From: "Supreme Inquisitor" Subject: EAS Dark Thunder--A Preview Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 19:49:32 -0600 I'm hoping by now many(or at least some) have read the first couple chapters of my novel "Darkness Wakes". The main character in this, Admiral Barns, has a very interesting past. Now some of that will be explored my latest project tentatively titled the "EAS Dark Thunder" until I come up with something better. It starts in 2263 and deals with the Admiral, who is at the time an Earth Force Captain, commanding the Warlock Class Destroyer, Dark Thunder. I'm close to being done with the first chapter and will post it here as soon as I am. If anyone would like an advance preview of it, send an e-mail to me here: toast_army@hotmail.com Thanks for listening to me ramble. gb "May God stand between you and harm, in all the empty places you must walk." (Old Egyptian Blessing) ICQ # 8694414 Visit all of these. My Home Page--Go To The Links Page For More http://www.angelfire.com/sk/boshears/ From: "Gary Boshears" Subject: EAS Dark Thunder--"Specter of The Darkness" Prologue Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 01:35:18 -0500 Disclaimer: All Babylon 5 characters, events, situations, etc. are property of James Micheal Stracynski and are being used strictly for entertainment purposes. All original characters, events, situations, etc. are property of the author but are free for us to other fan fic authors provided you ask first. Warning: Violence, adult language. Spoilers: Some of all parts of the series. Prologue EAS Dark Thunder-Omega-X Class Destroyer Outer Perimeter of Earth Alliance Territory January 18th, 2264 2312 EST Captain Barns awoke in a cold sweat. The dreams were getting worse, much worse. They had been going on for nearly a week now. No matter what he tried, he was unable to get any rest. More disturbing to him though was what the dreams could mean. All he could see were those ships. Those dark ships. He had no idea what they were and even less of an idea what they meant. Barns got out of bed and stood up. Even though the Captain's stateroom had a well-carpeted floor, it still felt cold against his bare feat. The whole room in fact felt cold. That was one thing Barns remembered about the Omega class ships, they never felt cold. This ship however, always did. Barns often wondered why this was. He usually would believe that it was simply something changed in the design, but there were times when he wondered if it wasn't something more. If it wasn't something to do with the fact that this ship was partly alive. He knew that thinking so was probably nonsense, but he still couldn't help it at times. Barns made himself a warm cup of herbal tea, a kind that was supposed to help a person relax, and sat down on one of the three couches in the living area of his stateroom. He tried to relax and enjoyed this time of quiet. The past year had not allowed him much quiet time. It seemed that his ship was always having to rush off to deal with some emergency. Hopefully, this new year would be different. But as he looked out at the stars, into the darkness, he knew that it would not be that way. So much had transpired in the last year that would shape what was to happen in the coming years. As he looked out the window he could see all those things coming, yet they were not what was concerning him at the time. It was something else. Barns was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound the door chime. He walked slowly to the door and pressed the control to open it, having a pretty good idea who it was. Not surprising to Barns, on the other side of the door stood Lieutenant Commander Leslie Griffon. She had dressed in her normal Earth Force uniform before coming to the Captain's quarters. Her long, flowing blonde hair was not quite styled to Earth Force regulation standards but it didn't exactly matter either. Barns smiled when he saw her. "Leslie, to what do I owe this visit?" He stood aside from the door and gestured for her to come in. She turned around to face the Captain and smiled. "I couldn't sleep, kind of figured you may not be either." Barns stepped slightly away from the door, allowing it to close, and towards her. "Well, getting to sleep isn't the problem. It's staying asleep." He walked around to the small kitchen area and pored her some of the tea that he had been drinking. There was just enough in the pot for two cups. The two of them sat down at the relatively large dining table. "What's wrong?" Griffon asked the Captain. She knew that something was wrong. Anyone that looked into his eyes could see it but that was not how she knew. Barns sighed. Lying to her would be of no use. It would be easier for him to lie to himself than to lie to her. "The nightmares have started again, I keep seeing them." Griffon became concerned. Both visibly and in a way that only Barns could tell. "I thought you said that those dreams stopped last week?" Barns nodded and sipped down some of his tea before continuing the conversation. The warm liquid caused chills