For a short battle. Enjoy. :S
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Action Date: 5 November 2265
?Commander, I have a jump point forming at coordinates seven-point-six-two-niner, bearing one-hundred ninety-seven.? The Minbari at the sensor station was so young Commander Connor Ahern of the Rangers felt old just listening to him. ?It appears to be one large capital ship and escorts.?
?Can you identify them, Kaashal?? Connor asked, bringing up the tactical plot on the captain?s station.
?The range is still too.., no, wait, positive ident on five, ?make that six ships. They?re Narn. Three small patrol ships, a pair of destroyers, and the flagship looks to be a T?loth assault cruiser.? Kashaal replied as White Star 13?s sensors, enhanced by Vorlon technology, reached out across the vast emptiness to feel for the intruders.
?Wonder what they want.? Connor grunted. Although the Narn Regime were members of the Interstellar Alliance, there were still places in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Alliance</st1:City></st1:place> space they weren?t supposed to show up. Like here, although Connor wasn?t entirely sure why. And just like any other fractious, warlike society, there were plenty of Narn within the regime that had agendas of their own. Agendas that usually didn?t include giving a damn about the ISA.
?Open a channel.?
?Channel open, Commander.?
Connor cleared his throat. ?This is Commander Ahern of the Interstellar Alliance. This sector of space is claimed by the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Alliance</st1:City></st1:place> and not open for exploration.? He paused. ?The Rangers are tasked with keeping this area free of intruders. Any attempts to trespass will be met with force.?
Kashaal watched his monitor. ?No response from the Narn, sir.?
Connor waved at the tactical officer, and the inbound Narn flotilla flickered into existence on the master plot. ?Doesn?t look like they?re listening, Sheng.? He looked over at the slender raven-haired woman at tactical.
?I concur, sir.? She answered. ?Narn holding steady course in-system.?
?They get one more warning.? Connor grimaced. ?Then we wake up Ursa Major.?
The human Rangers on the bridge chuckled dryly. The Minbari alternated between stifled laughter and scandalized glares as the XO invoked the captain?s nickname.
?Channel still open?? He asked. Seeing Kashaal?s nod, he addressed the Narn ships in the view again. ?Attention Narn ships, repeat, attention Narn ships. This is Commander Connor Ahern of the Rangers. You are violating restricted space as ordered by the Interstellar Alliance. If you continue to advance, we are under orders to fire upon you.?
Kashaal shook his head. ?Still no response, Commander.?
Connor sighed. ?Either they don?t believe us or they think they can take us.? He rubbed the bridge of his nose. ?Wish we knew why they?re here.?
?I know why they are here.? A booming voice answered from the lift door, space-cold and blade-sharp. Connor whipped around and jumped to his feet.
?Captain on the bridge!? he snapped, as Alyt Behyran strode to his command chair.
?As you were.? The Alyt waved a black gauntlet dismissively, thumped down into his seat and examined the tactical information. Connor watched him closely. Even though he was a Ranger, and a good one, he found the Alyt?s presence?unsettling. The commander had his medal from the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Battle</st1:place></st1:City> of the Line. But the captain had an impressive kill record from the battle that had almost destroyed the human race, and Alyt Behyran?s ferocious reputation from the prior engagements during the Earth-Minbari War was as much a factor in his ursine nickname as the sound of his real one and his towering temper.
?Did you say you knew why the Narns are here, Alyt Behyran?? Connor asked.
?Aye.? The captain looked up, catching his human XO?s blue eyes with his flat, reptilian yellow ones. ?They wish to stake a claim to the quantium-40 deposits discovered in the Granger Belt. But they cannot have them.? He focused his glare on the master plot. ?The Anla-shok guard this resource for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Alliance</st1:City></st1:place>, and by my ancestors we will not surrender it, to enemy or supposed ally.? He tilted his bone-crested head toward Kashaal. ?Channel still open?? he snapped.
?Aye, Alyt Behyran!?
?Attention ships of the Narn Regime!? The warrior known to among the Rangers as the Great Bear bellowed at the master tactical plot. ?I am Behyran, of the House of Neroon, warrior of the StarRiders Clan and the Anla-shok. I have been slaying the enemies of my people since before you were pouchlings! If you do not wish to be added to my song of glory, absent yourselves from this space at once! You will not be warned again!?
