From: "Inquisitor Gary Boshears" Subject: Darkness Wakes Chapter 7 Part 1/2(maybe) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 18:28:14 -0600 Here is the first and possibly the last part of Chapter 7. I'm not sure if I'll write more in this chapter or not. Spoiler warnings and disclaimers in previous chapters. IAS Victory--Victory(White Star) Class Destroyer War Zone Kappa-Narn Territory February 12, 2272 1230 EST Captain Edward MacDonald sat silently in the Captain's chair of the Victory. The Keilmar attacks in this area, at least for now had stopped. The Victory's battle group, consisting of 5 Narn G'Quon heavy cruisers, 3 frigates and seven White Star gunboats, waited on the border. "Sir," Commander Connor MacKenzie said from the left side of the bridge. "We're getting a signal from Intel, they say that a number of Keilmar supply ships are going to be passing through this area soon. They're carrying weapons, possibly weapons of mass destruction. We're to cross the border and destroy them." MacDonald stood and turned to face his Executive Officer. "Authenticate the orders, tactical, begin scanning for any Keilmar ships." The two officers went to work carrying out the orders. "Message verified Captain." "We're picking up a convoy of over two dozen transport ships, not far away, no escorts." The tactical officer said skeptically. "What?!?" MacDonald said rushing to examine the sensor display. The tactical officer was correct, not a single military ship escorting the convoy. "What do we do sir?" MacKenzie asked. MacDonald sat back down in the Captain's chair. "Tell the Narns and the White Stars we're headed out, set an intercept course for the convoy, prepare to jump." The Keilmar transports did not appear at all worried when the Victory's battle group jumped out of hyperspace behind them. They continued moving forward, there small amount of defensive weapons did not even power up. "I don't understand sir, they're just sitting there." MacKenzie commented. MacDonald looked forward at the ships. "Let's not ask questions XO. Tactical, power up weapons, lock on." "Sir!" The comm officer shouted. "We're receiving a message from the transports, they say that they have civilians onboard and are begging us not to fire." "Captain, I can verify, looks like about ten thousand Keilmar on each ship." The tactical officer added. "It also looks like they have weapon supplies on board." "Get me a priority channel to Admiral Barns, now!" MacDonald ordered. Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 1241 EST Admiral Barns rushed through the corridor trying to get to the war room as quickly as possible. By the time he did, he had probably knocked ten people over. The two guards outside the war room saluted as he approached. He wasted little time returning in and walked in. Tessa was waiting for him inside. "What's the situation Tessa?" He said, walking down the stairs. She gestured toward the master situation map. "The Victory and a small group of ships crossed the border into Keilmar space to destroy a convoy of Keilmar ships we believed to be carrying weapon supplies. When they entered weapon's range, the Keilmar said that there were civilians onboard, which the Victory verified." "Those bastards." Barns said scornfully. "They're putting civilians on their ships so we won't fire on them! They think that we won't fire on ships carrying civilians." "They think that Admiral!" Tessa exclaimed. "We can't! It would violate everything the Alliance stands for!" Barns sat down at the conference table. "Those ships are carrying weapons as well. If we destroy them, it'd be another break in this war. Needless to say we could use another break." Barns commented. "Sir, we can't just kill close to thirty thousand civilians because we need a break in the war!" "You told me before I authorized the attack that they could be carrying weapons of mass destruction. What if they are Tessa? We'd be killing thirty thousand of their people but could be saving millions of ours!" "Numbers don't matter! Wether it's ours or theirs doesn't matter! It is still wrong!" "Tessa, our priority is to win this war. To win this was and ensure the Alliance's survival." "Let's at least talk to the President first." Tessa said, reaching for air and reason. "All right," Barns conceded. He made a gesture with his hand at one of the crew members working in the war room. "Open a channel to the President on Minbar, ultra-violet priority." The connection took only a second to establish. President Sheridan's face soon appeared on a monitor. "What can I do for you Admiral?" The President said. He seemed fatigue, Barns couldn't say he blamed him with having to deal with the war. "Sir," Barns said hurriedly. "We've detected Keilmar transport ships carrying weapons, possibly weapons of mass destruction. They have no military escort and we have a battle group standing by to destroy them." Barns stopped for air. "So what's the problem?" The President asked. Tessa jumped in before Barns could answer. "Mr. President, those ships are carrying weapons but they're also loaded down with civilians. We destroy them and we'll be killing thousands of innocent people." Sheridan developed a mixed look of hesitation and disgust. "We can't do that," he said shaking his head. "Sir," Barns began his reprisal. "We destroy those ships and we could save millions of lives on OUR side. We'd kill thousands of the enemy to save millions of our people. Excuse me sir but that seems like a good deal to me." "They're not the enemy! They're just innocent people that they.............." "Sir, they're