From: Rene Courtemanche Subject: Hellgate Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 16:43:36 -0500 The B5 universe was created and belongs to JMS, Babylonian Productions, and Warner Brothers. All thing that make allusion and/or reference to the Babylon 5 Universe are used without permission. Upon request from JMS, and/or Babylonian Productions, and/or Warner Brothers I will pull from the World Wide Web, and/or hand over, and/or erase from my hard drive and diskets all copies of this story. All comments, suggestions, and ideas are always appreciated and must be directed to me, Hawks, at skabax@istar.ca This story has nothing to do with any other fan fiction I have done so far unless I specify in that particular fan fic. And I assure you, this story is a definite first for Babylon 5 fan fiction on the Net. It is set in season 4. Thankyou kindly. See you on the flip side! Now on with our story. HELLGATE By:Hawks Chapter1: Ragnarok (Version 1.02) The Shadow War was in full swing. We had gained much but lost even more. The course of the war was to be decided in the next few months. At the center of the conflict was a place known as Babylon 5. A place where the Alliance of Light gathered, organised and fought from. It was one of the few things that stood between the Shadows and their miss guided dreams of Apocalypse. But Babylon 5 was far from the only gathering place for the Forces Of Light. In a thousand different worlds and far flung outposts, the Warriors of the Light where assembling for the greatest and perhaps the last war of the Millennium. This is a story of one such place. The year was 2261. The name of the place...Defiance. They say war is Hell. Well, the Gates of Hades where about to be flung wide open. Part.1(ver.1.01) "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong. Mare Tranquillitartis, Luna. July 20, 1969. Grid Sector Gamma Nasha 3664. 0.7 light years from the Eagle Nebula. "Bulk Freighter Plantagenet, this is Defiance Control, please hold position at outer Nav Sat 678 until you are cleared to proceed." "Understood Defiance Control." To anyone else, the breath taking view of the nearby Eagle Nebula would be cause for pause, but all of the people who could see it where otherwise busy. "Draco Leader, this is Defiance Control, proceed with flyby of the Plantagenet for cargo verification." "Understood Defiance Control, we are proceeding to the Plantagenet." Four Alliance of Light(AoL) Thunderbolts did a 127 degree spin and headed on a intercept course. Each of the four nimble fighters bore a different image that where more a work of art than anything else. The lead fighter was covered in a fire and eagle design, the back drop of the massive nebula made it look like a mythical Phoenix rising from the ashes of a ancient supernova. "Where coming up on the Freighter." The Plantagenet looked oddly out of place with its small grey bridge and oversized, green, spinning midsection against the background canvas of bright colours. "Talk to me J." The squad leaders copilot spoke up from behind him in the cramped gunners seat as the scan results began to pour across his Holo HUD "We've got foodstuffs, weapon components, data Crystals, computer hardware, stuff for the MedLab..." there was a short silence "And?" "There's some sort of interference in the inner cargo hold..." "Jamming?" "I don't think so, but...." "Alright, call it in. Emmanuel, Ermac, take Ford and Zaphod and target the freighter's bridge. Me and J will get in close and see if we can bust through the interference at point blank range. Jass, Dawn, your our cover." Two of the Thunderbolts broke off with a bright flare of their quad engine nacelles as their pilots set their engines at maximum burn. Suddenly, right next to the freighter, a ball of white light cut a small swath across the very fabric space itself as the red vortex of a Jump point formed. "We've got a Jump point!!!!" "No shit!!!!" a Centauri Battle Fleet spilled forth from the Jump point, announcing their intentions by opening fire on Draco squad. Luckily their pilots where fast enough to avoid the fire with milliseconds to spare "Evasive!! J, get Defiance on the horn now!!" "Their already mobilizing!" Off in the distance, almost invisible in the bright fluorescent glare of the Nebula, an asteroid twice the size of Newfoundland hung in space. If you looked close you would see a flat, gun metal grey, rotating disk around the asteroid, making it look like an artificial version of one of Saturn's rings. If you looked closer, you would see Defence grids powering up, Fighters being launched, blast shields closing, and several capitol ships being deployed. If you looked even closer, at the Defiance's War Room, you would see a bustling but relatively quiet place, especially when you consider that this was the nerve center for the Forces of Light in the sector. Major Racine leaned his bulky frame closer the large, Mimbari made, 3-D Tactical Holo that displayed the cold and unforgiving battlefield of space. The