Silence fell. Behryan glanced at Connor. ?I think that got their attention.? He murmured.
Suddenly the ship rocked. A sullen boom echoed up the main passage to the bridge.
?The Narns have opened fire!? Sheng screamed, as another shot slammed into the hull and a hissing vent of steam spurt from the bulkhead behind her.
?Oh, you got their attention all right.? Connor said.
?Bah! Spineless lizards!? Alyt Behryan snarled. ?Damage report!?
?We?ve taken heavy damage!? Another Minbari Ranger shouted from the engineering console. ?The neutron laser is off-line. Pulsars are at eighty percent.? He looked at the captain. ?We can still fight, but we?ll need to be careful.?
Alyt Behyran?s basilisk gaze narrowed on the Narn ships growing ever-larger in the master tactical plot. ?Aye, and fight we shall! Pass the word to White Stars 69 and 77! All ships, engage the enemy!?
?Open comm to all ships, Alyt!?
?This is Alyt Behryan to all White Stars! Go to maximum attack speed! Engage and destroy the enemy! We live for the One, but it is they who shall die for the One!? The captain barked. ?All hands to battle stations!? He turned to the engineering section. ?Duhain, get that accursed laser back on line!?
Commander Ahern smiled. Their crews were well-trained and relaxed, even if they were a bit on the young side. They had confidence in their ship and in their officers, especially their fierce captain. They were as fine a fighting force as you?d find in space. The Narns were brave. The Narns were always brave. But they were about to find out the hard way that courage wasn?t always enough.
?They?re coming right at us, Warleader!? The captain of the Pa?shek wailed out of the command viewscreen on board the T?Loth flagship.
?I can see that, Na?Chan!? Warleader G?Kris of the <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Fourth Circle</st1:address></st1:Street> growled. It wasn?t supposed to go this way, he cursed. The damned Rangers weren?t supposed to attack <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alliance</st1:place></st1:City> members!
But you didn?t know that crazy Minbari would be in command, did you? The inner voice asked him. G?Kris nodded to himself. Oh, yes, he had heard the tales of the Minbari slayer named Behryan. One of the largest of his race and the epitome of ideals of the warrior caste, all fight and little thought. He was equally at home slicing up enemies by hand or by ship. He had led several landing forces during the Minbari?s crusade against the Earthers, and the humans had been terrified of him. Killing this bone-crested lunatic could only enhance G?Kris?s own reputation.
?All ships prepare for battle!? The Warleader ordered. ?They are few and we are many! We shall grind them down and remind the universe that no one dictates to the Narn! Never again!? His leather-clad hand stabbed down at the control panel, and the T?Loth?s laser cannons erupted with spears of crimson light.
The White Stars screamed down on the Narn task force like a flight of enraged angels.
?Alyt, the Narn are launching fighters!? Sheng called from the tactical station.
?Respond in kind.? Behryan commanded. Now that battle was joined, his volcanic temper drained away, replaced by an icy resolve that was fearful to hear.
?All ships launch fighters!? Sheng relayed the command, and her plot suddenly glowed with a dozens of tiny lights, the patrol?s full complement of Nial fighters, blasted from the launch bays and hurtled towards the Narns like a swirling hail of arrows.
?Alyt, we?re heading right down their throats.? Ahern said mildly. ?If they lock us up with those bore-sight weapons again??
?Have faith, Connor.? Behryan rumbled. ?I didn?t wipe out half of your warriors myself by being rash.? He turned to Sheng. ?Order the other ships to lock on to the patrol craft at the end of the formation, bearing one-two-six. On my command, all White Stars are to break hard to port and commence firing. Neutron lasers on the further target, molecular pulsars on the nearer.? He waited a few seconds, and then slashed his black-gloved hand down like an executioner?s axe.
?FIRE!?