acting as canon fodder for the enemy! We have to look at our priorities, saving the lives of as many people as possible and winning this war!" "It's wrong Jerry! If we kill those people if I," the President hesitated. "If I authorize that then I'm not better than..........." "Clark?" Barns said harshly. Sheridan regained his composure. "I will not do what he did, I will not kill thousands of innocent people just to make our situation a little better. I won't turn into him!" "Sir, you can't compare yourself to him if you did this. He did it for the wrong reasons, if we took out those ships we'd be saving millio.............." "No!" The President snapped. "Sir, when you made me your military commander, you said it was because I was a good leader and I could make the right decisions. You have to let me make those decisions now, you have to let me run this war the way I feel it needs to be run!" Barns simply stared at the monitor. "You're right Jerry," the President conceded. "You have to be able to run this the way you need to, to win." "Thank you sir," Barns was ready to terminate the transmission when the President spoke up. "Jerry," he seemed to think for a moment. "Any race that'd do something like that to their civilians...." the President shook his head. "Beat them!" "I will sir," with those words the transmission ended. Barns looked back at one of the stations. "You still have the Victory on com?" The officer operating the station only nodded. Barns walked back to where he had a view of the central display screen. "Tell them to take those ships out." "Aye sir." IAS Victory--Victory Class Destroyer War Zone Kappa-Narn Territory February 12, 2272 1252 EST "Sir, tasking orders coming in from Babylon 5." Commander MacKenzie broke the complete silence which had engulfed the bridge of the Victory for over ten minutes. Captain MacDonald remained cool and composed. "Authenticate and let me see them." It took only a moment for his orders to be carried out and the message from Babylon 5 to be displayed to him. "Charge weapons, lock onto to the transports. Open a channel to them." While the officer at one of the forward station's considered this a somewhat unusual request, he executed it none the less. "This is Captain Edward MacDonald of the IAS Victory, I advise all civilians on those ships to leave at once. I will destroy your ships in ten minutes. You have that long to get out." MacDonald and the rest of the crew watched for any signs of anything leaving the Keilmar ships. Nothing. "I don't get it," MacKenzie commented. "We're giving them a chance to live, why don't they take it?" MacDonald watched the time. The ten minutes had passed. Not one person had tried to escape from the transports. All eyes on the bridge suddenly became focused on the Captain. "All ships, this is the Victory, fire at will." Green beams of energy lashed forth from the Victory's main guns. The lesser powerful Narn ships also opened fire with their laser cannons. The energy melted into the metal flesh of the Keilmar transports, cutting and puncturing them open. Within minutes, the transports were no more. "All targets destroyed," Captain MacDonald's transmission ended after that. Barns leaned back in his chair and put his hands over his eyes. Tessa stood for a few minutes looking at him. "I hope your happy," she commented. Barns leaned forward and glanced towards Tessa. "You think that was easy for me Tessa?" He looked up at her waiting for a response. "It seemed to be," she said harshly. "Damn it Tessa! Do you think it was easy for me to do that! I've seen more innocent people die than anyone should have to ever see! Just because I fought for Clark in the war doesn't mean I'm some cold blooded killer." Tessa breathed in deeply. "I know Admiral," she stood silent for a moment. "If you'll excuse me." She stormed out of the room. gb "There is always hope - only because it's the one thing no one's figured out how to kill yet." Techno-Mage Galen "Babylon Project Crusade" ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/ From: "Inquisitor Gary Boshears" Subject: Darkness Wakes Chapter 7 Part 2/2 Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 16:41:22 -0600 This is considerably shorter than the first part. Enjoy everyone. Disclaimers and warnings in previous chapters. Barns allowed himself a brief moment of rest and continued trying to convince himself that they had done the right thing. Though he argued with anyone to convince them that what was being done was right, he wasn't sure himself. For now it would be fine, but the Alliance was created to bring new peace to and restore life to the universe. How would he be able to justify the deaths of thousands of innocent people to history? The answer was simple, war changes people. He had said that to Sarah McDouglass not long ago. He then found himself wondering how she was doing. He hadn't received any updates on the status of the Hades since it left Babylon 5. How was he supposed to be able to protect the Alliance when he couldn't even protect the........ A mass of alert noises went off at several of the stations around the room. The central display map lit up in multiple places along the war zone. "What's going on?!?" Barns exclaimed, popping out of his seat. "Not sure sir," one of the officers announced. "It looks like we've got another Keilmar offensive." He pointed towards the areas on the map marked by a red square. "All of these areas are reporting massive numbers of Keilmar warships attacking them." Barns had now fully regained his composure and was focused on the task at hand. "Reinforce those areas with as many of our ships as possible, contact the Centauri ask them to do the same." The officer ran some calculations at his console. "Sir even with our forces and the Centauri's in the area, we don't have enough to stop this advance." Barns studied the master display map. It had the position of every Alliance world ship on it. "What are all those Earth ships doing there?" He pointed to a large group of Earth Force ships that were less than three light years from the War Zone. The officer shook his head. "I don't sir, they're not responding to any of our attempts to contact them." Barns appeared shocked. "Get me Admiral McDouglass on a secure frequency, now!" "Stand-by sir." The officer reported. It took only seconds after that it took only a few seconds to open a channel. Admiral McDouglass' face appeared on a monitor at Barns' station. "Lillie," Barns said calmly. "We've got a mass Keilmar offensive. I need the Earth ships at the following position to stop it." He sent the coordinates of the Earth Force ships as an attachment to the transmission. She checked the coordinates and remained silent for a minute. Barns could see by the expression on her face she was nervous. She suddenly shook her head. "I'm sorry those ships are unavailable." "Why?" Barns said, annoyed. "We have them devoted to other tasks." She answered, obviously trying to not state the actual answer. "Well they're being undevoted immediately." "I'm sorry Jerry but those ships are needed for another operation. We can spare them at this time and this conversation is over!" The transmission ended before Barns could say another word. Barns was beyond the threshold of anger at this point. "Why is it one of those days!" He screamed. He studied the master display map. He knew what he had to do, as much as it brought a pain to his stomach, he knew what he had to do. "Have all ships in those areas withdraw to rendezvous with heavier reinforcements and establish a new defensive line here." He said indicating a place on the map. The whole of the war room staff was shocked at these orders. Abandoning the positions they were now fighting for would mean giving up a large amount of space and would open up several large colonies to invasion. "Yessss sir," the main officer in the room said. The war room was quiet for the entire time Barns' orders were carried out. gb "There is always hope - only because it's the one thing no one's figured out how to kill yet." Techno-Mage Galen "Babylon Project Crusade" ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/ From: "Inquisitor Gary Boshears" Subject: Darkness Wakes Chapter 8 Part 1/2 Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 23:35:58 -0600 Hey everyone. Here's the first part to Chapter 8. The second will be considerably shorter. If you have any comments, e-mail me at toast_army@hotmail.com Disclaimers and content warnings in previous chapters. Chapter 8 Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 February 13, 2272 0930 EST "Our estimates are that the Keilmar advance into those sectors will have claimed upwards of three hundred thousand lives by the time they move on." Captain Taylor finished his report and dropped the folder on the table. Lochley, Tessa and Ta'Lon sat quietly. Barns stood alone in a corner looking out the window. The room remained quiet for a time, the people assembled for the meeting were left with nothing but their thoughts for a brief time, until a Drazi messenger walked into the room. "Bring message from Ambassadors," the Drazi said. "They wish to meet with Admiral Barns in one hour." The messenger left after those words. Barns sat down at the head of the conference table. "What now?" He commented, mostly to himself. "If none of you mind I'd like some time to myself." No one said anything as they all left the room. Barns leaned back in his chair. He hadn't slept well for the past few nights. Partially because of the war, and partially because he was worried about Sarah. "Barns to C&C," he said into his link. "Can you raise the Hades?" Barns waited several minutes for a response. He considered why it was taking as long as it did. He then decided it was best he didn't think about it. "Sorry Admiral, we can't get them." The response finally came. "Why?" Barns asked. "Don't know sir, there isn't any response from their comm recognizer." "All right, thank you." Barns said, toggling his link off. Why wouldn't they be responding? Barns hadn't heard anything about the Hades since she had left. He wanted to know if Sarah was okay, if she was alive. He cleared it from his mind and looked at the clock. He still had nearly an hour before his meeting with the Ambassadors. Rather than grab some sleep, which was probably the best option, he decided to review more resource reports. 