Criticism is welcomed. Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
*****************************
1200 hours on the bridge of Whitestar 71:
“We have sustained severe damage, captain. We must withdraw to allow our
automatic repair systems to do their job,” commented his first officer.
“We have lost three of us and the remainder are badly damaged, but the
threat is still there. We all know what will happen if we don’t somehow stop
that dreadnought,” replied Sheraun. “Take us back in. Maybe, if we can destroy
at least one more of the cruiser/carriers, it will allow the EA destroyers to
attack the dreadnought before it can begin firing on the domes.”
“Captain, there is a jump point opening on the far side of the dreadnought,”
noted his first officer.
“Show me!”
As Sheraun watched the jump point opened, and out of it came the EAS Ares
with all its weapons targeting the dreadnought. Somewhere inside Sheraun real
hope made itself known. He knew what that ship could do, or at least he thought
he did, but he was puzzled at the erratic readings that her power systems and
weapons were producing. He knew it had been in relatively good shape when it
had been at Babylon 5, and wondered what could have happened in the intervening
time to garner these results. He wasn’t aware of the destruction of the Drakh
space station. He watched as the dreadnought turned and raked the Ares with its
main batteries. That it caused no major damage was not lost on him. His
knowledge of Susan Ivanova caused him to ponder what she might have in mind. He
knew it would be deadly, and it was frustrating to have to wait. - little did
he realize how short that wait would be.
*****************************
1228 hours onboard the Drakh Dreadnought:
“How long before you can open fire on the domes?” queried the Drakh
commander.
“We will have the final computations done and weapons recharged in about
five standard minutes. Once we start, the computers will continue the attack
until all the domes are destroyed,” answered his weapons officer.
“I want this done as quickly as possible. That was the Ares that we just
exchanged fire with. It will be back. I want to be gone before it returns.”
“Commander, they cannot do any real damage to us especially in their present
condition,” commented his intelligence officer.
The Drakh sat thinking very hard. The Earth ship had jumped in and exchanged
fire then jumped out. It didn’t make any logical sense. The more he thought
about it, the more he worried. The commander of that ship had destroyed his
vessel’s sister ship, a space station and four other major combatants. That
commander would have had a very good reason for his actions. “Did you get an
analysis on the short burst communications signals we intercepted earlier?”
“Commander,” noted one of the sensor console operators, “The transmissions
contained no intelligence. They weren’t standard EA communications
transmissions.”
“Then what were they?”
“As best we can determine, they are pure data transmissions that are heavily
encrypted. We received more of them just as the Ares was jumping to hyperspace.”
“Show me the locations of the jump points that opened earlier and the
location of the jump points that the Ares generated a few minutes ago.”
The commander looked at the three-dimensional display for about half a
minute, then ordered, “Navigation, open a jump point and get us away from here,
NOW!”
“Sir?”
“I SAID NOW!”
“It will take a few minutes, commander. The jump engines are offline,”
replied his navigator.
“Sir! There is a jump point forming about twenty-five kilometers off our aft
starboard quarter!” Said a sensor console operator.
“Weapons! Target that jump point! Navigator! Bring us about! NOW! Weapons,
as soon as we can, target the jump point with the main batteries. Are our
missiles capable of firing?” demanded the commander.
“The missile launchers are not energized at this time, commander,” replied
the weapons officer. “It will take at least fifteen standard minutes to make
them ready.”
As the Ares began to exit hyperspace the Drakh dreadnought began firing its
secondary weapons.
“Commander! The power levels I am reading are almost off the monitor scale.
I will have to re-calibrate!” said an excited console operator.”
Too late, the Drakh commander realized that the erratic power readings and
weapons fire from the Ares had been a ploy to make him feel overconfident, and
it had worked admirably. The Earth ship had taken fire from his main weapons
systems and departed without any really significant damage. That should have
aroused his suspicions, but it hadn’t. Even in its apparently weakened state,
the Earth ship had inflicted not inconsiderable damage to his secondary weapons
arrays. If his sensors were correct, it was back, and this time its power
systems were functioning at levels beyond their original design specifications.
His arrogance prevented him from accepting the fact that he had made a bad
tactical decision and was about to pay dearly for it.
*****************************
1231 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
As the Ares exited the jump point it was hit by a barrage of secondary
weapons fire from the Drakh dreadnought.
“S.W.C.!”
“I’m firing now, captain,” he responded.
“Mister Breen?”
“Initiating course change to take us under the Drakh ship, Sir.”
*****************************
1231 hours onboard the Drakh Dreadnought:
“Commander! They have opened fire with their main batteries!” exclaimed his
weapons officer.
“I can see that. They have targeted our power generators,” he responded. As
he finished his sentence, all power on the bridge was lost. “Engineering get
the emergency generators on line!” he snapped.
