellites fell, rolling out of orbit as each in turn succumbed to attack. The cost was high for the Minbari but they were opening a breach, the gunfire lessened, the remaining bombardment ships reactivated their drives and began to approach again closing the last few thousand miles.


“Ghost Leader, enemies at six, nine and three!”

Mitchell was still calling warnings but it wasn't going to help, Sinclair was frantically throwing the fighter into evasive moves, he was almost fully defensive, his fuel almost gone and cannons at the point of melting shut. All he could see was explosions, every blast a Starfury going up, one of his. People he'd known for years, friends, personalities. The prankster notorious for once filling the toilets with fast foaming soap, sliced to pieces by three Nials simultaneously. The quiet woman who barely spoke off duty but swore like a demon in battle, rammed by a crippled Tishat. The pair who were maybe lovers but nobody ever pried, killed side by side within a few metres of one another.

Their lives and stories were ending and it was so fast, so many years, so much history, joys and sorrows and companionship lost in seconds. His world was ending one life at a time, one second at a time, and he knew, he knew more than anything the one he cared about most was going to be next.


“Sun Four taking heavy fire!” Sakai rolled aside, her wing flickering flame as the wiring burned and crackled from a glancing hit. “I'm losing thrust!”

“Turn right and dive!” Yumi Hanji shouted from somewhere behind her. “You've got eight on you! Trying for a shot!”

“No, get clear!” Sakai twisted. “Three coming in dead ahead, take evasive...!”

There was a nearby explosion and then a fizz of static.

“Yumi, Yumi?” Sakai screamed down the silent radio. There was no answer from her wingman, just an increasing blare of warning signals. She cut the sounds, muted them, like hell that was going to be the last sound she heard. The Minbari were still vectoring in on her, each evasive turn and roll an act of faith, any tactics or plan long since forgotten as her brain just worked on pure instinct.

Her engines spluttered, fuel dried up, her controls becoming unresponsive as the thrusters stopped burning. She rammed the controls in frustration harder and harder, her every emotion welling up as a scream against the injustice of it, against the helplessness, against the enemy who now looked down on her victorious.

It was a final personal moment of defiance, and when she finished and inhaled she had no choice but to make her peace. There was no more fighting, no chance to avenge her friends. Nothing at all. She had just enough fuel to point the nose toward Earth for a last look at the glorious blue of the Pacific ocean below. If that was the last thing she saw then it was fine, that was enough. She exhaled, relaxed, and waited for fate.


Instead her vision was blocked by a battered Starfury, the ugly warplane racing past spluttering gunfire in irregular bursts, its weapons barely functional. The man within flew like a demon, every restriction on him now gone, no more hesitation, no thoughts of preservation or conserving strength. He had only seconds of fuel left and he was going to use every last instant of that time fighting.

The Minbari were not expecting him, not expecting such control from something moving so wildly. Sinclair was burning at full throttle while slinging around in tight turns and hard rolls, the g-forces crushing his body and pushing him toward blackout. He fought it, battled physics as he battled the Minbari, teeth bared and breath forced through his lungs. Raw adrenaline and natural skill were all he had now, that and his final wish to give Catherine a few more moments of life, a final chance for a miracle.


This wasn't a duel, it was a brawl. His guns spluttered, just enough energy was left to pierce a final Tishat that crumpled ahead of him, cracking his canopy with debris. It didn't matter, the Minbari were on him now and ignoring Catherine's powerless Fury. He drew them away, Mitchell somewhere claiming another kill before he too lost energy and began falling toward the planet, still calling warnings to Sinclair who was deaf to everything now. He banked past a lumbering Flyer and snatched it with his Fury's grappling hook as he whizzed by, the cable dragging the enemy off course and fracturing his lower ribs as its mass jolted the Fury.

He threw his plane around still attached to the Flyer and used his captured target to slam into a pursuing Nial destroying both of the surprised pilots. Debris from the collision hammered his fighter cutting the safety features keeping his reactor intact, coolant spraying from a dozen ruptures and freezing in streams behind his wings. Warnings blared but he didn't care, dropping a wing as a Tishat raced by grazing him with green lances before snapping back up at the perfect moment to ram his forward thruster through the clear crystal canopy of the small enemy fighter. He tore his upper left engine off but it didn't matter, one more kill was worth it.

The reactor initiated an emergency shut down, his backups failed, it was over. Around him were five more kills but he wasn't keeping count anymore. All that mattered was Catherine had drifted away from the fighting. She had a chance


The satellites were burning, debris falling past him, Minbari craft slashing past as they widened the gap in the defences. The main Earth fleet was close but not close enough, the battle had turned. He had failed, but he had taken more than his fair share of the Minbari elite with him and for that he found some comfort. He watched a squadron heading his way, setting up to descend on Earth itself, and as they passed by his warning system detected a lock. One peeled aside and turned toward him, a brief distraction for it's pilot and an easy kill for his tally. It was irritating but Sinclair had nothing left. Maybe if it got closer he'd eject and try hit it with his cockpit.