1 Hour Later The Council Chamber was quiet. Barns felt dozens of pair of eyes following him as he walked into the room and approached the main table. The Ambassadors remained silent as he waited for one of them to speak. "What did you need?" Barns finally broke the silence. The Ambassadors exchanged glances with each other. The Brakiri Ambassador finally spoke up. "Admiral," he said tactfully. "Many of our ships were destroyed in the recent attack. Many of our people are dying even now trying to defend the worlds being invaded. What I am trying to say Admiral, is that we have been fighting for several weeks and we continue to loose territory. With the exception of a few minor victories we have not been shown that even with our combined forces we have the ability to hurt the Keilmar Empire and win this war." Barns sat down on the table still facing the Ambassadors. "I still don't think you said what you're trying to say Ambassador." He commented sarcastically. Before the Brakiri Ambassador could speak, the Drazi Ambassador spoke up. "What he say, is that we want victory against Keilmar. We want to be shown that you can hurt Keilmar or we stop fighting." Barns rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. "All of your governments signed the Alliance Military Charter. I don't have to show you anything, if you want to remain a part of this Alliance then you have to fight." "Then we will no longer be a part of this Alliance!" The Brakiri Ambassador shouted out. With those words the Council Chamber was filled with noise, most or all of it in agreement with his statement. Barns conceded. If it wasn't one thing it was another. "So if I show you that I can hurt the Keilmar, you'll stay in the Alliance and keep fighting this war?" "Yes," the Brakiri Ambassador said. "All of you have to do is stop their advance and we will continue to fight, unquestionably." Barns shook his head. "That's all?" He thought to himself. He didn't like this, but, as it was with most decisions in his life, he had no choice. "All right, give me some time. I trust you'll keep your units on the front lines while I ready an operation?" "Yes," the Brakiri Ambassador said scornfully. After that, the assembled Ambassadors filed out of the room. 3 Hours Later Barns sat alone in his silent office. He studied ship deployment charts, projected enemy deployment charts, available troops charts, anything that could help him in planning an attack that would stop the Keilmar offensive. He needed all the help he could get. The truth of it was, he had no idea what to do. He ran his fingers through his hair and rested his elbows on his desk. He couldn't think, nothing was clear. Truth of it was, nothing had been clear since they weren't able to contact the Hades. "Sir," one of the guard's outside Barns' office spoke through the comm. Barns had been drifting away from what he was trying to concentrate on. The guard brought him back to this world. "Captain Taylor to see you sir." Barns was quick to respond. "Send him in." "Have a seat Captain," Barns said when Taylor walked into the room. "How are you doing sir?" Taylor asked. Barns shook his head. "I've been better. This whole mess with the member worlds. To tell you the truth, I have no idea how we can pull it off." Barns took a sip of his, now cold, apple cider. "I mean, all of their worlds that if we hit would stop the offensive are too heavily defended. With trying to hold our defensive line we don't have the resources to mount a full scale offensive against one of them." Taylor allowed himself to think for a minute. "Sir what if we looked past the worlds on the border." Barns was unsure what this meant. The Keilmar worlds on the border were the ones supplying the offensive. "I'm not sure what you're getting at Captain." "Sir if we want to hurt them, I we want to make them pull their ships back behind their lines, where would be the most obvious place to strike? The most obvious place that would leave a mark on them?" Barns realized what he meant, as insane as it was. "You're not suggesting?" "You know me better than to think I'm not Jerry." Taylor answered surely. Barns was now intrigued at this idea. It may be just what they needed at this time. "Capturing it would be out of the question. What we need is a quick strike. A group to go in, cause some damage and get out. It may just enough to scare them into pulling their fleets back." Barns was alive with new energy as he quickly toggled his links. "Barns to C&C, get me a priority channel to Colonel Nathan Meade, Earth Force 487th Tactical Fighter Group." Earth Alliance Fighter Base RSH-38219 18 Light Years From War Zone Gamma 1352 EST "Yes I understand that there is a war going on, but we need those parts for our fighters. Let me know when you get them, Meade out." Colonel Nathan Meade terminated the comm channel he had open to the Earth Force Requisition's Department after those words. They had been waiting for spare fighter parts for over two weeks now. Meade took a moment to relax at his desk. Though his two hundred Thunderbolt heavy fighters hadn't yet seen combat in the war yet. He waited for the day when they were called into service, most likely for some border defense mission. Without warning his communication screen came to life displaying an Interstellar Alliance logo, with the words INCOMING TRANSMISSION printed across it. "Computer receive transmission, authorization Meade Alpha Four Eight Tango." The logo was soon replaced with the face of Admiral Jerry Barns. "Colonel, I need your fighters for a mission. I don't want to discuss it over communications like this. Get to Babylon 5 as fast as you can." The transmission ended abruptly. Meade did not know what to make of this. It wasn't likely that the transmission was a trick. The signal was sent over an Alliance frequency with the proper authentication codes. Why did Admiral Barns, his old Captain, want him to come to Babylon 5 with two hundred fighters. He toggled his link on. "Meade to launch bay, fuel up, we're headed for Babylon 5." Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 1446 EST Tessa was unsure why Barns had called her here. Unsure even more why he was not here at the time he requested to meet her. Annoyed more or less that she had been waiting several minutes and he was late. Barns finally arrived, with a black folder tucked under his arm. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice Tessa. Please excuse my tardiness." He sat down at his desk and tried to organize his various papers. Tessa was not in a good mood. She wanted to simply lash out at the Admiral but controlled herself. "No problem Admiral. What did you need to see me about?" Barns didn't look up from the papers in front of him. "I take it you heard about the demands of the member worlds?" "Yes," her answer was short and to the point, much like she was at all time. Barns handed her a black folder with an Alliance logo on the cover. "I've prepared an operation, that if it works the way we hope it does, it'll take care of their demands. It'll be largely dependent on covert ops, I need to know if you can do it." After reviewing the documents contained inside the folder for several minutes, she looked up at the Admiral. "You're mad." Her voice was the calmest the Admiral had heard it since the war began. Yet, there remained a degree of, an unidentifiable emotion it. "Your opinion on the state of my sanity was not what I asked you Tessa. Can Covert Ops do this?" He said, lowering his eyes towards her. Tessa conceded. "Yes, or better to say, one man in Covert Ops can." Barns went back to writing something. "That's all it'll require. Make the necessary arrangements, report back to me when you're ready to move." Tessa sat for a moment, staring at the Admiral. He looked up at her. "Was there something else?" "No," she said harshly. She stood and left the room. February 15, 2272 1230 EST Anla'Shok Val'Na Greg Giovoni was not sure why Admiral Barns had called him to the station. They hadn't seen each other since Barns left the EAS Dark Thunder, where Giovoni commanded a detachment of Rangers assigned to the ship. When the crew of that ship went their separate ways a year after the Drahk attack on Earth, Giovoni returned to Minbar where Entil'Zha Delen gave him command of a group of five White Stars. Now, Admiral Barns had called those five White Stars to Babylon 5. Giovoni doubted that it was simply for a reunion. Though, upon seeing Colonel Nathan Meade and Major Patrick Morgan in the Admiral's office, some of that doubt vanished. Those two officers had also served under Barns on the Dark Thunder. Giovoni sat down in the office. "Good to see you Ranger Giovoni," Barns coldly commented. He did not allow time for a response. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin." Barns pressed a control which activated a small holo-projector positioned on his desk. It displayed a rotating hologram of the Keilmar Homeworld. "Ever since this war began, the Keilmar have kept the majority of their forces on the front lines. Their new offensive and push of even more ships towards us, has left their homeworld lightly guarded. "The member worlds want a victory that will stop the offensive. We're going to give it to them. We will launch one quick strike against the Keilmar Homeworld." All of the assembled people, with the exception of Tessa and Captain Taylor, looked at Barns as if he had completely lost his mind. They were in a state of complete shock. Colonel Meade was the first one to speak. "Sir, how do you plan to do that?" Barns handed black folders out to all of them. "A member of Covert Ops will get to the Keilmar Homeworld. At the same time, Ranger Giovoni's White Stars will be accompanying Meade's fighters to the homeworld. We're in the process of setting up small bases in hyperspace to allow the fighters to refuel and replenish life support. Once they're close enough, the Covert Ops operative will transmit location data to the White Stars and fighters, which will then jump into the atmosphere, near the capital city. The White Stars clear out any ground based weapons defenses that would prove an immediate threat while the fighters launch as many missiles as they can before the enemy has a chance to respond heavily. They cause as much damage to the capital as possible and then jump out again. With any luck this will make them think we're preparing for a major offensive against their homeworld, and they'll pull back their ships. It's a long shot, but it's the only option we have right now." Tessa took over the briefing. "Our agent has already begun the process of getting to the Keilmar Homeworld. He said that he would be in position by the twentieth. This leaves us precious little time. Our depots in hyperspace are almost setup, but the strike group has to get underway immediately." "You're on your own the whole way. If we pull any forces to escort you it'll look suspicious. Stay alert and stay out of sight until you strike. Good luck." Barns finished. Without any further word, they all left the room. gb "There is always hope - only because it's the one thing no one's figured out how to kill yet." Techno-Mage Galen "Babylon Project Crusade" ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/ From: "Inquisitor Gary Boshears" Subject: Darkness Wakes Part 3 Chapter 8 Part 2/2 Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 22:59:31 -0600 Here's the second part of Chapter 8. Also for purposes of being a little bit easier to organize, I'm now organized the entire work into smaller parts. As you see, Chapter 8 is in Part 3. The rest of the organization is listed below. Part 1: "Gathering of The Storm" Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Part 2: "Striking of Thunder" Chapters 4 and 5 Part 3: "To The Fronts" Chapters 6, 7 and 8 so far. Anyway, here's the ast part ot Chapter 8 Warnings and disclaimers in previous chapters. 