Like a school of sharks, the sleek forms of the White Stars banked gracefully to the left. Blazing pulses of energy reached out across the hard clear vacuum of space, and the Sho?Kos cutters on G?Kris flank were shredded by gunfire. One erupted into a blaze of plasma and disappeared. The other spurted burning gas into the void, as though it was a living thing bleeding light and fire and rolled away from the terrible carnage as the White Stars immediately spiraled out of the Narn flagship?s forward targeting arc and G?Kris?s horrified sight.
?Where are they?!? The Warleader shrieked with fury.
?They swept to port?I?ve got?wait?they?re too damn fast!? His tactical officer was sweeping frantically, trying to establish a firing solution on the elusive <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alliance</st1:place></st1:City> ships.
?Blast them!? G?Kris? roared. ?What?s our status??
?We?re undamaged.? His engineer reported. ?But we?re about the only ones who can say that. Two of the Sho?Kos are destroyed. The last one is drifting into their fighters. They also scored on the destroyer Ma?alak. Light damage, all weapons systems still functioning!?
So the so-called Great Bear had taken his task force from six to three in one pass. But while the Minbari upstart had blunted his punch, G?Kris still had plenty of bite.
?All stop! Prepare to come about!? he cried. ?Get those main guns locked on and fire at will!?
The dagger-shaped Narn destroyers slowed and began to turn towards the enemy. But the White Stars were far more agile than any of the Centauri vessels they had faced. They continued their sweeping pass, dodging and weaving, spinning and dancing; over, under, between and around the ruby lances streaking from the Narn ships. What few hits the Narns did score were shrugged off by the Vorlon self-repairing armour like insect stings. Deadly beams of emerald light speared out from the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alliance</st1:place></st1:City> monitors, carving chunks of hull plating away and erasing weapon mounts anywhere they touched. Clouds of boiling gas and helpless Narns spilled out of the terrible wounds into the frigid embrace of the Long Dark.
?We can?t hit them, Warleader!? the tactical officer screamed. ?They?re too damn fast! What are your orders??
G?Kris looked on in numb horror. His magnificent task force had been devastated by the accursed Rangers. All of his patrol cutters were gone, the last riddled with holes from the seemingly-ethereal Minbari fighter craft that had swarmed it and then gone hunting for his own, slow-moving Gorith fighters. One of his Ka?Toc destroyers had been sliced into metal ribbons and then vaporized when its reactor imploded. The other was reeling off to starboard, making a run for the jump gate.
?Warleader, what are your orders?!?
?Break off.? G?Kris swallowed his bitter hate and whispered, ?Break off. Set a course for the asteroid belt. We won?t let them take us!?
G?Kris gnawed on his gauntlet, his stomach pitching and rolling like a boiling kettle. He had never imagined that he could hate anyone other than the Centauri as much as he did the Rangers. But he was wrong.
For a little while.
?They?re running!? Sheng crowed triumphantly. ?The destroyer is heading for the gate. The cruiser is trying to escape in to the asteroid field.?
Slit-like amber eyes glowered at the fleeing Narn flagship. Black-gloved fingers stroked a bearded chin.
?No, little lizards.? Alyt Behryan murmured. ?You stuck your head into the na?kaleen?s den, and now you will suffer the consequences.? He looked up at Connor. ?Destroy them.?
As the wounded destroyer Pa?shek wiped out the last few fighters pursuing them towards the jump gate with cannon fusillades, the captain and crew could only watch with sick revulsion as the White Stars formed up behind the T?Loth cruiser that had been their flagship. With surgical precision, the jade beams slashed through the aft armour, lopping off huge armoured sections like swords of green fire. Finally, when the T?loth?s engines were completely disabled, the molecular pulsar batteries opened up, punching holes big enough to fly through into the hull and hammering the once-proud ship to glowing scrap. They watched until they were swallowed by the coruscating vortex of the jump point, and when they were surrounded by the seething energy of hyperspace, Captain Na?Chan sat heavily in the command throne.
?Follow the beacon to Homeworld.? She sighed with despair. ?We must report this to the Kha?Ri. They must know that we have lost a great Warleader. We must also report that the Great Bear of Minbar is loose among the stars again.?
?And that his claws are still very sharp.? Her navigator murmured as he locked in the course for home.