It was several minutes before he got a response. “Our main distribution
switchboards are destroyed, commander,” responded his engineer. “We can’t get
the main emergency generators on line. We are bringing up the secondary
emergency generators, but they only generate enough power to operate the basic
life support and lighting systems.”
Feeling the loss of artificial gravity, the commander knew that his ship was
mortally wounded. His ship was now nothing more than a very large target. Now
he understood how their sister ship had been destroyed. The lessons learned
were wasted, because he knew neither he nor any of the others in his task force
would live long enough to tell anyone.
“Can we get some sensors back on line?” he asked.
The commander had no sooner spoken than the holographic display came to
life. It showed the Earth ship going under the belly of his ship. He waited for
the killing strike, but it never came. As the Ares went beneath his ship, if
space can be said to have any up or down, he watched it release something that
looked like slow speed missiles.
Then he realized they were more akin to space mines. As he continued to
wonder, the Ares opened a jump point and disappeared into hyperspace. A moment
later, several flashes, looking like a single large flash, thousands of times
brighter than the average sun, destroyed the sensors that were working on his
ship.
“Commander,” said his engineer, “we are reading levels of neutron radiation
many times beyond a lethal level on the innermost radiation monitors.”
“Those were radiation bombs. They intend to kill us and capture the ship,”
commented the intelligence officer.
“Since we don’t have any self-destruct mechanism on board, it appears that
they may very well succeed. Arm any one who can carry a weapon. We will be
ready for them,” responded the commander.
Unknown to the commander, his personnel were already beginning to die from
the radiation exposure, particularly those who had been near the outer hull
areas.
*****************************
1231 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Victoria:
Captain Elaine Harper had just turned her command chair to face the
engineering watch station. “How bad is the damage?”
“Jump engines are offline, main engines are damaged to the extent we can
only do half speed. We have lost fifty percent of our secondary weapons
capacity, two main batteries are destroyed, we have sustained six collisions,
our defense grid is down and our communications and sensors, except for the
point-to-point lasers are useless,” responded the engineer.
“If we somehow survive, I’m going to choke the life out of Cashdollar,
personally.”
Captain Harper had no sooner finished her sentence than her ship shuddered
from internal explosions.
“What hit us?” she asked rhetorically.
“We have been hit by energy beams, captain,” replied the engineer. “The
reports I’m receiving indicate that we have been heavily damaged just forward
of the main reactors. Something damned near cut us in half, captain. We have a
bunch of casualties. Medical is responding.”
“Where did it come from?” asked Harper.
“As best we can determine, captain, it came from what we believe to be the
general direction of the dreadnought.”
*****************************
1231 hours on the bridge of EAS Santiago:
“Captain Cashdollar. Shouldn’t we be using the recommended tactics for this
type of situation to try and extricate ourselves from this battering we are
enduring?” asked his executive officer, Commander Mark Seivers.
“Are you questioning my judgment, commander?”
Seivers looked him directly in the eyes for almost thirty seconds before he
answered. “I’d prefer to think of it as offering alternatives, captain.”
“I don’t need a second in command who is insubordinate, commander. Do I make
myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
A minute later, the Santiago shuddered under another impact from an unmanned
Kamikaze Drakh fighter.
Members of the bridge crew looked at one another and at Commander Seivers,
with fear clearly evident in their eyes.
*****************************
1232 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
The Ares was hitting the Drakh dreadnought with her main batteries at
absolute maximum power. “Captain, I can’t maintain this firing rate for more
than thirty seconds without melting the emitters,” noted S.W.C.
“That should be more than enough,” responded Ivanova.
Less than ten seconds after the Ares engaged the Drakh ship with its main
batteries, the power readings on the dreadnought dropped to almost zero, as its
main and secondary power switching systems consisting of massive buss bars,
switches and transformers and control relays, located aft of the reactors and
forward of the main engines, were reduced to a mass of molten metal. The
ensuing short-circuits caused the ships reactors to execute a safety shutdown.
As the ship lost power, its powerful jamming transmitters were silenced.
Ten seconds after the Drakh jammers ceased operation, the Ares sensor
displays came alive with information from outside the ship. The first thing
Susan saw was that a warlock destroyer was in the firing line on the other side
of the Drakh ship. Before she could say anything the powerful beams, emitted
from the Ares main batteries, sliced through the stern of the dreadnought and
struck the side of the unfortunate Earth ship located at slightly more than ten
thousand kilometers distance.
The sensors displayed the hull damage as Susan ordered, “CEASE FIRE! NOW!”
“We have ceased fire, captain. What’s wrong?” asked S.W.C.
“We just damned near cut one of our own ships in half,” she responded. “We
just killed some of our own people.”
“I’m sorry, captain.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s my responsibility,” responded Susan. “I’ll have
to answer for it.”
“We have launched the nukes, captain,” said S.W.C.