dimly lit room was filled with such Mimbari made logistic equipment, a little fringe benefit of being part of the Alliance. On the main Holo projector the ships where only displayed with symbols akin to their type and colour coded with a short list of basic stats floating under them, but ringing it and scattered around the room where several smaller, 1 meter(3 foot) high Holo projectors displaying detailed sensor reports of enemy ships. "Magnify current battle zone." the Holo flickered and the scene changed to a live computer reconstuction of the battle between Draco quad and the Centauri Battle Fleet. Amazingly enough, they where holding their own against the crushing might of the enemy warships and fighters. As the Major looked on, his squad took apart the Centauri fighters in massive numbers "Those calamari for guts are making rookie mistakes.... they must have been expecting Narns....or....." he frowned "Something's wrong.... they wouldn't send a bunch of... Their a distraction... probably thinking I would send all my warships to intercept them, then open four or five Jump points on top of us...." "Should we call for reinforcements? We can hold off one attack fleet, not two..." Major Racine looked at the young Leftenant next to him, his face shadowed in the soft glare of the holo projector "No, if we send for reinforcements so will they, and that means Shadows. We can sent a Thunderbolt and a Mimbari squadron and two Whitestar's to help Draco Leader and his squad but that's it." "Come on...The Dracos are good but not THAT good." "Their our best, and Sky's one of our best starfighter tacticians, that's why he's in charge of Draco squad." A bright flash lit up the room for a second, and they both turned to see large chunks of debris from a Centauri Heavy Cruiser slam into nearby warships. One connected with a Cruiser's bridge, sending it listing to it bow, directly into another nearby warship. They both looked on in wonder as a domino effect of explosion and collisions took place, destroying sevral Cruisers in the Centauri Battle Fleet. A broad grin crossed the Major's face and the Leftenant smiled tightly in grudging approval. "What'd I tell you Dan? Now let's get them some backup." The Leftenent nodded and started to issue orders to the Comm Officer seated at his console behind them."Re-display Grid Sector Gamma Nasha 3664.478" At the Majors's request, the main Holo Projector displayed a tactical map the Defiance's immediate area. "Time to dig in and wait for the real assault." Asteroid Alpha Belatrix 98756 and its 'ring' station, the Defiance, was the most heavily defended AoL base in existence next to Babylon 5, the reason was simple: four months before the Narn-Centauri war, the Narn Regime had discovered the richest known source of Quantium-40 in explored space, in a asteroid belt, deep in Shadow territory. They decided too transport one of the asteroids through Hyperspace to this place and set up the unusual but innovative 'ring' station to defend and mine it. After the Centauri victory, the Narns stationed there abandoned it. And a short time later, a small band of Raiders discovered it. Fortunately there had been a Ranger among them, and he had succeeded in convincing the Raiders' leader that they could never defend the place from the Centauri, let alone the Shadows, without the help of the AoL. After the Raiders where admitted to the AoL, Defiance Mining Station became the Alliance of Light's only source of Quantium-40, the ore used to build Jumpgates. "What!?!?" "You heard me! Their only sending two Whitestars and two Starfighter squadron!" Sky and his squad put their Thunders into a complicated series of evasive maneouvers as they desperately tried to evade the concentrated fire of four(count'em FOUR!) Heavy Cruisers, the universe flashed by their canopies in a blur of bright flashes of fire power that made then think they where trapped in some massive kaleidoscope. "What in all the seven levels of Hell to they think this is? The charge of the Light Brigade!?!?" Several Centauri fighters that had been tailing them got flamed by their own Cruiser's fire in a bright, but brief, display of stupidity "Go ask him if it bothers you that much!" A volley of heavy laser fire flashed by Sky and J's canopy, missing them by barely a meter. "Gods and Demons!!!!" "That was WAY too close!" The Ion, Laser and Particle beams that where being fired at them seemed to be getting closer to their targets. "Jass, Dawn, their learning fast. We've got to skim hull, even the Centauri won't fire on their own ships!" "What?! Are you nuts! We can't get that clo..." "Dawn! Listen to me for once! We need a..." "Jump point!!!" suddenly a blue Jump point opened up between two of the HCs and two Whitestars shot out, broadsiding the Centauri capitol ships with Plasma and Laser fire. A Thunderbolt and a Mimbari fighter squadron followed and turned their attention to the Cruisers, swarming them like a gang of deadly and bloodthirsty skeeters. "Alright! There's