He didn't get the chance. That instant the Minbari fighter exploded, the rest of the squadron soon after in a sudden confused blur of fire. He snapped his head around to see a black and red fighter cruise past, the distinctive tri-engine design of a Dilgar Dart fighter. He'd seen them before but this one caught his full attention, on it's hull it wore a pattern of red triangles. The same markings Sinclair's father had worn on his old Fury during the war with the Dilgar.

“Ghost Leader, Knight Leader.” A voice called him. “Hold position, recovery shuttles on the way. We'll take it from here.”

“Who are you?” Sinclair didn't bother with formality. “Where did you come from?”

“Just repaying a debt to an old friend.” The voice answered. “Knight Squadron will hold here for as long as we can, stay alive Commander Sinclair. I have no intention of losing a second man of your clan.”

“What do you mean? Who are you talking about?”

There was no answer, the black fighter already accelerating hard back into the fray. He watched it's engine glow, followed it as it pulled manouevres he could barely follow with skill only a handful of people possessed. He knew who this pilot was, who it had to be. The Dilgar ace who had killed his father and now for some reason had saved him.

His mind whirled as confusion and exhaustion beset it. The battle moved away leaving him floating among the debris of a thousand lives, some dead, some trapped like him as spectators to the final act of the battle.
 
Chapter 15c

Harlock

I should have expected that really
*


“Pacific sector five, six and eight breached!”

“Can we move assets to plug the gap?” Lefcourt watched with gritted teeth as a swathe of his defences fell red. His muscles were tense, at this point he doubted he was able to hide it.

“Negative General, all fighter squadrons are either down or unable to break off. Enemy capital ships closing.”

“Concentrate everything we have on them, ignore the fighters, kill those ships!”

“Aye sir.”

“Whatever we were holding back, whatever last second miracle or desperate gamble we had. Now's the time.” He didn't take his eyes off the map display, at the red dots of Minbari fighters approaching the atmosphere. “Whatever's left, get it up there.”

The Line had broken, the final defence had failed, Minbari fighters touched the sky and began dropping toward Earth's surface. The remaining Starfuries tried to catch them, the handful of Dilgar squadrons fresh from Jha'dur's warship taking the strain as much as they could and losing their lives one after the other in the process, but it wasn't enough.

“Enemy squadrons have breached the atmosphere over the Pacific, they're dropping toward Guam, Hawaii, Okinawa, all our ground based defences in the region.”

“Alert ground units.” Lefcourt ordered. “It's their job now.”


The final dice were rolled, jet fighters climbing to the heavens on white contrails moving to intercept the Minbari fighters coming from above. It was a poor match up, the Minbari were far faster and could largely ignore the supersonic jets, only those directly in their path received any attention.

The entirely unarmoured jets were sliced apart in an instant, their return fire of missiles and cannon fire largely useless against the well built Minbari vehicles. Some fell but most continued their descent spreading out across the region to take out the ground based rail guns and ballistic missile fields that could still threaten warships.

In some places it was more even, instead of elderly jets or a few ancient Alpha or Delta series aerospace fighters the Minbari ran into Banshee fighters, cutting edge air superiority craft built to support the EA Army. While still slower than the Minbari and unarmoured they carried pulse cannons and had the agility to stay alive at high speeds. They were still outmatched and piloted by green officers but managed to exact a toll on the enemy.


The Banshee units tended to be deployed near major population centres, the squadrons fighting with suicidal ferocity and courage over Honolulu, Southern Japan and Northern Australia. They had no idea if the Minbari were going for cities but fought as if they were, intercepting a salvo of anti matter missiles aimed for Pearl Harbour and the pair of anti ship rail guns deployed there.

Elsewhere the Minbari had the edge, sweeping in over the ocean waves with just feet to spare, warships spraying bullets and saturating the incoming units with ripple fired missiles to mixed effect. Large as they were the Naval destroyers and frigates were completely defenceless before even fighter grade beam weapons, the Minbari cutting through them in gusts of fire to attack the floating gun batteries or island based weapons they guarded. A storm of gunfire rose to meet the attack, but Earth's land based weapons were built to fend off rogue human nations, not a concentrated attack by advanced aliens.

The guns began to fall silent, the gap in the defences widening. The Minbari warships approached, by now just a handful but even one would be enough to inflict untold damage. They closed in on orbit, their goal to get underneath the satellites and enter the skies themselves. A last few fighters tried to intercept them only to be cut down in short order, a lone Belter corvette sliced apart as it offered what meagre resistance it could.

Earth sat before them, its shield broken, the Line fractured, its defences burning. There was nothing between the bright blue world and the agents of its ruin. No fleet, no hordes of fighters, no battery of guns or swarm of missiles.

Just one man in a grass skirt.



*



“The Pacific Defence Sector is collapsing, satellites are down and ground based defences are getting shot to pieces.” Captain Anderson delivered the grim news with all due severity. “Earth Station Five is under heavy attack, we're down to three percent Starfury strength in the sector.”

“Where's the main fleet?” Admiral Tennant demanded.