“I’m getting us out of here right now, captain,” said Breen, as a jump point
opened in front of the ship.
“Let’s get this over with, before we kill any more of our own.”
“We’ll be ready to jump in on the cruiser/carriers in five minutes,
captain,” said Breen.
“S.W.C., when we exit hyperspace, I want those cruiser/carriers destroyed as
fast as possible. No poking around about it.”
“Yes, sir, captain,” he responded.
Everyone had heard the defeat in Susan’s voice when she mentioned their
killing their own people with friendly fire.
*****************************
1234 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares:
“My God, that was quick,” commented President Luchenko’s aide.
“Somebody tell me that was real,” said Sanchez. I’ve never seen an attack
that quick. Not even when she destroyed the other dreadnought.”
“Now do you understand, Madam President, why Susan Ivanova was the best
choice to fight this ship?” queried Leftcourt.
“Now I understand why this ship cost several times as much as one of the
warlocks,” she replied. “What are we going to do about the damage to that other
destroyer?”
“I don’t think anyone can be blamed for that,” answered Charles
Luchenko. “There was no way to know it was even there. And, its distance was
so great that a normal weapon would not have caused much, if any, damage. I
venture that we have no real data concerning the maximum effective range of
this ship’s weapons systems under the conditions which they are being operated.”
“Your husband is correct, Madam President. A warlock would have trouble
causing that much damage, in that short a span of time, even at point blank
range. We simply have no data concerning this ship’s weapons under these
conditions. We don’t even have guesses. Until now, we didn’t know about Susan’s
little bag of tricks,” commented Sanchez.
“You’re awfully quiet, Captain Owens,” observed President Luchenko.
“I have nothing to say. I’ve been aware of her little bag of tricks for a
very long time. Captain Ivanova and I have served together for just over two
years now. I’ve worked with her and our crew to develop and test some of the
ideas you have seen used here today. She’s the best. It’s as simple as that.”
Nobody present disagreed with Captain Owens.
*****************************
1234 hours in the wardroom onboard EAS Ares:
“What just happened, Mister Egan?” asked Senator Mathers.
“The Ares just took out the Drakh dreadnought, for all practical purposes.
Now we will probably destroy the remaining cruiser/carrier type ships. That
is... the ones that haven’t already been destroyed. Today you don’t want to be
a Drakh in orbit around Mars. Payback is a mother...” replied Egan.
“When, do you suppose, will we get back to Earth?” asked Mathers.
“If we actually capture the dreadnought, I would expect sometime tomorrow.
We might get back tonight, but it isn’t likely. I imagine General Ivanova will
let us know as soon as she knows,” responded Egan.
*****************************
1234 hours in the main gymnasium onboard EAS Ares:
There was a hushed silence in the space as the journalists watched the
attack on the dreadnought and its swift results. After a couple of minutes, a
voice from the middle of the group asked, “What in hell was that?”
“Gentlemen and women, may I remind you that everything you are seeing is
classified. Any story you write about this event must be cleared by the CJCS
public affairs office,” noted a lieutenant standing behind the group. “If you
have any questions, direct them to me, and I will get you answers ASAP, so as
not to delay you getting your stories in to your editors.”
“The weapons fire went through that thing like a big stick through wet
tissue paper,” commented the voice from the middle of the group.
“And shot the hell out of one of our own ships,” added another voice.
“It couldn’t be avoided,” commented a third voice, this one a female.
“I agree,” said the first voice. “You couldn’t even tell it was there.”
“I didn’t even know we had weapons that would shoot that far,” commented a
fourth voice.
“We don’t,” stated the lieutenant from the back of the room.
“Then what did we just see?” asked the first voice.
“That’s why this is highly classified. I’m not sure what you just saw, and
this is my ship. What we have just seen exceeds the design specifications of
the Ares. I would imagine this whole endeavor will be classified at least Top
Secret.”
“I don’t like it, but I understand it,” replied the first voice.
*****************************
1237 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
“Flag mess, CIC, General Leftcourt, do we have any of your teeps still
onboard?” asked Susan.
In the flag mess, Leftcourt looked at Marsh. “I think we have one left
aboard. He wanted to go to the change of command. Why?” asked Marsh.
“I want a teep to accompany Colonel Munoz and his troops over to the Drakh
ship. If any of her command crew are still alive, we may learn something about
the Drakh near future plans,” replied Susan.
Sanchez looked at Leftcourt and Marsh with a smile on his face. “I think she
covets my job.”
“Not at all, general. I see no reason to waste a perfectly good
opportunity,” she answered.
Marsh called his man and clued him in on his duties. Then he gave Ivanova
the fellows’ location.
“Tell him one of my people will collect him and escort him to Colonel
Munoz... And thank you, General Marsh.