our diversion! Let's do a little hull surfing!!!" "The Whitestars, Iliad and Hiroshi, along with Halifax and Kai Mïr fighter squadrons have engaged the Centauri at point blank range." "I hear you. Now its the Centauri's turn...." A loud, shrill klaxon shattered the air for a few seconds then fell silent. Time seemed to stop still as everyone in the War Room froze for a second. Everyone there knew what that early warning klaxon meant, it was a sound that meant almost assured death. "Shadows!!!!!!!" everyone sprang into action, trying to pinpoint where the Shadow Cruisers where going to shift out of Hyperspace. Major Racine turned his attention to the main Tactical Holo Display as Dan was shouting at the Comm Officer to send out a all band distress signal. The station itself opened a Jump point near it so the signal could be transmitted into Hyperspace. Suddenly nine spidery, crimson black Shadow Cruisers shifted into normal space, directly into the AoL forces outer kill zone. "FIRE!!!!!!" the station and its large defence fleet opened up with their massive array of fire power, hammering the Shadow ships, and the forces of Darkness responded in kind. And so the battle was joined. And for that place, for those people, the Gates of Hell where truly opened that day. End Chapter.1 (Ver.1.02) Well, what do you think? Want more? If so, e-mail me a skabax@istar.ca and if I get enough demands, I'll post Chapter2 of HELLGATE. Hawks From: Rene Courtemanche Subject: Hellgate Chap2 Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 19:04:28 -0500 The B5 universe was created and belongs to JMS, Babylonian Productions, and PTEN. All thing that make allusion and/or reference to the Babylon 5 Universe are used without permission. Upon request from JMS, and/or Babylonian Productions, and/or PTEN I will pull from the World Wide Web, and/or hand over, and/or erase from my hard drive and diskets all copies of this story. All comments, suggestions, questions, and ideas are always appreciated and must be directed to me, Hawks, at skabax@istar.ca This story is the second chapter in the HELLGATE series and meshes togeter with details on the Army Of Light Homepage(http://www.geocities.com/Area51/ 1072/fleet.html), I suggest you check this site out. More chapters are to c ome if there is interest. Thankyou kindly. See you on the flip side! Now on with our story. HELLGATE By: Hawks It was the year of fire... The year of destruction... The year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth... The year of great sadness... The year of pain... And the year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261. Chapter2(Ver. 1.01) F.U.B.A.R. Prologue. Never before did the swear "God & Demons" seem so apropos. As the Dark one unleashed their Hell spawn warships upon the mortals, so did the evil in Angel's guise upon the Darkness, and a battle ensued that rivalled Ragnarok itself. Never again would the mortal survivors look at life quite the same way, for now they truly knew how insignificant they were. The first of their kind to emerge from the wistful illusions that they once call reality. And, sadly, not the last. End Prologue. Grid Sector Gamma Nasha 3664.478. Defiance Mining Station. Blue Sector, Deck 455. 0.7 light years from the Eagle Nebula. The station was filled with the sounds of life, such as it was. The fact that there was actually someone left on board still sucking on air was a miracle in itself. What decks of the station that still held atmosphere where a buzz with the sounds of construction and repairs being done, of people morning their dead comrades, of the euphoric cries of joy as dear lovers and friends were reunited, of whispered rumours that the Darkness would return... Of Life, in all it's glory. "Well? What do you want?" Not the best choice of words, he knew. As they walked down the main hall of the one of the few decks still fully online, Sky looked sadly at the dead and wounded that littered the hall on stretchers as the rare Medtech tented to them, not just soldiers were lying there, but children, elders, miners, refugees, civilians who had been caught up in this infernal and pointless war, people who suffered and died because two arrogant elder races didn't agree with each other's philosophies. //They know where they can shove their philosophies.