From: Jason Krish Subject: story submission Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 14:28:43 -0700 This is my first story. It is the first in an ongoing series. This particular story is titled 'The Measure of a Soul'. It ties in loosely with David Goldingay's Rimstaker universe and borrows some terms he has created. The story you are about to read is not the main focus. It is only a minor thread in the weaving that is the Babylon 5 tapestry. The early threads are the backbone for the weaving still to be done. The Measure of a Soul Act 1 ********** The nine remaining members of Alpha Squadron readied themselves for the jump to normal space. Their mothership, the EAS Coventry (a Nova Class Dreadnought), was continuing on elsewhere to check on another reported sighting of Minbari vessels. Once there, like now, they would drop off Delta Squadron and double back to pick up Alpha. With luck, the recon would be uneventful. Lt. Walker did not harbor any reservations as to how an encounter with the Minbari would turn out. Contrary to what was being released to the public, Earthforce personnel knew exactly how the war was going, in a word: badly. They knew that any engagement between the two forces only resulted in one way: any Earthforce vessels involved were either destroyed or rendered inoperative. There were usually very few survivors in the battles that were fought and even then if any survivors tried to get out a signal they were then ruthlessly finished off. Sadly, this fact did not just apply to Earthforce vessels, but to any installations encountered too. One more than one occasion a colony or installation was wiped out/destroyed simply for the crime of being human. Military targets Lt. Walker could understand, but the civilian targets? The knowledge that civilian sites and vessels were being targeted and destroyed only strengthened Earthforce's resolve to do all they could to prevent further genocidal acts. It was as if the Minbari were trying to eliminate all traces of humanity from the galaxy! Great Maker damn them all! Still, he knew that as long as there remained any free humans, they would do all they could to survive. Humanity would go down fighting to the bitter end. About the only victories Earthforce had, albeit extremely few, were in some of the ground battles. There at least they could fight them face to face and at least have half a chance of victory. Of course, all it usually led to was delaying the inevitable, but just sometimes, the minor victories could become the rallying cry necessary for hope. "Oh well," Garth thought, "enough depressing thoughts." If they were to survive an encounter they needed all the hope that they could muster. They were almost ready to jump. The Coventry would open the portal to normal space and then carry on. Being as it was one of the only Earthforce capital vessels in the sector they did not wand to leave hyperspace unless absolutely necessary. There was no sense in presenting to the Minbari an inviting target now was there? If Alpha Squadron did encounter anyone they could always send out a communiqué and hope the Coventry would get it and notify Earthforce, and if possible return to help. "Alpha Leader to Coventry, ready to jump." "Roger that Alpha Leader, portal opening in thirty seconds. Happy hunting." "Alpha Leader to squad. Final systems check, if there is anything wrong, say so now and drop back." … "Alright then. I'll take your silence to mean all is well then, form up and let us jump." The jumpgate opened before them. "Alpha Leader to Coventry. Hope your screens are clear and voyage uneventful. Besides Captain Corin, you still owe me for last nights' game. Alpha Leader out." Captain Corin chuckled to himself as he watched his squad jump through to real space. Hope your screens are clear and voyage uneventful too he thought. He knew that he likely wouldn't be able to return in time if they did encounter any Minbari craft. He hated knowing that each time he sent his pilots out it was likely to their death. These days they needed all the pilots and ships they could get their hands on. It was all he could do to keep his ship and crew alive. At least in this they had been lucky these last few months. The Minbari had been relatively quiet in this sector of space. Therefore, the only real attrition the Coventry had been attributable to some Raider fights and pilot and crew transfers. Still, they were very short on Starfuries these days. However, since they weren't encountering the Minbari, Earthforce command saw no need to replace his fighters when they were more sorely needed elsewhere. With alpha's nine fighters on patrol, all that was left to him were the eight fighters that made up Delta Squadron, and this was only until they dropped them off elsewhere to check on another reported Minbari sighting. May the Great Maker have mercy on their souls if they encountered the Minbari. "Navigation, how long till we reach Delta Point?" "Eight hours sir." "Eight hours," he thought, "I have to leave them out there for sixteen hours." The situation would be no different once they reached Delta Point and dropped off Delta Squadron to check out another reported sighting. "No," he thought, "I won't be able to return in time at all." Well, barring any problems, Corin figured he might as well as get some rest. But first he would stop by the Ready Room and let Delta know that Alpha was safely delivered, then get some rest. He had a feeling that he would need it. "Janner, you have the bridge," barked Corin and off he went. ********** 1806 Earth Standard Time (EST) Alpha had formed up in-groups of three and jumped through. "God," thought Walker," good to be back in real space. The downside being that now that they were here, they had a job to do, and not a pleasant one at that. A convoy of military freighters had recently jumped into the system to effect repairs on one of their vessels. During the brief period they were in-system the vessels long-range sensors went