“Both still pushing against the Minbari rearguard, they are making progress but not fast enough. They won't breakthrough in time.”

It was a dire situation and there was no escaping from it. The fixed defences had broken, the mobile forces were bogged down, only Tennant's forces were in position to do anything about it as the final line of defence. Unfortunately his fleet had been taking the brunt of the Minbari drive for Earth and at this point was all but annihilated.

“How are we looking Captain?”

“We're down to two ships, this one and Warspite.”

“Where's Hague's cruisers?”

“Captain Hague is heavily engaged on the flank, he's holding back the Minbari escorts.” Anderson highlighted on the sensor display. “He's keeping them from linking up with the bombardment group.”

It was critical work, if Hague broke the Minbari could send several additional frigates to back up the Sharaal class Warcruisers making for Earth greatly enhancing their strength. Right now the bombardment group consisted of just five cruisers, the rest of their force cut down by the human defences and fighter wings.


“Just five ships left.” Tennant exhaled. “We can do this. We can take them.”

“Sir, we've taken massive damage, two thirds of our weapons are down, we have hull breaches everywhere and the reactor is running at nearly two hundred percent. We'd be lucky to take one cruiser, let alone five.”

“We're not doing it alone.” Tennant tapped his console. “Captain Black, status?”

“Admiral, we're not doing good.” The answer came through from the Warspite hanging in space nearby. “Heavy damage to all sectors, we still have some guns but we're down to about thirty rounds total.”

“Understood Captain. Are you able to follow us in for one last attack?”

“If we have to get out and push we'll be right there on your flank Admiral.”

The old warrior grinned widely, moved by the dedication of his colleagues.

“Copy that Captain, we're going to sweep in and get between them and Earth, we'll be in the gravity well so burn those engines as hard as you can. Get in close, shred them at point blank range, that's it. Kill these five ships and there's nothing else close enough to threaten Earth. Win this and we've nailed it.”

“Aye sir.” Black answered. “On your word Admiral.”


“Five Warcruisers armed with antimatter weapons.” Anderson made sure the situation was entirely clear. “Against two barely functional Dreadnoughts.”

“If we don't they've got a clean shot at China, Japan, the Western US, Australia.” Tennant listed. “And my house too. Hundreds of millions of people Captain, these two battered ships are the only hope they've got.”

“I know sir, just making sure that when we get our next set of medals everyone knows exactly how impressive our deeds were.”

“That's the spirit.” Tennant chuckled. “This will be quite the trick if we pull it off. Even if we don't all we have to do is delay them until backup breaks through.”

“I don't think they'll be much left of us either way.”

“A ship like the Nemesis never dies Captain, you can't kill a legend. You just force it to reincarnate into an even nastier form. Whatever happens next our legacy lives on, if this is our last act let's make it a miracle to inspire whoever follows us.”

“All remaining guns standing by Admiral, we have eighty percent on engines, reactors are in the red but holding for now.”

“Plot your course under the defence grid, relay the data to Captain Black.” Tennant ordered.

“Set sir.”

He allowed a smile, the accumulation of long years of duty and dedication, of pride in his ship and crew who had never failed to answer the call no matter how dangerous or suicidal.

“One last time. Hit it.”



With a growl the throttles opened, four great engines burning brightly as the Nemesis began her acceleration. The hull rattled and shuddered, the drives strained and grumbling. Pieces of shattered hull shook loose from dozens of impacts, long cuts and tears in her flanks allowing wisps of cold air to trail behind the gnarled dreadnought as she picked up speed. Wounded but still intent the Nemesis arced across the sky dropping close to the sphere of the Earth to help shield her from long range fire.

In position beside her Warspite was also struggling, her engines spluttering and leaking coolant as she skimmed the gravity well. Like the Nemesis she was barely holding together, her entire forward hanger assembly crushed inward from ramming a Minbari Frigate. Fires still glowed from within as she leaked air and fuel, her crew too depleted to run damage control.

The Minbari ships slowed a little, their scouts warning them of the incoming Earth ships. They orientated to face the threat, the flanking ships swatting a few random missiles out of the sky as the remnants of the local defence grid still engaged sporadically. What had been a major task force was now down to just these five ships, most of them sporting some level of damage. They were still operational but their Captains were by now fully aware that even if they succeeded in their task there would be no escape. Trapped between Earth and a vengeful Earth Force this would be their final act before death and they embraced it.

None of the ships lining up, human or Minbari expected to still be in one piece a minute from now. But if they could do their jobs first, finish their assigned tasks, then it was worth something. The hopes of Earth and of Minbar conglomerated in this one corner of space, this handful of desperate ships and lives. Within seconds the course of the war, and the future, would be set.



“Closing range, engines at overload status!” Anderson warned.

“Standby barrage fire.” Tennant ordered. “Captain Black, we'll go in first. Once we clear the curvature of the Earth engage any target you can. We'll finish whatever is left up close and personal.”

“Got it, rail guns loaded and set for close range saturation fire.”

“Coming up on target group!” The sensor officer called. “Fifteen seconds!”