// "Defiant Squadron is up and running and six launch bays are ready to go, Major Racine wants you to take command of her.. I'm afraid we lost her former CO during the battle.. He's also ordered that Draco Squad be integrated into Defiant squadron in order to compensate some of that squadron's loses... He's also seen fit too promote you to Lt. Commander, sorry." Sky examined the young officer walking along side him, Sky had know the young Lieutenant before the battle, innocent, shy, unassuming.. Now he looked every bit the Warrior the fires of Hell had forged him to be.. And Sky didn't like it. All the innocence was gone.. all that was left was bitterness, anger, and fear.. War truly changes people, but only rarely for the better. "Alright, I'll assume command as soon as I can, I assume our orders are to assist in the rescue of the survivors?" "Yes, you've got to be ready for launch in an hour with at least half your squadron." "But I have to find 'em first, alright.. I'll see you later Lt." They saluted each other and the young Lieutenant ran off to perform some other unknown duty. And Sky walked off to gather what pilots he still had left. The War Room had seen better days. It was, well, a mess. The roof had been ripped open because of a Fusion Laser blast that had breached the hull seve ral decks above, and the following explosion that had vaporised a large sec tion of Green Sector, almost immediately sucking the air from the affected areas, fortunately, the Narns who had built this place had installed sealed blast doors at every twenty paces in the corridors, minimizing the loss of atmosphere in the station. But as Major Racine looked up in his EVA suit a t the massive empty space between decks, he knew that the damage was done. He could see, thanks to the breach, the bright radio active ashes and celes tial gases that was the Eagle Nebula, as it's glare lighted the black, carb on scored innards of the station. Where there was once a section of the sta tion`s hull was now only empty, gaseous space. It was big enough to fly a m id-sized freighter through. The Shadows had taken out almost an entire Sect or with a single strike. And the Humans had gotten off lucky at this part o f the station. But the battle charred debris floating out in the vastness o f space would soon get caught in the Asteroids gravity.. And then massive c hunks of melted hull metal would start slamming into the station. Luck coul d take you only so far... //This is *not* a good day// Thought J as he slammed his fist into the dead control board. "I don't think that'll help, J." Quipped his shorter friend , via the Comm in his usual sarcastic manner, as they tried to find a worki ng comp in the massive pile of smashed electronics that had once been calle d the Weapons Fire Direction Center. The term 'looking for a needle in a ha y stack' didn't do the task justice, as the room was plunged in almost tota l darkness if not for the glowrods hanging at their necks. J just gave his old friend a dirty look through his Breathmask's visor and moved to the nex t board. What had happened to this place, none knew, the battle had taken p lace in such massive confusion that no one had stopped to ask, they were too busy trying to survive. No one noticed either, who needed fire direction when their gu nners were shooting at every thing in sight anyway. //To be back in Timmins . away from this Hell. God, I haven't seen snow.. since...// A cry of victory from his compagnon interrupted his silent musing upon times long pa st. "Emmanuel, what is it?" Queried the tall spacer as he ran towards Emman uel with soundless stomps of armoured combat boots. Emmanuel just started t aping commands on the obviously working CI board with his insulated gloved hands, his face lit with a smile as he started reactivating the systems. Su ddenly the room was bathed in light as power was reactivated, only to revea l the horrors of war. On the floors were the bodies of those brave souls th at had maned this Center until the bitter end, their eye balls hanging down their faces, and mouths open in one last desperate attempt to draw breath, making for a decidedly grizzly tableau. "Christ, what the hell happened?" "Rapid loss of atmosphere would be my guess, J." "So that's what people look like after their spaced." "Yep. Ain't the E A legal system wonderful?" the morbid comment went unanswered as very silen ce hung in the... uhh.. Anyway, Emmanuel got his butt in gear and started t o reboot the fire direction system, while J made his report to whoever was in charge at this point.. A question not easily answered with so many officers lying dead and so many small pockets of survivors cut off from eac h other... //Holy shit... // As he skimmed the Defiance's hull he could clearly see th e massive damage that had been inflicted on the station, ripped open and ca rbon scored almost everywhere you looked, it had also suffered massive hits with high powered energy weapons at some places, blasting the station clea n through and leaving some very big holes. //It's miracle the place is stil l online.. Or that it hasn't blown up, yet.