off, indicating possible hostiles. There also was some activity on the COM channels, but just as quickly as it happened, the signals had stopped or disappeared. Aware that it could possibly be a trap, the convoy was unwilling to spare any of its fighter escort to check on the findings and quickly decided to forego the repairs and reenter hyperspace. Once back in hyperspace, a coded communiqué, via the Tachyon network, was sent to Earthforce along with all sensor data and COM chatter. The convoy had received acknowledgement back with orders to proceed on their mission, seeing as how the convoy only had a few fighters along for support, This is where Alpha Squadron and the Coventry came in. Being as it was the closest (not to mention one of the only) Earthforce vessel in that sector of space, she was ordered to investigate, but only to send the fighters in in case it was a trap. No sense in losing a capital vessel, for without their mothership, the fighters were basically dead in the water, at least the Coventry could fend for itself. Earthforce hated doing it, but they needed all the intelligence they could get. If there was enemy activity in that sector of space, then they needed to know about it. Getting that intelligence was their job right now. "Alpha Leader to Squadron. Here we go. Alpha 7, 8, and 9 form up and check that moon over there. Alpha 4, 5, and 6 form up and check the planetary body the moon is orbiting. Alpha's 2 and 3 form up on my wing and we'll check further out. Sensors indicate a sizable asteroid belt further out. We'll start there. Only report in if you find anything. Happy hunting, Alpha Leader out." "Alright 2 and 3, set throttle for half max. We have awhile yet before we reach the belt. We need to conserve power as the Coventry is not expected back for about sixteen hours or so." The fighters had been fitted out with extra fuel and air tanks, but no sense in wasting their reserves since if they got into a firefight, they would need all the reserves they could get. ********* 2214 EST An alarm sounded on Walker's console, startling him awake. Only his wake up call he noticed. "Alright 2 and 3, time to wake up. We got a job to do." "Langen (Alpha 2), take position 250 km off my port side. Moore (Alpha 3), take position 250 km off my starboard. You guys know the drill. Report in if you find anything." "Roger that Alpha Leader," chimed 2 and 3. He watched them veer off to their respective assignments then turned back to the job at hand. Their job was daunting to say the least. Try to find the source of signals several days old. Still, it was a job that needed to be done. He flipped a switch on his console and watched the holoimager come to life. Alpha Leader's craft had also been upgraded to include a better sensor package. That had been something that Earthforce had at least been willing to do. When the Coventry had last been refit, Corin had pleaded with Command to at least upgrade some of his craft so they could do their job better: that of patrol and recon. Shaking himself awake again, he started the sensors on long range first to get a better idea on the size of the belt. Walker had been going at it for about an hour when his COM system chimed. He noted it to be from Alpha 2, also curiously scrambled. Must have found something. He toggled his encryption program and opened the secure channel, "Alpha Leader here, what have you got." ********** The base was a flurry of activity as the crew rushed towards the infirmaries and engineering sections. Deran hadn't actually received any reports, but seeing as how he was in the sensor room when all power was lost, well he was smart enough to guess what had happened. Before he left the room the power was restored which suggested to him that at least the reactor was alright. He did notice, however, that both sensor arrays were offline and that fact made him very nervous. Without those arrays they were very vulnerable. Still, there were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, like heading down to the engineering area and see what was going on and how to help. A short while ago, several small rogue asteroids had bombarded the base. The short-range sensor array had been offline at the time as it was undergoing upgrading when the bombardment happened. The interceptor cannons had been able to destroy most of the asteroids, but some had managed to slip through the screen. The ones that had managed to get through had hit the engineering section or missed the base altogether. The resulting explosion and decompression had managed to destroy the sensor arrays and sadly, killed most of the personnel present at the time. ********** Lt. Walker watched the data scroll across his screen and through the holoimager. There wasn't much, but what information there was suggested an explosion of some magnitude. "Good job Alpha 2, signal the other two groups in at best speed." "Roger that." That gave them about three hours before they would arrive. What they needed to do now was to find out what they were up against. If there was an explosion, then in all likelihood they had some time before they were discovered. His train of thought was interrupted as again his COM system chimed. "Alpha 3 checking in." "Alright then, Alpha 2 and 3, concentrate on the short-range scans. Let me know if you find anything or get any unusual signals. I'll perform the long-range scanning and see if we can get a better picture of what happened. "Roger that." "Ditto AL." Walker hated it when he did that. ********** The scene in engineering was one of organized chaos. Actually, by the time Deran had got there it was under control. There were reports of some men still trapped inside, but their air supply wouldn't last for long. Deran suited up to check out the damage for himself. He needed to know what was left to him for power and reserves. ********** 0132 EST Alpha's 1-3 had been going about their recon for about three hours now with little to show. Walker had been able to confirm