“For you General Leftcourt, as soon as I destroy the remaining Drakh ships,
I’ll return the Ares to you. I’m going to accompany Colonel Munoz on his tour
on the Drakh ship. I didn’t get a chance to tour any of those we captured at
Babylon 5,” said Susan closing her audio channel with the flag mess.
In CIC the engineer was looking at Susan. “Where is the man located,
captain?”
*****************************
1239 hours in the flag mess:
“Did she just say she is going over to the Drakh ship with the marines?”
asked President Luchenko.
Leftcourt gave her a look of resignation, “Yes she did. Don’t worry about
it. She can take care of herself. Give me a minute to dig it out of my luggage,
and I will show you an interesting recording. It will allay your fears.”
“You haven’t showed me or Arthur that one, general. You’re going to make us
feel left out,” commented Sanchez.
“As soon as the shooting’s over with, get the others up here, and we will
have a little show-and-tell,” replied Leftcourt. “Colonel Munoz gave me this
copy just after Susan beat the living hell out of the Arkland boy.”
*****************************
1239 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
“Captain Ivanova, our forward emitters are still very hot. It would be
better if we used the after batteries to kill the cruiser/carriers,” noted
S.W.C.
“You heard him Mister Breen. Take us in butt first,” ordered Susan.
Chucking to himself, Breen responded, “Butt first it is, captain.” He
inputted the commands that turned the ship and simultaneously opened a jump
point.
“S.W.C., you can open fire at your convenience.”
“Yes Sir.”
*****************************
1240 hours on the bridge of the Drakh cruiser/carrier ‘Glith’:
“Commander those explosions must have been radiation bombs. We have just
recorded an increase in the background radiation,” announced the sensor
operator.
“Is it dangerous?”
“No, sir. It is just enough to be noticeable, and it corresponds to the time
it would take for the radiation to reach us.”
“The Nilgrafh has been completely disabled. The Earth ship responsible is on
its way here. We will be next. Extricate us from these fighters, program our
fighters to attack the Earth ship as soon as it exits from hyperspace and jump
to hyperspace. Pass that to the Singtal and Hucluj. Our destruction will gain
us nothing.”
“Commander, the number of life signs aboard the Nilgrafh is decreasing. At
this rate, they will all be dead within two standard hours,” observed the
sensor operator.
“Then let us depart this area, quickly.”
“Our jump engines are off-line, commander,” said his engineer. “It will be
several minutes before we can jump.”
“Commander, there is a jump point forming about three thousand kilometers
off our starboard side,” noted his sensor operator.
“Get our fighters over there. It is that Earth ship.”
“I am reprogramming our fighters, but even that will take some time,
commander,” replied his weapons officer.
“Time is something we do not have.”
*****************************
1240 hours on the bridge of the Drakh cruiser/carrier ‘Singtal’:
“Navigator, open a jump point and get us out of here. We will have to leave
the fighters,” said the ship’s commander. “Weapons, get those fighters
reprogrammed.”
“Commander, the jump engines are on line. I am preparing to jump, however,
the power to the jump engines is fluctuating. Shall I wait until it steadies
up?” queried the navigator.
“Commander! There is a jump point forming off our aft port quarter!” noted a
sensor console operator, with agitation evident in his voice.
The commander looked at the three dimensional display of the immediate area.
There was a ship coming out of the jump point. It was too late to run. “Try and
concentrate our fighters on the jump point. Open a jump point. We can’t wait
for the power to stabilize.”
As he said this one of the whitestars made a run on his ship. It
concentrated its fire on his power reactors. The result was that his power was
fluctuating widely, making a jump to hyperspace very perilous, if not
impossible.
*****************************
1240 hours on the bridge of the Drakh cruiser/carrier ‘Hucluj’:
“Commander, the Earth destroyer has found our range. If we don’t depart the
area immediately we will be destroyed!” exclaimed the sensor console operator.
“Engineering we need the jump engines now! Weapons, we need our fighters
reprogrammed five standard minutes ago!”
“Powering up jump engines now, commander,” replied the engineer.
The commander listened to the incoming message from the Glith. He was
already preparing to jump to hyperspace when his sensor console operator
said, “Commander, there is a jump point opening directly front of us at a
distance of less than four thousand kilometers.”
“As soon as our jump engines are powered up, jump to hyperspace,” ordered
the commander.
*****************************
1241 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
“Opening fire now, captain,” stated S.W.C.
As the Ares emerged from the jump point, the weapons systems achieved lock-
on on the three remaining Drakh warships, and began firing immediately. Two of
the Drakh ships presented broadside aspects and began taking fire into their
reactor sections. Less than two minutes later they were drifting in space with
their primary power generators destroyed. The Drakh ship that presented a bow-
on aspect to the Ares received a raking from its stem to the stern in most
portions of the ship that could be observed from the Ares.
The result of the raking weapons fire was to knock the ship’s jump engines
off-line.