// A voice crackled through the Co mm as Sky studied the extensive damage. "Defiant Leader, this is Defiant 4, I picked up life signs on my scanners, in Red Sector, Deck 38." "Get in cl ose and check it out, Tomas, they ain't got all day." "Understood." With a great deal of luck( a lot of the stuff seemed to be going around that day) Sky ha d found a few of his pilots and had launched on time, but they had almost a ll of the station to cover with a handful of fighters, 2 Whitestar class Gu nboats and a Blockade Runner, since their only remaining capitol ship, a Dreadnought named Victory, had left for help hours ago. With so few ships i t would take forever locate pockets of isolated survivors all across the st ation and haul them to 'safe' parts of the Defiance, and that's not countin g the miners stuck on the asteroid. A gargantuan task by any standards, and one that was in serious doubt of succeeding in time... //That Dreadnought had better mak e it... // "Sir." His 2-D image flickered on the screen as he spoke over the loud back ground noise of an assortment of hightech tools, shouts of orders and the d istinctive clang of metal on metal. The room behind him was lit only with s howers of sparks, as engineers in radiation suits worked at a fevers pace. "Go ahead." "Major, we're working as fast as we can to stabilize the core, but it's only temporary, with all the safeguards blown away it's goin g to go critical in four hours, eight at best. Sorry." Racine's face drew a dark cloud as he looked at his head of engineering clad in a reflective anti-radiation suit. "Alright, do what you can.. can we take it off line?" "Yes sir, we can, but then we'll lose everything but life support, no weapo ns, no scanners, no launch bays, no lifts, and no thruster rotation of the station, god only knows what might happen then, we could even collide with that damned asteroid." "... keep it online as long as you can." "Under stood." His image disappeared only to be replaced by darkness. "What do we do now?" Turning to the young officer next to him, he said the only thing h e could. "Pray." End Chapter 2(Ver. 1.01) Contrary to what you might think after reading this chapter, I am *not* a s adist. ;^) Althought I do have a reputation for killing off major caracters .. :) Like what you see? Want more? E-mail me at skabax@istar.ca , and if I get enough interest, I'll write chapter 3 of HELLGATE. Be seeing you! Hawks. From: Rene Courtemanche Subject: HellGate. Chapter3 Date: Sat, 01 Mar 1997 16:40:20 -0500 The B5 universe was created and belongs to JMS, Babylonian Productions, and TNT. All thing that make allusion and/or reference to the Babylon 5 Universe are used without permission. Upon request from JMS, and/or Babylonian Productions, and/or TNT I will pull from the World Wide Web, and/or hand over, and/or erase from my hard drive and diskets all copies of this story. All comments, suggestions, questions, and ideas are always appreciated and must be directed to me, Sky, at skabax@istar.ca Take a look at the Eagle Nebula for an idea of the kind of view the people stationed at the Defiance are getting. And don't forget, the Hubble pictures were taken from 7,000 light-years away. http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/95/44.html This story is the third chapter in the HELLGATE series and meshes together with details on the Army Of Light Homepage(http://www.geocities.com/Area51/1072/fleet.html), I suggest you check this site out. More chapters are to come if there is interest. Everything writen between brackets like these < > must be considered Editors Notes This Chapter takes place right after 'The Long Dark' Thankyou kindly. See you on the flip side! Now on with the story. HELLGATE By: Sky It was a time of Revelations. It was a time of Rejoicing.. It was a time of Mourning... A time of Hope. A time of Reflection. A time of Transition.. A time of Respite... It was a time of Renewal. It was a time of Illumination.. It was a time of Danger... It was *Our* Time. Chapter3(Ver.1.0) The Endless Forever. "The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain." Book Of G'Quon. AOLS Renegade Dreadnought Victory. Hyperspace. The massive, slant grey metallic Starship sailed quietly in the eerie blood red infinity of Hyperspace, it's massive Plasma Cannons, covering it like deadly horns of some failed genetic experiment, branded it a Warship, surprisingly free of damage for the most part (That is to say if you ignore the massive gash running across it's lower cargo holds). It's crew nervously remained at battle stations, with what had happened earlier in the day, what would usually be a milk run turned into a mad dash for survival as the Dreadnought headed for the only safe haven in the galaxy. Somehow all long distance comm channels where being blocked, both in Hyperspace and subspace. By what, no one knew.. Making this courier run the only hope those back at Defiance had left, as far as they knew. Hope, a fleeting thing at best, easily crushed and leaving those affected devastated. Hope, one of the Universe's crueller inventions. But then again, some say that hope is all we have, still others say it is all we need. It's what keeps us going above all odds after we should, in all good reason, have fallen to the way side. Our unique capacity for eternal hope is what makes us human. And when realised, nothing in this plane of existence is more sweet. But the Captain of the Victory had better things to worry about than the meaning of the Universe, like living long enough to see his next birthday. As he looked around at the young volunteers