2318 EST Barns nearly collapsed when he simply stepped through the door to his quarters. He finally realized that depriving himself of sleep wouldn't do him much good. Everything had been set in motion. Now it was time to wait. Barns took off his link and began warming up water for some hot tea. While waiting he browsed through ISN and the entertainment channels, seeing nothing of interest. He sat down on the couch and ignored the pile of somewhat trivial paperwork in front of him. None of that would matter if his plan didn't work. As he had nearly given into sleep, his link chimed. He quickly, yet hesitantly, reached for it and toggled it on. "Barns go." "Admiral," the voice was Captain Lochley's. "It took some doing but I got you a channel to the Hades." Barns didn't know and quite frankly didn't care how she managed to do this. He was at a loss for words. "Thank you, Captain." "No problem sir, transferring now." Barns quickly turned to face the monitor. Within seconds, Sarah McDouglass' face appeared on it. "Hi Jerry," the fatigue in her voice hid what seemed to be a degree of happiness. "Sarah," Barns once again sounded more fatigued than anything. "How are you?" She sighed. "We're okay, it's rough out here. We took a bit of fire in our last battle. Lost some of the crew. Morale is really low. We're watching hundreds of people die around us each day when we go into battle only to retreat." Barns was reminded of what was still considered one of Earth's darkest hour, the Minbari War. "During the Minbari War, I watched so many people, so many of my friends throw themselves at an unstoppable enemy. It doesn't do much for morale." Sarah never fought in the Minbari War. She'd heard about it from her friends that returned but could never picture it. Until now. "Jerry I can't talk for long. We're mobilized again and are about to launch another defensive offensive." Barns recognized the tone in her voice that suggested this was not the entire truth. "Can you do me a favor?" "Anything Sarah?" The Admiral said with emotion in his voice. "If you, uh," she stuttered trying to hold back her emotions. "If you talk to my sister, tell her that I love her." She could no longer hold back the tears from her eyes and the trembling in her voice. Barns fought hard against these very things. He wanted so much to tell her. "Yeah, I will." "Thank you," were her last words before the transmission ended. As much as Barns wanted to, he could not forget the conversation, how she sounded. Rather than stay awake thinking about it, Barns simply forced himself to sleep. gb "There is always hope - only because it's the one thing no one's figured out how to kill yet." Techno-Mage Galen "Babylon Project Crusade" ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/ From: "Inquisitor Gary Boshears" Subject: Darkness Wakes Part IV Chapter 9 Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 11:55:09 -0600 Warnings and disclaimers in previous chapters. Part IV: A War On Two Battlefields Chapter 9 Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 February 20, 2272 1330 EST Today was the day. The fate of the Alliance, quite possibly the entire galaxy were riding on what would happen today. If the attack failed, the Alliance would loose the war. For right now, it all depended on three hundred fifty one brave souls. By now, the attack group was in position, preparing to make a precision jump into the Keilmar Homeworld's atmosphere. From then on, it all depended on skill, fate and a bit of luck. Admiral Jerry Barns couldn't claim to be enjoying these moments of quiet. He wasn't troubling himself with the stack of reports on his desk. If this attack didn't work, they wouldn't matter anyway. The Admiral was alone with his thoughts. About the war in general, the upcoming attack and, about Sarah. He was still disturbed by the rather abrupt end to their conversation the other night and by the fact that he hadn't heard any news on the Hades yet. Even when he contacted Sarah's sister, she wouldn't tell him anything about it. "Sir, everything is about ready." Captain Taylor's came softly through the Admiral's link. Rather than respond, the Admiral simply stood and left his office. The path to the war room was quiet, almost desolate. So as were many of the paths the Admiral had taken in his life. White Star 67 Hyperspace Near The Keilmar Homeworld 1346 EST Ranger Giovoni sat still, focused in the red void surrounding them, and the occupants of that void. The five White Stars and two hundred Thunderbolt fighters. In a matter of minutes, many would be traveling from one void, directly to another. "Anything yet?" Giovoni asked the Ranger seated the left of him. "No sir," the Ranger quickly answered. This waiting was testing the limits of what Giovoni's Ranger training had taught him to endure. "Continue monitoring," he ordered. Keilmar Homeworld Outside of Capital City 1351 EST This was a dry world. Nothing but a hot wasteland. There was not even a scrap to indicate that there may have once been vegetation or a drop to indicate there may have once been water. Not to say that Operative Jerry Bellman was particularly offended by the climate. He had endured worse in both ranges of climate during his time with various Covert Operations departments. He still found it interesting however, that all of the covert ops took place on planets most people would consider inhospitable. He was now about half a mile out of the capital city. Getting away from the Keilmar troops and making it this far had not been entirely difficult. They obviously weren't well prepared to track a single person. To be safe however, he had planted explosive devices along his path, so as to deter or at least slow down anyone following him. He began to take the readings that the strike group required. Taking them took roughly five minutes while verifying them took another three. He wasted no time in deploying his tachyon burst transmitter and locking it into the designated frequency. Upon inputting the data, he looked up for a moment at the orange sky and pressed transmit. White Star 67 Hyperspace Near The Keilmar Homeworld 1357 EST "Sir signal coming in on the designated frequency." The Ranger to Giovoni's left took some more time to study the data they were receiving. "It's the jump data sir." Giovoni quickly turned his chair to face the front of the bridge. "Begin programming jump sequence, tell the other ships to do the same and get me a priority channel to Babylon 5." Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 1400 EST "Incoming signal from White Star 67," one of the crew in the War Room announced. Barns, Taylor, Tessa and Lochley were all waiting impatiently at the conference table. "Put it through," Barns ordered. Ranger Giovoni's face appeared on the newly installed holo-projector. "Sir," he wasted no time in getting to the point. "We've got the jump data sir, ready to commence the attack." Barns could almost feel everyone's heart speed up. This was it, the moment that could write the final chapter for the Alliance. "You are go to attack. Authentication Code six eight lima sierra charlie epsilon." The Ranger to Giovoni's left nodded. "Authentication confirmed sir. See you when we get back." "I look forward to it." Barns' face disappeared from the holo-projector after those words. "Tell the other ships we are clear to attack, everyone enter formation and prepare to jump." Giovoni focused himself entirely on the mission in front of him. "Jump sequence ready," he listened to the report, it reached him although it seemed not to. I am a Ranger. "All fighters have entered jump formation." We live for the one. "All ships report ready." We die for the one. "Jump!" Giovoni ordered. Within seconds of the order being given, the red void of hyperspace was broken by the immense energy of five jump points being formed. The barren surface of the planet below became clearly visible through them. Colonel Meade's voice came through the comm. "Fighters initiating jump." The Thunderbolt heavy fighters were thrust in a manner of nano seconds from the gravity lacking void of hyperspace to the gravity strong atmosphere of the Keilmar Homeworld. The speed of exiting hyperspace and the sudden applying of gravity proved a challenge for the fighter pilots. Colonel Meade struggled to pull his fighter out of it's downward fall. He could here his comrades over the comm system doing the same. He eventually pulled his fighter out of the dive and leveled it off. He looked down to see several explosions on the ground. As predicted, some did not even survive the initial jump. The White Stars finally jumped in when the fighters had finished. "All right people," Meade said to get the attention of those in the fighter group. "Tactical formation, arm missiles, lock on targets." He switched the comm systems channel. "Giovoni, we're ready when you are." "Copy that Colonel." Giovoni contacted the rest of the White Stars. "Arm weapons, we fire a few volleys, knock out their ground based defenses in the immediate area and then leave it up to the fighters." He turned to the Ranger next to him. "Arm weapons prepare to fire." The five White Star gunboats moved ahead of the fighters. They unleashed multiple volleys from their pulse weapons, striking the ground based turrets that were beginning to come online. The turrets exploded leaving nothing but smoldering cinders in their places. "White Stars 89 and 104, you are go for attack on enemy runways!" The two White Stars moved ahead, firing powerful sustained bursts from their neutron cannons. They cut through the runways, causing all of the fighters stationed on them to burst into a fireballs. This left the Keilmar capital city temporarily defenseless. "All right Colonel it's all up to you guys now. We'll give you cover fire in the event of other fighters showing up." "Copy White Star 67. Thanks for the help." Meade reopened the comm to the fighters. "All right boys, first salvo at my order." He verified his lock on. All of the other fighters reported ready. Now, now it begun. "All fighters, launch first salvo." With those words he depressed his missile launch button. The smoke trails left by the missiles speeding away from the fighters, was almost enough to obscure Meade's vision, or block it completely. Even more spectacular was the mass of explosions created by the missiles impact on the massive structures of the capitol city. Meade's computer confirmed a lock on for the second missile. "Second salvo, fire!" Another large group of missiles filled the sky, striking their targets. Why does this seem to easy, Meade asked himself. "Third salvo, fire!" The third group of missiles from the fighters had just been launched purplish blue pulses struck the fighters. Multiple Keilmar fighters roared down from space, desperately trying to stop the Earth fighters. Meade maneuvered his fighter to avoid their fire. "Meade to WS 67, how about a little help guys?" Meade had barely finished his sentence when pulse blasts from the White Stars were cutting through the enemy fighters. The Keilmar continued to focus their attention on the Earth fighters, despite the fact that they were loosing significant numbers to the White Stars. The attacking Keilmar fighters made the job