“Captain! There is a large number of Drakh fighters inbound on a CBDR
course. I believe they have been programmed to ram us!” said a tracking console
operator.
“He is correct, captain,” added the S.W.C. “They’re increasing their speed
as they close with us.”
“How long until they arrive?”
“Less than five minutes at their present rate of acceleration,” replied
S.W.C.
“Finish destroying the cruiser/carriers. Mister Breen, get us the hell out
of here at maximum thrust. If they programmed them to attack us, maybe we can
lead them away from the other ships, then destroy them.”
As she was speaking, the Ares shook slightly from an impact. There were
three more impacts in quick succession.
“S.W.C., What’s going on? Those were impacts. I thought you said we had at
least five minutes?”
“Those were so close when we came out of hyperspace, we didn’t have time to
get firing solutions, captain. We’re on the remainder.”
“Get me the other ships!”
A few seconds later, the screen at the front of CIC resolved into the images
of the three warlock destroyer captains and a familiar Minbari male.
“Gentlemen, I am assuming tactical command of the area around Mars. You will
finish destroying the Drakh ships. You will also destroy anything ejected from
these ships and that includes life pods. Since it seems that the Drakh have
reprogrammed their fighters to make Kamikaze runs on the Ares, we are going to
lure them away from you and destroy them. Keep your fighters and ships out of
the line of fire. Unfortunately, we’ve already hit one of you with friendly
fire. My apologies for the damages; I will personally apologize to the families
of any resulting casualties. Hello Sheraun. I’m sorry to be so late.”
“Captain, we have finished disabling the Drakh ships,” stated the S.W.C.
“Navigation can have all the power they need now.”
“I’m switching power from weapons to navigation, captain!” piped the
engineer.
“Mister Breen! Why are we still here?”
“I’m working on that, captain.”
*******************************************
1243 hours on the bridge of the EAS Victoria:
Captain Harper was looking at the image of Ivanova on her display screen.
“Captain Ivanova, This is Captain Harper aboard the EAS Victoria. I’m afraid
we caught your fire. I have a large number of wounded and quite a few dead. Not
all of them resulted from your fire. My medical facilities have been badly
damaged and my best triage teams were amongst the casualties.”
“My sincerest apologies, Captain Harper. As soon as we finish destroying
these Drakh fighters, Ares will return and coordinate the evacuation of yours
and the Sinclair’s casualties.” Looking off-screen Susan said, “Comm. get busy
on that. Get the other ships on the horn and get their casualty counts and
injury severity. Also, try to raise Mars Control. They may be able to help with
the coordination of efforts. Also, contact the remaining whitestars and see
what we can do for them. Pass to all ships present for them to get well clear
of that last Drakh cruiser/carrier. I’m going to use it for a demonstration.”
The communications console operator was very busy carrying out Ivanova’s
orders, but managed a hurried, “Yes, sir.”
“Thank you for your consideration, captain,” responded Harper.
*****************************
1245 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares:
“That didn’t take very long,” observed President Luchenko.
“You expected anything else?” asked Sanchez. That earned him an exasperated
look from the President.
On the display, the observers in the flag mess watched an incoming call from
the EAS Santiago.
“Ares this the EAS Santiago, Captain Richard Cashdollar, commanding. I don’t
recognize your authority to assume tactical command of this area. As the senior
captain, I refuse to relinquish tactical command of this area.”
“Oh my God, how stupid can you get?” asked Captain Owens, of those present.
Susan hesitated for at least thirty seconds before answering.
“Captain Cashdollar, is your executive officer available?”
This wasn’t the response Cashdollar had expected. Without thinking, he
answered, “Yes.”
A clean-cut officer, sporting commander insigne, stepped into the pickup
range of the video unit on the Santiago’s bridge. “Commander Mark Seivers at
your service, sir.”
“Commander Seivers, I’m ordering you to relieve Captain Cashdollar of
operational command of EAS Santiago immediately, pending an inquiry into his
behavior during this series of events, and pending his court martial for
insubordination under fire. You will retain command until suitable relief is
assigned. Do you understand these orders?” asked Susan in a toneless steady
voice.
“Yes, sir, captain,” replied Seivers.
“I don’t recognize your authority to relieve me of my command!” snapped
Cashdollar.
“In for a credit, in for a kilogram,” sighed Ivanova. “You now have two
charges of insubordination to answer for, Captain Cashdollar. We are in a
wartime situation this morning. Under the rules and regulations regarding these
situations, I can have you brought aboard the Ares and summarily shot. Don’t
try my patience. You are relieved of command, and confined to your quarters
until further notice. Any more argument out of you and I will order Commander
Seivers to throw you into the brig in irons. Do I make myself clear?” she
snapped.