to run through his body when it was mixed with the cold feel of the ship. "They did but now," he paused. "They've come back. They keep getting more life like, more real." His eyes locked with hers. "To tell you the truth Leslie, it scares me." Her smile diminished. "Understandably." Barns decided to try and change the subject. Leslie hated when he did it in conversations but typically tolerated it. "And why can't you sleep Ms. Griffon?" "I don't know," she said with a half smile. "I just couldn't." The room became silent for a few minutes. In the course of that time, more was said between the two of them than could have been said with words. These two had always had a special bond. Something no one else could truly claim to understand. The silence and silent conversation was interrupted by Captain's link, which was set on a nearby table, chiming. Barns quickly picked it up and toggled it. "Barns go." The voice that came through was that of Commander MacDonald's. "Captain Barns, you're needed on the bridge, we've got a signal coming in from Earth Force HQ." Babylon 5: Specter of the Darkness A Special EAS Dark Thunder Event By Gary Boshears The Author of Babylon 5: Darkness Wakes Staring: Liam Neeson as Captain Jerry Barns Richard Dean Anderson as Commander Edward MacDonald Jennifer Aniston as Lieutenant Commander Leslie Griffon Todd Wilson as Commander Nathan Meade Robert Duncan McNeil as Lieutenant Connor MacKenzie Ginger Lynn Allen as Doctor Maloria Delementrio Simon Billig as Ranger Greg Giovoni Neill Barry as Lieutenant Bryce Connell Ewan McGregor as Lieutenant Commander Gene Summers From: "Gary Boshears" Subject: EAS Dark Thunder "Specter of The Darkness" Chapter 1 Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 21:28:48 -0500 Warnings and disclaimers in Prologue. Chapter One EAS Dark Thunder-Omega-X Class Destroyer Outer Perimeter of Earth Alliance Territory January 18th, 2274 2330 EST Commander Edward MacDonald, waited semi-patiently for the Captain to arrive. He was a little more than curious as to what this message from Earth Force could be about. They hadn't heard anything from the Seventh Fleet for a while, raider groups were being quiet, the problems with the Drazi were over. MacDonald sat back down in the Captain's chair and activated a comm channel to the fighter squadron that was on training maneuvers out side of the ship. "Control to Black Knight Lead." Commander Meade, the ship's CAG(Command Air Group), answered quickly. MacDonald continued. "You guys seen or picked up anything weird out there?" Meade took a moment to answer. Probably trying to determine why the Commander asked him that question. "No nothing. Why?" MacDonald sighed, as much as he didn't want trouble he almost hoped that the fighters that were deployed in front of the ship would have some information. "We've got a signal waiting for the Captain from HQ. Ultraviolet priority, just trying to figure out what's going on." "Ah," Meade replied. "When the Captain gets there, could you patch the signal through to me also?" MacDonald turned to see the Captain, who was still buttoning the collar on his uniform, and Lieutenant Commander Griffon walk onto the bridge. "Will do, Dark Thunder out." MacDonald stood firm at attention. "Captain on the bridge." Barns stood near the Captain's chair, he had constantly insisted that Mac drop these formalities. "At ease Commander. I have the Con." "Captain has the Con." MacDonald stood slightly at ease and walked to the first officer's station. Barns finished with the collar on his uniform, he was going to need to get it resized soon. "All right, let's not keep HQ waiting, put it through." The central communication screen shifted from an Earth Alliance logo to the image of General Pack, one of the Earth Force Joint Chiefs. He was an aging man but still had some youth left in his appearance. His personality though was the same as it had ever been. "Captain, President Sheridan contacted about thirty minutes ago. One of the White Star Fleet monitored some interesting signals coming from the edge of Earth Alliance claimed territory. Specifically a strategically unimportant system. One planet has primitive culture on it. Approximately six million population. Anyway, whatever these signals are, the President is concerned. I've granted the White Star permission to check out that system. Your orders are to take up a holding position in hyperspace in case the White Star runs into trouble." Barns settled down into the Captain's chair. It was bit different from the chairs on most Earth Force destroyers. He always found those rather uncomfortable. He had a taller more comfortable chair installed after the ship's first missions during the ISA/Centauri War. "General," Barns said as he scratched his chin. "Both the Apollo and the Poseidon are closer." Pack smiled. "Yes they are, but I want you there Captain. Your ship and your crew are the best suited for combat situations in all of Earth Force." Barns could not deny this. They had seen enough combat in the past year to make this a fact. "Understood