“...So stand to your glasses steady, for it is all we have left to prize....”

“Ten seconds!”

“Raise a toast to the dead already...”

“Five!”

“And here's for the next to die.”


The Minbari fired first and a touch too early, their initial volley shaving just over the EA ships, only one beam striking the Nemesis in a flash of antimatter annihilation. She lurched but held steady, surviving guns making final adjustments and breaking into a storm of pulse cannon fire.

The Minbari ships were strong, but also more than two centuries old and not so powerful as their more modern Sharlin class cousins. The nearest ship weathered the storm for a few moments, orange particle pulses hammering the hull shattering crystal and sending bright debris showering in all directions.

“Port ten degrees!” Tennant roared over the shuddering bulkheads and deck. “Keep that ship between us and the others!”

The Nemesis tilted as the thrusters burned hard throwing the ship into a turn, the enemy fire slackening as they pulled their shots for fear of hitting an ally. Tennant put a few more shots into the nearest Sharaal to knock out it's weapons and then left it as the spaceborne equivalent of a human shield.


At the same time the Warspite crested the horizon and banked in the opposite direction from the Nemesis looking to split Minbari attention in two directions. It largely worked, the four remaining Minbari ships logically enough assigning two cruisers per Dreadnought.

“Hard about!” Captain Black roared. “All guns fire as you bear!”

“Forty degrees starboard, Maximum deflection!” Commander Kawoo specified, her black hair slick with blood. The control room of the Warspite was smashed, its bulkheads bulging from damage to the warship's internal frame. The lights were mostly out, a giant steel beam obstructed the centre of the room and the air was heavy with smoke.

“Enemy locking on!”

“Launch all remaining missiles, give them something else to think about!”

Both sides engaged at the same time, at this distance no one was going to miss. The Warspite pelted all four enemies with rail gun rounds, the hypervelocity shots coring through the Minbari hulls with negligible resistance. In turn a pair of green beams danced across the dreadnought focused on its weaponry, shearing off the massive gun turrets and methodically stripping the warship of its teeth.

“Hull integrity down to five percent!”

“Hold course, fire while we can!”

Missiles rippled from the flanks causing a sudden shift in Minbari priorities and taking pressure off the battered warship for a few moments, the Warspite coughing out it's last few shots into its targets. One Minbari ship broke apart, weakened enough that it failed to stop the nukes heading for it, the other three took damage but held steady.


“Starboard twenty!” Tennant called out as the Nemesis broke cover. “Straight through the middle! Give it everything we've got!”

With as much speed as a burning steel brick could still manage the Nemesis flung itself at the last three cruisers who were still reeling from the Warspite. They responded at once fully expecting an attack from the second human ship, but the missile barrage had done enough to force them out of position and only one ship was able to bring it's primary gun into arc.

The green beam cut deep, shearing thousands of tons of metal from the front of the Nemesis, splitting open the forward hull in sheets of fire. The dreadnought retaliated in kind punching back with a point blank salvo that exploited the breaches and cracks inflicted by the Warspite. The shattered hull around the rail gun impacts cracked further under intense pressure, the weak points causing the otherwise tough armour to just crack apart like a flawed diamond.

“Switch targets, brace for impact!”

The fragmenting cruiser pelted the Nemesis with wreckage, most of it bouncing off but some larger pieces snagging on the torn metal of her flanks. She turned to stay in the fight, a last few shots from the Warspite helping before a flash of antimatter silenced the guns of the sister dreadnought. The Nemesis used the confusion to kep up the attack, catching the next cruiser and timing it's rounds to hit simultaneously with the Warspite's last salvo. The combination of kinetic and energy impacts was too much, the third cruiser tilting away in flames leaving just one left.


“Last target, she's turning toward!”

“Where's Warspite?” Tennant glanced quickly over his shoulder toward the sensor display.

“She's out of munitions and moving to ram.”

“Let's kill this last son of a bitch so she doesn't have to!”

“Weapons online!” Anderson bypassed a smany systems as he dared to get energy to the cannons. “Enemy ship is aiming for us, energy spike!”

“Brace for contact!”

The Nemesis charged into the guns of the warcruiser, the Minbari ship opening up with all it's surviving weapons. Like it's sisters it had been weakened by several rail gun hits introducing cracks and flaws into it's armour but it was still operational and fighting fiercely. The Nemesis took the hits head on, the vessel shuddering as it absorbed vast amounts of damage. The ship was legendarily tough, it had been specifically designed to absorb damage as it closed on a target but there were limits and as the entire forward quarter of the ship was ripped away those limits were reached.


“We're losing our weapons, forward guns are gone!”

“What have we got left?”

“Not much, three turrets still responding!”

Despite her damage the Nemesis replied, lashing out but with rapidly failing strength. She scarred the warcruiser, blasting part of the hull away but with only a few guns left she just didn't have the volume of fire anymore to end it quickly enough. The Minbari ship changed targets, its beams tracing the hull and seeking out the last gun batteries.