At this point it belatedly occurred to Cashdollar that he could be in big
trouble, but he wasn’t going to back down. “What gives you the authority to
relieve me of my command, captain?”
“In the first place, I’m a line flag officer. In the second, I am the senior
combat commander in the area and as such, your direct superior. In the third
place, is the President of the EA and the CJCS, and the JAG, all of whom are
watching this exchange along with most of the EA congressional leaders, and
last, but not least, the Secretary of Defense. If you don’t stand down
immediately, I will have you shot before the hour is out, and you have that as
a solemn promise. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly,” replied Cashdollar, turning to his exec. “I relinquish command
of the EAS Santiago to you, Commander Seivers. I will be in my quarters.”
“Commander Seivers, You are to impound all recordings of this mornings
events and do data dumps from your computer systems. The JAG or his appointed
representative will collect them later today. Now, I have a very large number
of Drakh fighters to deal with. Comm. pass the last about data recordings to
the other EAS ships.”
“Man, I never want to get on her bad side!” said Luchenko’s aide. The remark
elicited laughter out of everyone but President Luchenko.
“Who does she think she is running roughshod over an Earthforce captain like
that?” asked President Luchenko.
“She thinks she is in command of this situation, and she is. Her rank, and
the situation, gives her every right to act as she has. She has been decisive
and correct in her actions. She could bring him aboard the Ares, and have the
marines shoot him before a firing squad. Legally she has every right to do so,”
commented Charles Luchenko in a quiet voice.
“Your husband is correct, Madam President,” added Marsh.
“I never knew that a commanding officer had that much authority,” replied
President Luchenko.
“It’s one of the things that makes being a commanding officer of a ship
unique, Madam President,” replied Sanchez. “We give them a great deal of
authority, but in return, we demand absolute responsibility for what happens to
their command, and for the orders they issue. Captain Cashdollar had the same
authority in this area, until Susan rightly relieved him of command as the
tactical commander of the area. He erred in not standing down when ordered to
do so. An inquiry, that most likely would have found him non-culpable, will now
end for sure in his court martial on the insubordination charges.”
“She does it, and gets away with it. He does it, and he gets hung. There’s
something wrong with this picture. Any of you generals could have carried out
my order to relieve Ivanova of command of this ship, General Leftcourt,” noted
President Luchenko.
“Her situation was different from his. It’s simply, Madam President, that
Susan was right and he is wrong,” replied Leftcourt.
“Sweetheart. Don’t argue about something of which you are totally ignorant,”
chided her husband. That earned him a withering glare. He smiled sweetly in
response.
*****************************
1248 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
“How’re we doing S.W.C.?” asked Ivanova.
“We are keeping our distance captain. They aren’t gaining on us, but we have
a lot of them coming at us from off our flanks. We’ve engaged them with the
secondary and tertiary batteries. We’re going to take some hits, captain. There
are too many of them and we have a lot of our weapons off line.”
“Rotate the ship to bring the most systems into play. Meanwhile, use the
after batteries to start destroying the ones chasing us. Use the lowest power
necessary to do the job. We don’t want any more accidents.”
“Yes, sir, captain.”
“Mister Breen. When we are finally through with these fighters, I want to be
thirty thousand kilometers from that damaged Drakh cruiser/carrier. I have a
demonstration planned.” Flipping the selector switch on her communications
panel, Ivanova called her chief medical officer (CMO). “Doctor, we are going to
have mass casualties coming aboard within the hour. There may even be some
aliens amongst them - Minbari, Narn, and Drazi among others. I suggest you get
set up to receive them in hanger bays one and two. Use the remaining marines
and security if necessary. You may want to consider breaking out the MASH
equipment we carry for the marines.”
She received an affirmative answer in response.
*****************************
1250 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares:
“Exactly what kind of demonstration does she have in mind, Tom?” asked
President Luchenko.
Leftcourt looked at her, and it was evident that he had no clue. “I haven’t
the slightest idea, Madam President.”
Everyone else shook their heads ‘no’ as the President looked around the room.
*****************************
1325 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
Thirty five minutes had passed and the Ares had destroyed the last of the
Drakh fighters, but not before being hit by a shower of debris from the
fighters that been destroyed while making attacks from the ship’s flanks. The
huge ship did a slow pivot on her center of gravity and came to a relative stop
facing the direction she had just come from.
“S.W.C., target the Drakh cruiser/carrier,” ordered Ivanova. “Engineer, feed
the entire output of the ships power plants to the forward weapons arrays.”
“Captain, the array emitters won’t last thirty seconds trying to handle that
much power,” noted the engineer.
“I know. That’s why the S.W.C. is only going to use a fifteen second burst.”
“I have a weapons lock and the laser range finder has allowed me to properly
phase the emitters, captain, but we’ve never shot at anything this far away
before.”
“S.W.C., you have no faith. Whitestar 71, this is the Ares. Are your
recording devices running?”