of the Earth fighters more difficult. Though they remained focused. Meade dodged another pulse from a Keilmar fighter and steadied his approach. "Fire, fire salvo four." Missiles once again filled the sky and struck their targets. The Keilmar capital city was now little more than a flaming pile of ruins. "All fighters, prepare for jump out." Giovoni turned to the Ranger next to him. "Scan for Operative Bellman's signal and prepare to make a quick landing pass to pick him up." Operative Bellman had watched the attack from the ground. He had also watched the Keilmar troops closing in on his position. There was no way for the White Star to pick him up before they reached him. "Sir, Operative Bellman says that we don't have time to pick him up. He's telling us to leave." Giovoni sat sterned face looking at the front of the bridge. "It's his wish," he grimily said. "Standby to jump." Bellman fell to the ground after being shot in the knee. The heat from the Keilmar weapon instantly cauterized the wound. Bellman reached his hand over it, hoping to contain the pain. Meade was close enough to the ground to see Bellman. If he was captured, the Keilmar would most certainly torture him and not allow him to die. He swung his fighter closer to the ground and readied the pulse cannon. "What's he doing?!?" Giovoni exclaimed. "Meade, get back in formation, we're about to jump." Meade simply ignored Giovoni. Closing in on Bellman's position, he depressed the firing button for his pulse cannon, engulfing Bellman and multiple Keilmar soldiers. As he was pulling back up to rendezvous with the strike group, the computer indicated a Keilmar fighter had locked on. He tried to shake it, but to no evail. The first pulse from the enemy fighter removed one of his upper wings. Meade lost control of the fighter. It spiraled down towards the ground. Contact was lost with it seconds afterwards. "Should we look for him?" Major Morgan asked over the comm system. Giovoni didn't want to answer that question. "We can't, we have to get out of here. Initiate jump." He steadied himself in his chair and did not look back as the strike group shot into hyperspace. Space Station Babylon 5 Orbit of Epsilon 3 1424 EST "The strike group has safely jumped to hyperspace. They'll refuel then be on their way back here." Barns looked up at the master display map. "Anything from the front lines?" "Nothing yet." All of those in the war room seemed to collectively hold their breath. What, if anything, happened in the next few minutes would determine whether the Alliance would live or die in the coming weeks. "Admiral, message coming in from Vree defense units in War Zone Omicron." "What is it?" Barns asked with a renewed sense of hope and fear. The officer studied the message for a moment. "The Keilmar fleet is pulling back. We're getting similar reports in from the Drazi, Brakiri and Narn fronts!" A cheer went up in the room. As quickly as the Keilmar offensive had came, it was now coming to an end. Their entire fleet was leaving the front lines. Barns allowed himself a moment to calm down and turned his attention to the Ambassadors at the back of the room. He approached them. "I think this is what you wanted?" "Yes," the Brakiri Ambassador said scornfully. "We will continue to fight this war, unquestionably." With those words, he and the rest of the Ambassadors left the room. 2238 EST Admiral Barns had spent the last few hours catching up on the paper work he had allowed himself to amass over the last few days. All of it suddenly had purpose again. He finally realized that all of it was important. Today was the first day he thought they might have a chance to win the war. Seeing the faces of those in the war room, feeling himself smiling, listening to the Brakiri Ambassador pledge their support, it finally felt as if things may be going their way. He recognized the long road ahead, but, for now at least it didn't seem to be as long. His link chimed. "Barns, go." He said into it. Lieutenant Jeffries' voice came through. "Sir you have a priority transmission coming in from Admiral McDouglass." Why would she be calling so late? "Put it through." Barns stood to face the monitor in his quarters. Admiral McDouglass' face soon appeared. She seemed to have been crying only seconds before contacting him, as she still had tears in her eyes. "Lillie what's wrong?" Barns quickly asked. She struggled to speak. "The Hades was on an intelligence gathering mission behind enemy lines. We thought that it would be safe with the majority of their forces concentrated on the front lines." She fought to keep herself from crying again. "When the Keilmar fleet pulled back, she must have been caught and," she paused for a moment. "We've lost contact with her." Barns hid his own emotions, not well enough to where Admiral McDouglass couldn't see through them though. "What was her last location?" Barns asked. "I can send it to you." Barns dropped the folder he was holding. "I'll organize everything I can to look for it. We'll find her Lillie, we'll find her." He was trying to reassure himself more than he was her. "Thank you Jerry," a moment of silence. "I appreciate it, and so would she." The transmission ended after those words. Barns sat back down and returned to his work. After a moment he activated his link. "Barns to C&C, tell the Red Star to soon be ready to depart." He would find her, he had to. gb "There is always hope - only because it's the one thing no one's figured out how to kill yet." Techno-Mage Galen "Babylon Project Crusade" ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/