“She's taking out our guns!” Anderson shouted over the cacophony of battle, the entire ship rumbling under impacts and squealing as metal twisted and split.

“Cheeky bastard!” Tennant gritted. “Fine, we do it the hard way, set collision course and run her up to ramming speed!”

“Aye sir!”

They shifted direction again, the Minbari ship shaving off the last of the Nemesis' gun turrets. By now the Dreadnought wasn't much more than a set of engines and a shattered hull half masked in flame, and yet she still pressed on, still answered commands. If the ship truly had some sort of spirit then she was fighting to the absolute end.


“She's going to flinch.” Tennant stared down the image of the Minbari ship on the crackling viewscreen as if his intensity alone would swing the battle. “She's going to dodge.”

The ship took another hit, something massive breaking deep within the hull.

“That was the keel, we're only held together by the wreckage at this point.” Anderson winced. “Main engines failing.”

“It'll be enough, they're going to break.”

“And if they don't?”

“We still win, we just can't brag about it.” The Maori grinned. “They aren't Warrior Caste, they don't have that pride. They'll move.”

Almost perfectly on his word the warcruiser began to turn, still firing beams but clearly intent on getting out of the way.

“That's all we needed, stay with her.”

“We're still going to ram?”

“Yes, but not the hull, go for the big fin on the back.” Tennant pointed. “And get the last of nukes in the rear tubes.”


It was a big target, the drive fin mounted to the rear of all Minbari ships was the main method of propulsion, on a war cruiser it was almost as large as the main hull itself. Nemesis raced for it absorbing a few more hits from the secondary guns of the Minbari ship as it turned sharply. At this point the extra damage was largely superficial, there was little else to destroy beside the control deck and the reactors and they were still hidden behind hundreds of thousands of tons of molten hull. It was reckless and it took someone like Tennant to even try it, but with unavoidable certainty the wrecked Dreadnought zeroed in on the weak point of the warcruiser, the shattered front end hitting the thin crystal like a hammer hits glass.

“Now, launch the nukes, launch anything!”

The Nemesis reeled away, the Warcruiser starting to roll out of control but still fully armed. As she broke contact the Nemesis fired a handful of missiles from her aft missile racks, not many but at just a couple of kilometres every last one hit in a flash of nuclear light. The Minbari ship was immolated, the Nemesis jolting wildly as she caught some of the energy pulse herself. Given her damage it went largely unnoticed.

“That got it!” Tennant cheered, slamming his hands down on the sides of his chair. “Great work people, they're not going to forget that one!”

“Altering course, moving out of orbit.” Anderson shifted the controls, the deck shifting as she shifted direction. “I'll get us clear of the gravity well then shut down.”

“Good thinking, it'd be embarrassing if we fell out of the sky and flattened a small town somewhere.” The Admiral linked into the communications. “Captain Black, still in one piece over there?”

“Aye sir.” The reply came through weakly, both ships barely operational. “Life support is failing, we'll need to evacuate once we're clear of orbit.”

“Understood Captain. Anything on scanners?”

“We're the only ships within fifty thousand kilometers.” Anderson reported. “A few fighter units but they seem to be pulling back.”

“You hear that over there Captain?”

“I did sir.” Black confirmed. “I'll begin sending crew to the life pods, leave the hull for the salvage teams.”

He acknowledged and ended the signal. “We might need to move some crew off. I'll stay aboard until the recovery teams secure the ship and tow us to a safe location.”

“Orbital Command sends their thanks sir.” Anderson relayed. “General Lefcourt is offering you a freight car of whatever your favourite drink is.”

“Bitter Minbari tears.” He grinned savagely. “I think we have plenty today.”


*


Branmer simply nodded as the report came in, burying any grief he felt for the lives lost until a later time. His view was filled with ships, by now mainly Human, though his forces were putting up a fierce fight. Blue ships darted back and forth fighting a mobile defence, exchanging a few shots and then repositioning to avoid major retaliation. It kept his ships from being overwhelmed but also meant he couldn't really hold any ground.

“Many fine Minbari gave their lives driving for Earth, but not in vain.” He intoned. “They have broken the defences, cleared away the human ships, but fell before they could reap the full glory of their accomplishments. Their names will not be forgotten.”

“Of course Shai Alyt.”

“And their tasks shall be completed. Send in the reserve.”

“Sending orders.”

“The victors in such battles are often those who play their cards last. The humans were so hasty to jump into battle it seems they didn't properly scan hyperspace. I can't blame them for such an oversight, but it has worked out well for us.”

“Orders acknowledged Shai Alyt.” His aide reported. “Reserves are jumping now with orders to attack Earth.”

“Make sure they hit only designated targets.”

“I will confirm it.”

“We must maintain our honour. After that begin jump preparations, all remaining ships will withdraw back to friendly space.” He frowned. “Is Neroon still in contact?”

“His ship is heavily damaged but active.”

“Get a frigate out there, tow him all the way home if needed.”

“At once Shai Alyt.”

“They put up a good fight, a worthy battle.” Branmer gave a nod of respect to his opponents. “But they were always one step behind.”