manning the command deck, and he wondered how many of them would live to see the end of this war.. Truly this was the age of Warriors, but they had a habit of leading short and violent lives filled with suffering... and it seemed this age would continue for some time, robing more young people of their innocence, and once promising futures. And lives. The cramped bridge echoed softly with quiet orders spoken in Zero-G. The room itself was lighted in the soft, flickering, eerie red glow of Hyperspace from the main 2-D image screen. "Captain! We've got an all channel summons to Babylon 5 from AoL High Command, we've just finished decrypting it.. They're assembling the Fleet." "Which one?" "No sir, not which one, their assembling the *Alliance of Light* Fleet." "*All* of us?" The young 2nd Lt. nodded grimly as his Captain looked at him disbelievingly from his command chair. The Captain, now assured of the validity of the summons, sat back heavily in his chair as he realised what this meant. "Damn." //Frying pan to fryer...// Grid Sector Gamma Nasha 3664.479. 0.7 light years from the Eagle Nebula, in the Serpens Constellation. Another ship sailed silently into infinity, but this was in 'real' space, and if you where looking at it for the first time, as it drifted deeper into the galactic funeral pyre that was the Nebula, you could swear you where looking at an Ancient One walking among the stars like a giant that he was. But, looks can be deceiving. For this great, strange looking craft was not one of the super powerful ships the older races liked to run around in, but a space station of Narn design. Now if you looked close, you'd see the extensive battle damage and impact points that covered this strange looking ship/station/whatever. You would also see a handful of fighters, two Mimbari/Vorlon Gunboats, and a fast(if weird) looking, Raider built, Blockade Runner,(all of them looking rather banged up thanks to some extensive battle damage) and all flying escort, having nothing better to do, since they themselves were loaded down with survivors. "Well, we did it." Standing on the bridge of the White Star class Gunboat Valen, the imposing figure of Major Racine faced the floating Main TacHolo display of the Mimbari made warship, he scrutinizing it for fear that things where going all too well, and that something disastrous was bound to happen sooner or later. "It ain't over yet... It's just beginning." His already pessimistic nature had turned into paranoia after yesterdays events, no one could blame him. Well, almost no one. "Will you cut it out, we're out of the woods, what could go wrong?" even to the young Leftenant who spoke them, they sounded like famous last words, right up there with 'Peace in Our Time'. Those on the bridge looked at him as if to say 'Where the Hell do you come off saying cheery shit like that after yesterday' The Major just looked at him with his weary, sleep deprived eyes and shook his head. "Dan, one of these days, you're going to learn that the Universe likes to crap on us mortals every chance it gets. I'm surprised you haven't learned that since yesterday." "Give it a rest.*Get* some rest man. What I'm I going to say to your wife back on B5 if you roll over and die because of fatigue, after what we just lived through?" Racine was about to retort when *it* came through. The delicate looking female Mimbari that had been manning the tactical centre for the Valen said the words, in a tone that would suggest a more mundane topic like the weather, which struck fear in the hearts of those there to hear them. "Jumpgate Opening." Everyone on the warships and fighters tensed up as the alert was repeated across the meagre escort force. Everyone was expecting a Vorlon planet crusher to come through the gate, and the way things where going recently, the arrival of such a ship would not be unexpected, especially to those whose life weren't on the line at that moment . But, of course, nothing nearly so dramatic happened. The ship's transponder signal came in just as it exited the Gate and about 20 humans let out a relieved "sight" at the same time. "It's the AoL Bulk Transport Wes Craven." "The 'Wes Craven'? Your kidding me, right?" the Major retorted disbelievingly at the Mimbari Tac Officer. She just looked at the Major as if he had just sprouted a third head and asked in a confused tone "'Kidding'?" "Never mind. Get her docked with station..is she empty?" In her white, traditional Religious Caste robes, the young Mimbari looked at the console in front of her with an intense gaze as her fingers nimbly raced across the crystal controls, bringing up the shipment manifest, replacing the Tactical threat analysis that had appeared automatically when the Wes Craven had first arrived. "The transport manifest lists no passengers, and has room for 300. The rest is cargo." "Okay, we're in business, tell it's Captain to dump her cargo and make some serious room. We've got 900 people to get off that tub and back home." The Comm Officer