“Yes, General Ivanova,” replied Sheraun.
“Then record the results of my demonstration with that Drakh ship. Fire when
ready, S.W.C.”
*****************************
1326 hours on the bridge of the Drakh cruiser/carrier ‘Hucluj’:
“We are almost finished getting one of our secondary emergency generators on
line, commander. We will be able to keep life support operating when we do,”
said the commander’s engineering officer.
“They have not shot at us for quite a while. I refuse to believe we are
fortunate enough to have been granted a reprieve,” responded the commander.
It was his final conversation, as the first five hundred meters of his ship
were virtually vaporized by a fifteen second burst from the main batteries of
the EAS Ares.
*****************************
1326 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Victoria:
Captain Harper watched in stunned silence with the remainder of her bridge
crew as the forward half of the Drakh cruiser/carrier vanished in a brilliant
flash that seemed to last forever, but in reality lasted only fifteen seconds.
Almost a minute later, Captain Harper commented, “If that had hit us, we’d
be history. I guess we didn’t really get the full effect of Ares’ weapons fire.”
On the other ships’ bridges the observers were speechless at what they
witnessed.
“Get our seriously injured personnel staged for transport to the Ares when
she returns,” ordered Captain Harper. “We need to get a handle on our transport
capabilities. The Sinclair is in very bad shape. They’re going to need all the
help they can get.”
*****************************
1327 on the bridge of Whitestar 71:
“What do you think?” asked Sheraun of his bridge crew. “Impressive or what?”
His executive officer just whistled in response. “I’m glad we don’t have to
face that.”
Looking around his bridge, Sheraun saw the sentiment expressed on the faces
of his entire bridge crew. He had thought the Drakh dreadnought was deadly. Now
he would have to rethink that evaluation. He immediately contacted Delenn on
Minbar.
“Entil’zha, I am sorry to bother you, but I just recorded this for General
Ivanova.” He played back the pertinent parts. “I thought you should know.”
“She said she could destroy one of our war cruisers. She was serious. Thank
you, Sheraun. Please transmit all your records of today’s activities at once.”
“Shall I provide copies to General Ivanova?”
“Yes. That would be appropriate. Transmit your damage reports and casualty
lists, also.”
“I will see to it, Entil’zha. One more thing, General Ivanova offered the
use of her medical facilities for our injured. It is a mess here, Entil’zha.”
“It is appreciated that she does that. Accept her offer.” Delenn broke the
circuit.
*****************************
1327 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
“Mister Breen, get us back to the battle scene ASAP. Jump in next to the
dreadnought. I want to drop off Colonel Munoz and his men. Air Ops, get ready
to launch fighters. I want our prize crew to have a working escort.”
“Opening jump point now, captain.”
Over her intercom, Ivanova gave Munoz his final instructions and informed
him that she had to pass on going with him; other duties came first.
Two short hyperspace jumps and fifteen minutes later, after launching two
squadrons of fighters and dropping two breaching pods and four hundred marines
off for the capture of the dreadnought, the Ares was again in the middle of the
damaged Earthforce destroyers and had maneuvered very close to the EAS
Sinclair. A few minutes after that, she was launching shuttles, loaded with
engineering personnel and medics to the Sinclair.
*****************************
1345 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares:
“It looks like the excitement is over, gentlemen,” commented Mister White.
“I thought she was going with Colonel Munoz over to the Drakh ship,” noted
the President.
“She couldn’t Ma’am. She is too busy doing my job,” replied Owens.
“What do you mean by that, Captain Owens?” asked the President.
“She is doing the job of her executive officer, in addition to her job as
the commanding officer of the ship, Ma’am,” he answered. “Her XO, that would
have been me, isn’t there to do his job.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I understand she has
extensive training and experience at being an executive officer,” noted Mister
White.
“CIC, this is General Leftcourt. Can you hear me, Susan?”
“One moment, general,” replied Susan’s voice. “This is the captain speaking.
Set condition two throughout the ship. Lunch will be delayed for about an hour.
You were saying, general?”
“I thought it might be nice to get a steward to rustle up some grub. I’m
hungry from watching your display this morning.”
“I’ll notify the wardroom, general. CIC out.”
“Mister White, do you still want to meet General Ivanova?” asked Owens.
“After she gets things under control and can spare the time. We don’t seem
to be going anywhere in any hurry,” responded White. “However, General Marsh,
if you might show me the recordings you possess.”
Charles looked at his wife and with a sigh of resigned determination,
said, “Susan, as your husband and advisor, we need to talk in private.”
Owens got up and looked at Charles. “I can show you to an unused office
space, Ma’am.”
The President and her husband followed him out of the flag mess.
“Come with me, Mister White,” said Marsh.
“If anyone comes looking for me, I will be with General Ivanova,” commented
General Sanchez.