*


“Jump points in Sector Four!”

Lefcourt saw the massive wall displays immediately light up and blare warnings.

“Who is it? Reinforcements?”

“No IFF, They came out of nowhere, must have been right on the edge of the beacon.”

“Our ships can't get that far out.”

The swirling ruptures dropped a squadron of fresh Minbari warships into space, in this case not the huge Warcruisers of the core fleet but smaller Tigara class attack cruisers. A middle ground design like a hybrid of the smaller Tinashi and larger Sharlin the Tigara was formidably armed with anti matter weapons and an exceptionally strong hull designed for close range brawls. Fourteen of them deployed into combat formation and began their last advance on Earth, space around them completely empty beside the debris of their predecessors.

“What's left in range?” Lefcourt asked.

“A few squadrons, maybe a couple of light ships. Not enough.”

“What about Tennant?”

“His ships are reporting out of action and he's in the process of evacuating crew.”

“Closest allied force?”

“A unit being led by Deathwalker. But it won't be here soon enough.”

“So it's up to her to minimise losses down here? Fate's taking the piss with that one.”

“She'll arrive before they can move from initial targets, but we're looking at major damage to the Pacific bordering nations.”

“Send whatever ground based aircraft we can to the area, use of nukes within the atmosphere is authorised.” Lefcourt took the final desperate step. “Pray the damage is worth it.”


*


“Fourteen ships, heavy cruisers.” Captain Anderson gave the bad news. “They're on approach.”

“Even on our best day we couldn't take all of them.” Tennant grimaced. “Not heavy cruisers like that.”

“And this is a long way from being our best day now.” Anderson shook his head. “We've got nothing, I doubt we'll even get into position to ram, engines are barely making ten percent thrust.”

“Captain Black, are you seeing this?”

“Yes Admiral, fourteen enemy cruisers.” The sister ship replied. “I'm sorry Admiral, we've exhausted all weapons. I'm ready to attempt a ramming attack but I don't think we'll get close.”

“Same here Captain, we can take on or two more hits, they'll burn us down the second we enter range.”

“I'll give the order anyway, evacuate all remaining crew.”

“So will I. Stay in touch Captain.” Tennant turned back to his own Captain. “Alright, nothing else for it, lay in a collision course and abandon ship.”

“Yes sir, maybe a bit of us might dent one of their hulls.”

“Might as well be optimistic.”


The alarms began to sound, the two crippled battleships turning to set course for the new Minbari units, escape pods shedding from the shattered hulls as the last few pulses of power fed into the engines.

“I'll take it from here Captain.” Tennant nodded. “Go get to a pod.”

“Like hell.” Anderson shot back angrily. “I mean... no sir.”

“It only takes one person to steer the old lady, this is my ship Captain, always was and always will be.”

“With respect, you don't get to just go off and die like that. Set her on automatic.”

“Not good enough, the system is smashed and I may need to make course changes when the Minbari evade.”

“This ship will be dead long before it gets that close.”

“Have a little faith in the Lady Nemesis.”

“She's done us all proud sir, but this is the end.”

“Look Simon...”

“Admiral.” He cut his superior off before he could speak. “If the Nemesis was real she'd want you to live on and avenge her.”


The old Admiral sighed, his long serving subordinate was right. Even with the best will in the world they wouldn't get close enough to even try to hurt the Minbari. He had no hesitation in sacrificing his life for Earth, but to do so without achieving anything was a waste of resources.

“Alright Simon, get to your pod, I'm not going to throw my life away.”

“Good, there will be a new Nemesis one day, she'll need a crew and a commanding officer.”

“I'll set the course, open the engines and time the reactors to blow. See you Earth side.”

“Yes Admiral.” Anderson nodded, finding a smile. “This was a hell of a ship.”

“The next one better live up to the legacy. We'll see that she does.” Tennant grinned. “Go on, get gone, this won't take a minute.”

The Captain took his leave for the last time, pushing himself in the zero gravity along corridors who knew better than hi s own home. Tennant made his own final preparations routing all remaining power to the engines. Weapons, life support, jump drives, hanger deck functions. He paused. Jump drives.

“Captain Black, Warspite, still there?”

After a moment the answer came.

“Still here Admiral, the last of the crew are evacuating.”

“Captain, do you still have Jump drives?”

“I think so.” There was a moment as she checked. “Yes sir, they still have power but are unstable. I was planning to detonate them if I get close enough, I could take out two, maybe three ships if they are in close formation.”

“Can you form a vortex?”

“Yes sir, but we'll only be able to hit one ship with that, too dispersed.”

“That's not what I'm thinking Captain.”

“I don't plan on using it to go anywhere.”

“Won't be for us Captain, we're going to give that whole fleet a short trip straight to hell.”


It took a few more moments before Black realised the plan.

“You're going to open the jump points on top of each other.”

“The Dilgar tried it in one of their battles, we called it the Bonehead Manouevre.”