the explosion, but not much more than that. The belt was fouling up their sensor scans quite well. Alpha 3 did find some electronic device on a small asteroid, which appeared to be some sort of short-range sensor, likely part of a larger sensor net. It did not appear to be functioning though, a side effect of the explosion perhaps? It also confirmed their worst fears: Minbari were present in the area and active somewhere in this system, likely the belt. He suspected that for the moment the Minbari had more important problems to attend to. Just then the COM system signaled the arrival of the other fighters. "Good," he thought, "now to signal the Coventry." It wouldn't reach them for awhile, but at least once it reached them; they would have confirmation and pass it along to Earthforce Command. He readied the message and data and sent it off, hoping it would reach the Coventry in time, and hoping that they would still be alive when she got here. ********** The damage was near total. Only by great luck did the reactor escape destruction. Right now the base was on auxiliary life support, and that would only last them for about 24 hours. The air supply could be extended further by sealing off and shutting down portions of the base, but only for so long. Both sensor arrays were totally destroyed, and that left only the limited arrays in the interceptor guns. Until the supply vessel got here sometime tomorrow, they were dangerously vulnerable. He would have to risk sending out a flyer to contact the supply ship. -- Jason Krish Ranger(Edmonton) Zeta Squadron #Z1223 It was the Year of Passing Shadows..... The adventures of Captain Cross and crew of the Battlestar In Valen's Name lost in unknown space.... From: Jason Krish Subject: story Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 14:29:54 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit This is Act II of 'The Measure of a Soul'. The Measure of a Soul Act 2 ********** 0144 EST With the sensor net apparently offline and the confirmation of an explosion deep in the belt, Alpha Leader decided to act. The Minbari were likely preoccupied with damage control right now. The Coventry wouldn't be here for hours, so rather than just sit and risk being discovered he decided to go on the offensive. "Alpha Squadron, listen up. We're going in hot. Stick to your wingmen and keep an eye out for any hostiles or more of that sensor net. Radio silence unless you discover something. Keep it tight and happy hunting." ********** The last thing they needed was for the Humans to discover their base. There had been a sighting of them in this area a short while ago. From what little they could gather, they weren't looking for them, but it appeared as though one of their vessels was having field repairs done. Also, he thought, that seeing as how quickly they left, they must have detected them somehow. That would likely mean an Earth cruiser and fighters would be sent to investigate. That didn't give them much time, no, not at all. For all he knew, they could be here already and they wouldn't know it. In their present state, they could easily be wiped out. ********** 0153 EST So far, nothing but rock. Whatever minerals were present in the rocks was royally screwing up the sensor data. It got to the point where Walker flipped off the long-range sensors and shunted power to the short-range sensor array. He was certain that if they knew they were here, the Minbari would have acted by now. Not that he was complaining. The longer the Minbari took to react, the better their chance of survival, and they might even surprise them. They had to if they hoped to survive. ********** 0204 EST the Coventry "Coventry to Delta Squadron. Jumpgate opening in 60 seconds. Standby." "Roger that Coventry," replied Lt. Landals, the leader of Delta Squadron. Only eight hours earlier the Coventry had dropped off Alpha Squadron. This time it was Delta Squadron's turn. There had not been any word from Alpha Squadron, which could be taken as either good or bad news depending on how one looked at it. Lt. Landals hoped that all was well with Alpha Squadron. She had lost too many friends to this damn war already. This was a war with no end yet in sight, though without some sort of miracle, they knew how this war would likely end: with the termination of the Human light from the galaxy before its proper time. She didn't know how, but she knew that if that were to happen, their light wouldn't be the only one extinguished from the galaxy. She shook herself clear, their was a job to do, leave that nonsense to the philosophers. ********** "Captain Corin. Receiving incoming transmission. It appears to be from Alpha Squadron sir." "Main screen then, let us hear what they have to say." Inside Corin secretly feared for the worst. He knew that Lt. Walker wouldn't contact them unless it was important. "It's encrypted and labeled for your eyes only sir." "Very well then, I'll take the call in my office." This caused the crew to chuckle. "Tell Delta to standby." Captain Corin had worded it that way so as to help to relieve the tension he felt on the bridge. His office was barely big enough for him, let alone a desk and seat. They had supply closets bigger than his office on the ship. He unbuckled himself and floated to his office. He entered and closed the door, which caused the lights to come to life. He headed over to the com unit and held up his hand to the security screen. "Captain Corin, code Alpha Tango 120872." "…voice match confirmed…" "…hand pattern confirmed…" "…code accepted…decoding transmission…standby…" Corin 'sat' down on his desk and waited while the signal was unscrambled. ******** "Computer. Open Gold channel transmission to Earthdome. Code Corin Omega 451." He hoped the Admiral was in a good mood today. ******** -- Jason Krish Ranger(Edmonton) Zeta Squadron #Z1223 It was the Year of Passing Shadows..... The adventures of Captain Cross and crew of the Battlestar In Valen's Name lost in unknown space....