Leftcourt looked at Luchenko’s aide. “I suppose that leaves just us?”
“Tell me general, why does the President hate General Ivanova so much? As
best I can tell, Ivanova has never met her or ever done anything to her in any
way? By the way, please call me Reese.”
“Susan fought on the rebel side during the recent civil war. In fact, she
was the second in command. Sheridan made a deal that got her and all the
others, except the telepath, Lyta Alexander, total amnesty. Afterward, Sheridan
got her promoted to captain, and she has done an exemplary job ever since.
Susan is extremely independent, and says what she thinks, without much regard
for the consequences. Other than that, I really don’t have a clue,” responded
Leftcourt.
“The fact that she does her own thing and gets away with it would be enough
by itself. Would you care for some more coffee while we wait for lunch?”
Leftcourt nodded ‘yes’, as he stepped over to the communications panel.
Making contact with the communications center on the ship, he said, “I want a
class one scrambled gold channel link with Earthforce headquarters on Earth.
I’m in the flag mess.”
“Yes, sir, general,” responded the man on the screen.
*****************************
1355 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares:
Susan was relaxing in her command chair when General Sanchez came into CIC.
She looked up at him and asked, “Are you here to relieve me? I told General
Leftcourt that I would fight the ship for him, but then it would be over. The
fighting is over.”
“That’s between you and him. I’m curious about why you wanted to go over to
the Drakh ship?”
“I sent General Marsh’s teep in my place. I wanted a shot at the Drakh
commanding officer.”
Sanchez sat down in one of the available chairs in the flag area. After
studying Susan for a minute, he asked, “What did you hope to gain? The Drakh
wouldn’t be likely to tell you anything. Would he?”
“No, but I wasn’t going to ask. You seem to be forgetting something about
me. The thing that will mean the end of my career when it becomes known.”
“I know you can block telepaths, even a psi cop. So what?”
“Blocking apparently isn’t the limit of my abilities.”
“I don’t understand?”
“During the tactical planning session with my people this morning, I
realized I knew what Lieutenant Breen was going to say before he said it. I
don’t know how. I just did.”
Sanchez studied the worried expression on Susan’s face, and considered what
Susan had just said. “I’ll be damned. You aren’t just a natural telepath
blocker.”
Looking like someone who had just been given a death sentence, Susan, with
weariness in her voice, said, “I’m a true telepath. According to my friend,
Lyta, I may very well be the strongest natural human telepath ever discovered,
or in my case undiscovered. That’s how I was able to hide it from the Psi Corps
all my life. The problem is that I’m relatively untrained. Hopefully, my
husband will be able to help me with that little problem. Seriously though, how
long do you think they’ll let me keep wearing this uniform after they learn
that.”
“Personally, Susan, I don’t have any problem with it, and I’m sure Leftcourt
doesn’t either. The reason I came in here is to talk about what Colonel Munoz’s
instructions are, as concerns the Drakh ship.”
“I instructed him to secure the ship, doing as little damage as possible. I
also gave him instructions to kill all of Drakh crew, except the senior bridge
officers. That’s if there are any left alive. I want to know any future plans
they may be cognizant of.” Holding up her hand to stop Sanchez’s immediate
response, she continued, “The Drakh crew will all be dead within a few hours
from the radiation doses they received. I feel killing them quickly is more
merciful than making them suffer the symptoms of a fatal dose of radiation
poisoning. If the roles were reversed, I’d appreciate someone doing it for me.”
“I see. I suppose it would help if I made arrangements for our people to
take over, after Colonel Munoz finishes his assignment?”
“I’d appreciate that, General Sanchez. The President isn’t going to want to
hang around here forever, now that the excitement is over with.” Getting up,
Susan said, “S.W.C., you have the con. Get someone up here to relieve you, and
get the CIC crew fed. I’ll have my remote headphones on with this circuit open,
if you need to contact me. I’m going down to the hanger bay and check on the
transportation. I’ll be stopping by to talk to the congressional delegation and
to the news people.”
“Mind if I walk with you?” asked Sanchez.
“If you feel it’s safe, general,” she replied.
“Captain, did you read my mind?” asked Breen.
“No Lieutenant, I didn’t. During the meeting, I thought I heard your last
comment in my head, just before you vocalized it. I can’t read minds, Mister
Breen.”
After Susan departed, Breen looked at the S.W.C. and asked, “Did you have
any suspicions that she was a telepath, commander?”
“It’s news to me. But... after learning that she could block a psi cop’s
scan, I don’t suppose we should be surprised.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“I don’t really know. There isn’t anything about her, or the way she does
things that’s all that different from my former commanding officers. However,
it may explain why she seems to understand her people better than any of my
previous skippers. With that in mind, I’d have to say in her case, it’s a very
positive thing.”
*****************************
END PART 10
part 11
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