“Because only someone with no brain would try to pull it off.” Black remembered. “The energy release would smash any ship within a few thousand kilometres, heavily damage anything out to about thirty thousand klicks.”

“Including the ships that opened the vortex. Which in this case would be us Captain.”

“Us and fourteen Minbari cruisers.”

“It might not work, and we can't set it on automatic because the safety systems would cut the tachyon stream if it detected an existing jump point. Captain, I can't make this an order but...”

“Send me the coordinates Admiral.” Black answered confidently. “There's nothing else that can realistically work. I'll see it done, my crew has evacuated by now.”

“Understood Captain. And thank you.”

“The Warspite is barely holding together, I can't give you more than a few seconds before the engines detonate.”

“It'll be enough Captain. Move into position and stand by, coordinates on the way.”


Both ships turned on their final journey, spluttering drives giving them a final nudge away from Earth and toward their targets. It was closer than Tennant liked but they didn't have much choice, it would have to be far enough. With undimmed defiance the ships and their last commanders lined up side by side, charred and scorched but still undaunted defenders of their home.

“Jump system online.” Captain Black informed. “On your word Admiral.”

“No time like the present.” Tennant settled down in his command chair, the ship empty and quiet, something he'd never really experienced before. The Nemesis had always been a lively ship with a bright atmosphere, this silence really did feel like the life had left her. But not quite all of it.

“Was a pleasure to serve beside you Captain, you gave them hell.”

“We're not done with them yet.” Black answered with a slight chuckle. “I couldn't have asked for a better fleet to join sir. Seeing you in action with the Lady Nemesis was worth it.”

“We all made a good team.” Tennant spoke truthfully. “Let's get it done Captain, keep the wolves from the door one last time.”

“Aye sir, jump point activating.” Black informed. “I'll save you a seat by the bar in Valhalla.”

“First round is on me Captain. I won't be far behind.”


The Warspite initiated a jump point at extreme range a few hundred kilometres distant, immediately fire jetted from her flanks as the energy draw blew out all of her cooling systems and power feeds. The Jump engines went into meltdown pumping more energy through the shattered tachyon shunts making the jump point unstable. It didn't really matter, no ship was going to reach it anyway, but the feedback began to shake the Dreadnought apart. The vortex was far enough away from the Minbari that they didn't immediately see the threat, it was only when the Nemesis also began to form a vortex that they tried to break and run. By then it was of course too late.

“Alright you Grand Old Lady.” Tennant activated the tachyon projectors. “Let's make sure no one comes close to your kill tally.”

The Nemesis opened her own jump point beside that of the Warspite, the two vortexes colliding and drawing themselves toward each other. They began to tangle with each other, to merge into a ferocious miasma of light and tumbling energy that grew and rippled with unimaginable violence.

The Warspite fell first, the ship dissolving in flames as the reactors went up. It was a clean end for a proud ship, it's jump point by now sustaining itself with energy drawn from hyperspace.

“God speed you Pirate.” Tennant saluted Captain Black as his own ship began to disintegrate, the bridge beginning to physically twist before his eyes as hull sections gave way.

He smoothed down the grass skirt he always wore to battle, the traditional Piupiu a gift from the members of his Maori village back home. It had brought him a lot of luck, it had to run dry sooner or later.

“Well then, let's hope Valhalla doesn't have a dress code.” He smiled widely. “Time to die as we lived old girl, surrounded by screaming victims.”



*


The flicker of the Nemesis' reactors exploding was lost before the maelstrom of the collapsing jump points, the two tears in reality finally falling in on themselves and releasing titanic amounts of raw energy into the region. The Minbari ships were a fair distance from the catastrophe bit it didn't matter. They were blown aside like dry leaves ahead of a hurricane, entirely helpless in the face of the unrelenting storm.

The event signalled the unquestioned end of the battle, both sides had rolled the last of their dice and despite massive losses Earth had held out. With no other means to strike Branmer gave the final withdrawal order, his ships laying down a final salvo of missiles to cover their retreat into hyperspace.

The exhausted human ships let them go, there was no means to give chase, what mattered was simply securing the area and recovering survivors. The tattered fleets united and established a fresh defensive position just in case the Minbari had other plans. Fortunately they did not.

It was over.


The light of the collapsing vortexes was clearly visible from Earth, even in the afternoon sky it stayed there for several minutes a temporary star shining in both victory and mourning. The skies danced with aurora, greens, reds and blues rippling and fading as remnant energy from the event was redirected by the magnetic field in a dazzling and captivating display.

It had been a bloody day, but it also demonstrated that Earth was not so easily broken. The Minbari had thrown all they had, their biggest fleets, their best leaders, the pinnacle of their strategy, tactics, courage and sacrifice. They had given all they had and yet Earth remained.

The Minbari were all but spent. This had been their final real hope of victory and it had been stopped just barely short of success. They had come within a hairs breadth of succeeding, but had ultimately failed. Now the impetus shifted, the balance of power swung away from Minbar and toward their human enemies.