spoke up from the rear of the bridge "Major, the 'Wes Craven' is relaying to us an all band transmission from Alliance High Command on B5 she picked up in Hyperspace, it heavely incrypted, we're decoding it now.." Racine looked out the view port with a wistful gaze at the massive form of the station as she drifted deeper into the Abyss, and he thought of his real home, in the arms of his wife. "Alright, bring it up on the main Holo-Tactical/Communications display.." His fighter glided smoothly over the hulk of the Defiance as they searched the stars for possible threats to life and limb. A useless gesture at best, since a Thunderbolt's sensors had much keener eyes that could detect objects at a greater distance. But still, it gave them the chance to admire the beauty that the Universe had created. The dazzling tapestries of the stars and the Nebula filled the heavens in a panoramic view, everywhere you looked, the Universe showed itself more wondrous. //This universe is often a cruel and sad place, but other times it holds such beauty and joy that are beyond simple words.// It this beauty is what had attracted man to the stars in the first place, and in so doing had opened a whole realm of possibilities, dangers, and wonders... As Sky looked on into gaping maw of the Nebula, he thought about where he had been, where he was, and where he was going... //God, how did I end up here.. Probably one *alive* knows the answer to that question... But..more to the point, how did I end up *here* of all places? What did I do that was so wrong, or so right, as to go from being a Raider to a starfighter pilot for a rebel alliance, fighting powerful and incomprehensible forces older than the stars themselves...What happened? When exactly did I change so much? If at all? Was there a point where there was a fork in the road, and I blindly chose a direction, not knowing what I was getting into? Was there such a moment? Maybe it was a combination of decisions.. but were they my own? Would I do it all over again? Knowing what I know.. maybe it's a good thing I don't have to make that decision.. I'm not sure I could....// He thought of the Eagle Nebula, a place of death, a place of rebirth. A place where a great star met it's end, disintegrating into a massive cloud of interstellar gas, and became a galactic cradle for new stars, an incubator for the new generations. Birth, life, death, rebirth. The endless cycle of life in all it's forms, the older generations stepping aside to let the new ones flourish. As it should be. And they were seeing first hand the effects of when that cycle ran afoul. He wondered if those before them had gone through the same thing, and if the generations after them would live the same experience. Perhaps *this* was also part of the grand cycle of life.. He thought of the futur, and what it might bring.. And so he looked on into the Endless Forever.... Grid Sector Gamma Tau 6689.659. Deep Space. The Universe screamed. At least as far as he could tell. 300 meters worth of large, crimson black, spidery monstrosity, flashed past his cockpit, all too close. As the Shadow Battlecruiser literally screamed past, barely meters away, it was followed scant moments later by 200 Million tons worth of sleek, blue, organic looking Mimbari firepower, it's forward offensive grid going full tilt, unleashing massive energy from it's 12 powerful Fusion Lasers and 6 Neutron Cannons upon the nightmarish ship that seemed to come strait from Hell. And 'it' screamed. Loudly. It's pain reverberated in the minds of it's attackers, screaming louder and louder as the War Cruiser pounded it, inflicting more and more pain. He spun his Fury 90 degrees and put her on maximum burn, racing to catch up with the pursuing Ingata as it moved at a fevers pace to stay with the fleeing Shadow ship. "Blue Alpha Squadron, move to intercept, maximum speed." All around him, a dozen Enhanced Starfuries rotated on their axis and fired their engines, joining the hunt, and leaving behind the charred organic remains of several Shadow Spitfire-class Snubfighters to float silently in the dark infinity of space. "Ingata, what's going on? Why aren't you using your Teeps to stop that thing?" a crisp response came through his helmet comm's hook up, a Human one. "We can't Blue Alpha Leader, our Teeps think we're looking at our first encounter with a Shadow Battlecruiser using a Telepath as a core." Lt. Commander Skywise(not 'Sky' mind you) swore several silent oaths as he realised what this would mean in the long run. Recognizing the voice at the other end, he spoke to his friend and CO with a forbearing that countered in dark emotions to that of the Shadows non-stop spionic scream. "Hawk.. This is it, isn't it." It was not a question, but a statement. "...It's the beginning of it, yes." As he spoke those words, he looked at the ebony form of the Shadow Battlecruiser they were pursuing on the Holographic Tactical display, and he knew that they were prophetic. "Keep on her! Don't let up a second." He