General, we'll be on our way." "Captain, let me stress something. Don't go in without consulting me first." Barns gave a slight nod to his left. "Understood sir." "Good luck to you Captain." The communication screen went blank. Barns turned to face his first officer. MacDonald, like the rest of the crew did not seem overly concerned with their new orders. Couldn't be worse than anything they'd seen in this last year. "Mac, recall all of our fighters out there and set course for the area in hyperspace." A nod from MacDonald was his only response. "All fighters, get back to the barn double time. Helm, set coordinates for jump. Bring jump engines online, prepare to jump." It took only slightly over a minute for the fighters to land. They had closed in with the ship when the transmission from command came in. The helm officer, Lieutenant Jonathan Doyle informed MacDonald that they were ready for jump. MacDonald gave the order. The Dark Thunder shot into hyperspace. 0630 EST The Dark Thunder was just now reaching the location in hyperspace. Some of the crew in the mess hall looked out the windows, trying to see the White Star. They didn't know that it had left the location immediately when the Dark Thunder arrived. Commander Nathan Meade and Lieutenant Bryce Connell didn't seem quite interested. They simply got their trays of food, Meade chose cereal and an english muffin, and Connell took a breakfast sandwich that had eggs, ham and cheese, and sat down. "Sir if I can ask?" Connell was still young, and hence seemed nervous. "What was that transmission from HQ about?" While Meade knew he couldn't reveal what is was about, he also knew how rumors spread on this ship and was curious as to what the young Lieutenant had heard. "Well what have you heard it's about?" Connell started speaking with a more quiet tone of voice. "Well, one of the guys from the Marines told me that the Drahk have taken over an Alliance planet and we're going in to liberate it. Though I heard from this girl in engineering that there's some kind of renegade Minbari cruiser out there and we're helping to hunt it down." Meade laughed as he sipped down his coffee. The way these things spread always amazed him. "Well Lieutenant all I can tell you is this, don't believe everything you here." Meade lifted his coffee cup to his mouth but did not get a chance to take another sip. Klaxon alarms sounded and Lieutenant Commander Griffon's voice boomed through the inner-ship comm system. "Red alert all hands to battle stations, this is not a drill, senior officer report to the bridge." The two pilots ran out of the mess hall, as the rest of the crew was doing, one on his way to the bridge, the other on his way to the hangar bay. Meade arrived on the bridge to see Barns, MacDonald and Griffon standing at the tactical station. Apparently watching some kind of a recording. "Ah, Commander, good." Barns said, motioning for him to come to the tactical station. He did and started looking at the monitor which now displayed only a still frame of hyperspace. "We just picked up a signal from the White Star, their video record was sent with it. We lost contact, watch you'll see why." Griffon started playing the recording. It showed, from the White Star's point of view, the ship jumping out of hyperspace and approaching the planet. A beautiful planet which seemed to be covered by deep blue oceans and lush green land. Then, out of nowhere, a ship, a dark ship that's outer hull appeared similar to the Dark Thunder's but the shape looked like something out of the worst possible nightmare. The ship fired a purple beam and the image turned to static. Meade stood back, he felt that his heart was about to pound out of his chest. He was sweating, having trouble breathing. Barns knew he needed to know the rest. "This," he had Griffon cue up a new file, "was the last transmission we received." "Oh my God, no, it can't be..aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh." Meade did not know how to react, he was gasping for air. "Excuse me sir." He ran off the bridge. Barns, MacDonald and Griffon, the three senior most officers on the ship exchanged a quick glance. Barns started walking off the bridge. "XO has the Con." MacDonald stopped watching the Captain. "Aye sir, I have the Con." Barns walked swiftly, yet not fast enough to draw attention, to Meade's quarters. He pressed the door chime twice but received no answer. He then ordered an override on the lock and walked in. He found Meade lying on his bed, head buried in a pillow. "Commander, do you know what those are?" Barns kept his voice gentle yet authoritative. Meade sat up and nodded, his face and hair covered in sweat. "Sir...I," he stuttered. Barns shook his head. "If you know what they are mister then you better tell me right now! Do you know what they are?" Meade nodded again. "I've only seen one type of ship like that before. I prayed I'd never see it again." "When Meade, when did you see ships like that?!?" Meade breathed in and out deeply for a moment. "Shadow ships sir, during the Shadow War."