Battered, bloody but unbowed Earth Force marshalled it's surviving fleets, alerted it's armies and strengthened its will. It was time to go on the offensive and bring the war to Minbari space itself.
 

mwkillkenny84

Well-known member
“Good, I hate long waits.” Admiral Tennant returned blithely. “Everything switched on and angry?”


Sorry, but I was under the impression that every single component of the Nemesis was like a honey badger: they were always angry.

EDIT:

Edited the post to reflect the fact that the Nemesis and the Warspite did go down in a way that would have made a Klingon proud.
 
Last edited:
Awesome battle!

I have been wondering about the lack of telepaths though. I know there hasn’t been much for them to do, but they’re a big part of the setting and their absence has been noticeable.
 

Harlock

I should have expected that really
that is very true, I think I may have something for them in a chapter or two.

Bester should be wandering around, I am sure this war concerns him a bit :)
 

Spartan303

In Captain America we Trust!
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Osaul
that is very true, I think I may have something for them in a chapter or two.

Bester should be wandering around, I am sure this war concerns him a bit :)


Wasn't he doing intel field work with EIA or perhaps PsyCorps own ops?
 

Silverbullet

Active member
I’ve always wondered what if Earth Force Telepaths were used to sense out Minbari. Like a cybered up Telepath who acted as the ships “brain” kind of line Melfina from Outlaw Star.
 

Spartan303

In Captain America we Trust!
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Osaul
I’ve always wondered what if Earth Force Telepaths were used to sense out Minbari. Like a cybered up Telepath who acted as the ships “brain” kind of line Melfina from Outlaw Star.


Hyperspace is said to have enhanced telepathic abilities to the point Telepaths could sense Minbari ships. But they kept that fact to themselves as it would means Telepaths would be put on warships. PsiCorp buried it as they didn't care about mundanes dying in droves so long as it wasn't them.
 

Harlock

I should have expected that really
its a good idea, especially as we know high end telepaths could do something similar. It is feasible to explore. I'd guess you'd need either a Teep not in the Corps, or some of the leadership in the Corps shakes loose of the nastier elements and deploys its high end assets for the greater good.

I can imagine a vast majority of telepaths volunteered for service, but canon offers us little regarding what they did. I expect most would happily served on the lines, despite Bester's views of teep supremacy I think most just called themselves human and would have bled for Earth with their regular brothers and sisters.
 

Flintsteel

Sleeping Bolo
Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
Mostly amazing. I say mostly because you made a big deal about Deathwalker grabbing her dream command of an EA battlegroup, for the mad dash of ultimate irony of saving Earth, and then didn't use it. Unfired Chekov's Guns stand out.
 

Trace Coburn

BattleTech Starfighter Analyst
That it does, but I don’t see Miss Psycho Kitty wasting the inherent opportunity, either. Even if they don’t let her keep that command beyond the immediate battlefield exigency, she still commanded an EA taskforce in the pivotal battle of the Earth-Minbari War. That gives her legitimacy and standing with the EA, and she’ll use them with great judiciousness. Deathwalker she will always be, but now she’s bound her fate to Earth with fire and blood, and much as they’d love to be rid of her, they can’t renounce her now.
 
D

Deleted member 1

Guest
That it does, but I don’t see Miss Psycho Kitty wasting the inherent opportunity, either. Even if they don’t let her keep that command beyond the immediate battlefield exigency, she still commanded an EA taskforce in the pivotal battle of the Earth-Minbari War. That gives her legitimacy and standing with the EA, and she’ll use them with great judiciousness. Deathwalker she will always be, but now she’s bound her fate to Earth with fire and blood, and much as they’d love to be rid of her, they can’t renounce her now.

Exactly, even if all she really did was order one blocking detachment into place and then reposition the rest of the fleet to a material advantage, those two orders had a major contribution to the success of Earth in defending herself, and the presence of the Dilgar can't be ignored or denied any longer, which has tremendous consequences with the League and also, of course, with Dilgar-Human relations.
 
Mostly amazing. I say mostly because you made a big deal about Deathwalker grabbing her dream command of an EA battlegroup, for the mad dash of ultimate irony of saving Earth, and then didn't use it. Unfired Chekov's Guns stand out.

^

I have to admit I was really looking forward to Deathwalkers finest hour being her saving Earth, leading Earths ships in an absoloutly glorious battle. Showing Jha’dur at her tactical genius best as she exalts in the moment on about six different levels. A whirlwind of destruction and professionalism simply having too much damn fun given the stakes. Or Ari racing through the battlefield in awe of Sinclair Jr's skill even above his own or the originals. Perhaps getting an Ari level of mild snark in as he saves the Space Race in passing or something, tweeking Paul just so...

Culminating of course in Deathwalker taking a typically smug moment to smile as her flagship puts its spinal lasers through Sinevals head when she notices his ship, making sure he doesn't say anything stupid to the Grey Council :)

I do like the changes you've made, I'll have to read through it more carefully though from the start. Shai'jhur looks like an interesting character.


But in all honesty, I'm just gleefully bouncing up and down because you've continued this. I mean, I only re-read this a few months ago and now ... the story continues!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top