And then there was the crew…
Most of the Babylon’s crew had been off-ship – either being questioned by Welles and his security guards or just being out of the way – when Sheridan had defected. A handful of the crew had gone with him, and stayed with him. Another handful had come back, along with a few of Mr. Bester’s people.
Bester had, unsurprisingly, provided no explanation for what had happened to the Babylon, or what had happened to Captain Sheridan. The newly promoted President Clark had muttered darkly about a few things, but had then let the matter lie. General Hague was becoming seriously unstuck. Mr. Welles was, of course, interested, but then he always was. Takashima…
This felt uncomfortable, and it was more than just the concern about facing the Minbari again. The Babylon was the mainstay of Proxima’s defence force – with or without Captain Sheridan – and it had to be there when the Minbari arrived, but…
Why did she feel that something strange was going on? There had been that unusual meeting earlier on, with one of the new bridge crew. One of Bester’s people, she supposed, but… why did she look oddly familiar?
Takashima had stopped and looked at the woman. She was blonde, pretty, very elegant-looking. Takashima had never seen her before, but… “And you are?” she had asked.
“Lieutenant Stoner,” had come the reply. “Second grade lieutenant.”
Takashima had blinked. She had never heard of this Lieutenant Stoner. In theory a quick look at the records should enable her to verify Stoner’s ID, but the Minbari were coming, and there wasn’t time, and… and… and she didn’t want to.
The instruments were picking up two other heavy class Earthforce destroyers nearby, but Takashima was not surprised, almost as if she’d been… expecting them.
The message came through. The image on the commscreen was of a harsh, severe-looking military man with a scar.
“Colonel Ari Ben Zayn, Captain of the Ozymandias,” the man said. “A pleasure to meet you, General.” He didn’t sound as if he meant it.
“Likewise, Colonel.” Takashima had met him before, once, when she was still a cadet and he was the hero of New Jerusalem. He was supposed to be dead. Another of Bester’s little surprises.
“They’re here. Ben Zayn out.” The image faded and Takashima heard the voice of Lieutenant Franklin, one of the old bridge crew. She didn’t need to hear his exact words. She knew.
The Minbari were here.
“Uncle Londo, what exactly have you got us into?”
A difficult question to answer, Londo thought. Stopping an attack by a Narn warship was one thing, but getting involved in a pitched battle, that was quite another.
Minbari on one side, humans and Shadows on the other, and the J’Tok and the Valerius in the middle, trying to drive back the Shadows and avoid getting shot by the humans or the Minbari.
It was at times like this that Londo wished he’d gone into farming instead.
Land, animals, crops, there. No big black insect-type ships, no insane wagers with Narns, no… no adventure, no glory, no respect, no chance to help his people.
“A wager, Carn,” Londo replied. “One of the greatest wagers of all.”
“Uncle Londo, you haven’t been drinking, have you?”
“Why, Carn! I am shocked by your attitude! Of course I have! But that is not the point. You won’t let some Narn claim superiority over us just because he did better in this battle than we did, will you? We are Centauri, Carn! We can best any Narn or human any day!”
“Of course we can!”
“Good, then you know what to do?”
“Yes, use our telepaths to jam their ships and then… well, hit them.”
“Good, Carn. Good. You are learning. Now, you are the military man, so you do what you think best. If you want me, then I will be hiding under the bed in my quarters. Good luck.”
For the first time in the history of their races, Narn and Centauri were fighting together, against a common enemy. It was a pity that the humans and the Minbari had not learned a similar lesson.
The battle over Proxima – the Second Line as it would later be called – was a mass of action, shifting, swirling, changing, with little rhyme, reason or strategy. To the pitifully small human defenders, it was simply a matter of holding the Line and protecting Proxima at any cost. To the Minbari, it was facing down the Enemy, crushing an opponent who should have stayed crushed after the last time, it was making a stand for Light against the Darkness.
To the J’Tok, it was service to a respected and an admired leader, and a matter of Narnish pride. To Captain Carn Mollari, it was the wishes of his – slightly crazy – uncle, but also a matter of Centauri pride. Later, both captains would get into trouble for this from their governments, but that was if they survived. And if they did, then they would have formed a crucial bond together.
To Captain Ben Zayn and Mr. Harriman Gray, it was about following orders, about taking a path and not deviating, about fighting and continuing and not surrendering. To Laurel Takashima, it was what should be a simple task – holding the Line – turning into a mass of voices screaming at her, amongst crew who had their own agendas and another set of thoughts originating in her mind.
To Shai Alyt Tryfan, it was a chance for glory, and to justify the faith others had placed in him. To Satai Kalain, it was a military action, something that had to be done. To Holy One Sinoval, it was the continuation of his destiny, a chance to achieve the future he knew belonged to him and his people. To the Satai Hedronn, Lennann and Rathenn, it was a day when the Minbari became not butchers, but doctors, cutting the evil away from the galaxy.
To Ambassador Susan Ivanova, it was the end to fear. To Warmaster Jha’dur, Deathwalker, it was the beginning of her monument to her people.
To General Hague, it was the day that self-esteem and self-respect died. To President Clark, it was a glorious day. To Mr. Welles it was a time when all his calculations and theories would be borne out and proved or disproved once and for all. To Bester, it was a time for testing and forging. To G’Kar, it was the beginning of the strike back. To Marcus, it was a time for choice. To Lyta, a time of sorrow. To Ta’Lon, a day when he wished he could get there on time.
To Delenn, Zha’valen, it was a forlorn hope for peace. To Starfury pilot Neeoma Connally, it was a nightmare she would not wake up from. To Captain Sheridan and Commander Corwin it was…
To Captain Sheridan and Commander Corwin it was a time for choices.
Sheridan had faced down Minbari fleets before. Standing at his side, so had Corwin. Neither was afraid. Sheridan was filled with the supreme confidence he always felt in battle. It was a chance to forget everything else, to forget Bester and Anna and Clark and Delenn and focus on the one thing that made him special. Corwin was less confident, but just as focussed.
Sheridan’s normal strategy in a situation like this would be to mine the entrance to the system, fight a slow holding action and pull the Minbari ships into the mines. It had worked with the Black Star, and it compensated for their inability to target the Minbari ships. There were just two problems, however…
One was that he had arrived here at about the same time as the Minbari fleet, meaning that the area had not been mined. Whatever the Resistance Government’s reasons for not doing this, it meant that Sheridan had to act quickly, throwing his Starfury squadrons forward as a sacrificial screen, allowing him enough time to back off slowly and begin laying the minefields, hoping that enough of his Starfuries would get back in time before the mines became active.