Blake was the first one to approach Pendragon at his station.
“Captain Pendragon, I'd like to speak with you, urgently.”
Pendragon was busy checking all the communications channels.
“Make it quick, Commander.”
“My crew and I have also been monitoring the channels,” Blake said. “And although we are under the flag of the Free Federation, we don't agree with your order. We must do something. We can't stand by and watch the Empire invade and take control of things!”
“And what would you suggest we do?” asked Pendragon. “How many ships have invaded? How many more are likely to come through? Measure that against the number of ships we have, Commander.”
“For once, Blake is right,” said Avon. “The entire quadrant is going to pot, and we're sitting here doing nothing! We must do something!”
“Your orders are plain and simple, Mister Avon,” said Pendragon. “We stay here.”
With a huff, Avon left the Ops room, with Blake not far behind him. Once outside in the corridor, he turned to Blake.
“Well, you have your answer,” he said. “What do you say now?”
“I say we go. Alert the others.”
With the Imperial ships approaching fast, Lieutenant Keffer had taken his squadron of Starfury fighters and formed a protective ring around Babylon 5, and all in the Ops room were on full alert. A station-wide red alert was in process, and everyone had been confined to quarters where possible. It was a tense moment as the combined Imperial/Sontarran fleet got closer and closer.
“There's over a hundred of them,” Ivanova reported. “With enough firepower to match ten Babylon stations.”
Then, to the surprise of everyone on the station, the fleet moved past the station, ignoring it completely.
“I'm picking up a signal,” the communications officer reported. “From the lead Star Destroyer.”
“To us?” asked Sheridan.
“No. To the jump-gate!”
The jump-gate was soon activated, and the lead Star Destroyer entered, closely followed by the smaller ships. Then, Ivanova's panel started flashing.
“I'm picking up a massive energy surge from within the jump-gate,” she reported.
Sheridan soon joined her at the station.
“I've never seen anything like this before!” he said. “The readings are going off the scale!”
“It's as if they're opening up a jump-point within the jump-gate!”
“I didn't think that was possible!” Sheridan continued. “But if it were, it could carry a ship over a far greater distance! Commander, try and compute their course, if you can.”
Checking the computer, Ivanova tried the best she could until she got a result.
“If I'm right, they're headed directly to Wolf 359.”
“And from there, they can launch a direct attack on Earth,” said Sheridan. “Commander, contact Starfleet Command on a priority channel, let them know what's going on.”
“But all channels are still down. Nothing's been heard since the I.S.N. feeds went down.”
“I don't care. We have to get through to Starfleet Command, at all costs! I don't care if the President is in office unlawfully, if this invasion goes ahead we won't have a Federation much longer!”
Ivanova was right. A jump-point soon appeared at Wolf 359, the site of one of the Federation's worst defeats, their battle with the Borg. Now, an enemy of a different kind arrived here, as the combined Imperial/Sontarran fleet arrived, and came to a dead stop, waiting for the battle to begin.
Devon had been in constant contact with the Eden, as she and her away team observed the battle that was taking place before them. Several more Imperial transports had arrived on the surface, and each of them had met with the same response, defeat at the hands of the strange inhabitants of this planet, known only as G-889.
“We've got to do something,” said Danziger. “We can't just sit here!”
“And what do you suggest we do?” asked Devon. “These aliens seem to be handling things all right on their own!”
“They might not be able to!” said Alonzo, pointing to the sky.
They looked up to the sky to see something they hoped they wouldn't. A squadron of Imperial TIE fighters had just been launched, and was heading directly towards the battle site. The aliens tried to fight back, but the fighters were too fast for them. They easily dodged the energy blasts. Two of the aliens were soon killed.
Devon was about to call back to the ship asking for a beam out when Alonzo suddenly grabbed his head. To him it felt as if something, or someone, was trying to contact him telepathically. How, or why, he didn't know, but he now had an urge to stay on the planet.
For the past few years, Dorian had kept himself to himself, making the usual short-haul trips in his planet-hopper which he had called Scorpio. As he headed home to his base on the planet Xenon, he began to think of his next meal, and a few hours sleep. But soon food and sleep were the farthest things from his mind as he suddenly found himself staring ten Sontarran warships down the throat. The warships were moving past Xenon in the opposite direction of the Scorpio, and they were on a crash course for the Scorpio. But before Dorian could do anything, a warship was above him, and it sent his navigation instruments haywire. It was a minute before he was able to regain control of the ship's systems, and then that was more by luck than judgment. But when he did finally regain control, he found himself in Xenon's upper atmosphere. With a lot of skill and a bit of luck he managed to land, but only just.
The Saratoga had managed to find a jump-gate, and soon found itself in orbit around Earth. Upon arrival Starfleet Commander-in-chief General Hague beamed aboard. He was greeted by Ross and McQueen.
“It's good to see you, General, but we only just managed to get out alive,” said Ross.
“How many ships were there?” Hague asked.
“About two hundred,” McQueen replied. “Only five of my squadron got out alive.”
“How many more fighters do you have aboard, Colonel?” Hague asked.
“Only five, sir, and they need repair.”
“Then they'll have to do.”
“Do for what, General?” Ross asked.
“Babylon 5 just managed to get a message through, saying that the invasion force has started to regroup at Wolf 359. If that's so then that could be the site of the second biggest battle in recent years.”
“You're not suggesting we go back after them, are you?” said McQueen.
“We have to, Colonel, if we're to stop this thing. I want all your fighters repaired and put on maximum alert. We're going to need every ship we can get a hold of on this one!”
No comments:
Post a Comment