spoke his order into the artificial night that surrounded him, knowing full well that his crew could hear him through the War Room audio pick up. The War Room itself was shrouded in darkness, lighted only by spotlights shining three points on the floor, like three points of a triangle, and a large Tactical Holo floating in the air in between. The room was nothing if not Mimbari-ish, simple yet dramatic, and effective contrary to all appearances. Two of the spotlights were filled by the presence of Hawk and his XO, both dressed in their Ranger uniforms, and the third place left empty for Valen, as tradition dictated. Both of them were scrutinizing the Holo display of the Shadow ship, watching un-ending salvos of energy being lanced out at the Hell Spawn ship, watching it, hearing it, and 'feeling' it shudder with pain after each hit. "Sjso, I've gone up against these things before, and this is the first time their spionic scream has been more than that. What do you think? A side affect of having a Teep at the wheel?" the second Ranger tore his eyes away from the Holo to look attentively at his CO, bathed in a pristine white light. "I don't see what else it could be. She seems to be just another 'Widow', at least our sensors..." Hawk nodded as he looked at the Holo display, the 'Widow', or Shadow Battlecruiser, was beginning to glow yellow under the barrage, unable to fight back because of the intense pain it was in. It's only thought was escape, and return to fight anew. And it screamed. "She's obviously more than that.. But she'll be a lot less in a couple of seconds." As they watched, the Shadow ship became bright yellow with waves of energy visibly racing across it's 'skin'. The dark ship wailed and screamed even more in a final shrill death cry as the firepower the War Cruiser unleashed on it finally overloaded it's capacity to absorb destructive energy, and in one blinding flash of power, it was disintegrated into a million pieces. And finally, there was silence. "Barbecued arachnid anyone?" Sjso shot him an amused glance and spoke out loud too the crew of the Ingata "Good work all, pick up Blue Alpha Squadron, and head for Hyperspace." The scene on the Holo shifted from the debrie strewn space where the Shadow met it's timely end, to that of the War Cruiser as it slowed, and changed direction to pick up it's fighters. A dis-imbodied voice emenated from the darkness, as if one of the Gods had decided to be interested in the affairs of these puny mortals and was about to enlighten them. "Captain, we're getting an incoming subspace relay from Toshk Listening Post in the Gamma Psi Sector, the message seems to have been hopskotched to us from B5, getting re-incrypted at each pitstop." "Fascinating, what does High Command want?" "It's not about the assembly of the Fleet, like last time.. We are under orders to assist with the Evac of the Defiance." Hawk lifted up his light bathed head at this and stared into the darkness, his face was grim, knowing what an evac usually meant, but it also held a hint of surprise and something more. Sjso was equaly cought of guard by this, the Defiance had a rep of being as secure from attack as B5... "Any word on what happened?" The voice rang across the darkened room again in responce to the XO's query, but this time it was just plain scared. "...Yes... The Defiance was attacked by a..Shadow and Centauri force... There were some casualties..and then the Vorlons showed up..everything went to Hell and back after that. If what I'm reading is accurate, there aren't many survivors from the original station crew and defense fleet..." "Jesus..." //It's started already...// "Get us over there as soon as possible." "Yes Sir." Hawk turned to see a look of surprise, fear, and shock on his XO's face, he knew the feeling. The Defiance was supposed to be practically invulnerable... obviously it wasn't. "Sjso, my friend, prep the ship to take on refugees." At that, Hawks turned and walked off into the darkness, toward some unseen portal. Regaining his wits, Sjso called out to his secretive and misterious friend in an urgent voice as his CO entered the shadows. "Where are you going?" A voice echoed from the dakness, filled with meaning, perpose, and determination. "Into the Abyss of Forever. Into The Fire." End Chapter 3 (Ver. 1.0) This chapter is a 'Moments Of Transition' type thing. The story is shifting gears, getting more intune with the Arc, but staying true to it's own path. The major reason I started this story is because I wanted to expand on the War, on the people fighting in it, to get a real focus on it that seemed to lacking in the show. And most important of all, to get the Grunt's perspective, and maybe make some important revelations along the way. Now, to you, the reader, I haven't been remotely close to doing so, but the War ain't over yet. Which War? ;^) Stay tuned. Like what you see? Want more? E-mail me at skabax@istar.ca, and if I get enough interest, I'll write chapter 3 of HELLGATE. Be seeing you!