-Comment attributed to Commander Susan Ivanova during the opening moments of the Battle of Sector 83, Mid-December 2260.
* * *
**Z-8 days**, 13 Dec 2260. The Army of Light Rendezvous Point...near Sector 83.
Captain Enzorr of the Brakiri Cruiser 'Kronori' was, by far, one of the bravest of his race, even though those of his government tended to be more reluctant in the face of what was going on...but someone had to do SOMETHING!! And so, he had taken his ship to follow Citizen G'kar the month before, and had actually seen, himself, four war cruisers of the supposedly invincible Shadow armada turn...and run. Now, however, the stakes had risen considerably; as such, a small fleet had assembled in Hyperspace just off Sector 83; three Minbari cruisers, his warship and another Brakiri ship, plus a Narn heavy cruiser, and a host of smaller Drazi, Gaim and Vree warships...along with isolated units from the smaller League races.
Enzorr shook his head in irritation; the rest of the Fleet captains were still too frightened of the Shadows to come; would those who had come be too few in number to make a difference? Enzorr did not know the answer to that question, but one thing he DID know was the man they had all followed to this place, the human Captain, Sheridan, had already made a difference; he had brought the formerly fractious League worlds together in a common hope...that there was a *chance*, a HOPE of success. And that was enough for him.
"Captain!!" his Second, Varielk, exclaimed, his eyes wide with astonishment, "Sensor sweep has detected a group of ships approaching the fleet!!"
Enzorr frowned; all the League elements were in place, along with the Narn and Minbari capital vessels; was this the mysterious 'reinforcements' that Ambassador Delenn had promised would join them here? And if so, what was their nature??
"Identify type and class."
There was another pause, and then, Varielk gazed up from his sensors again, astonishment now combined..with respect. "Captain; they are...*White Stars*!!"
"White...STARS?" Enzorr rose from his seat, and quickly moved to check the readings; then, and only then, did he allow himself to smile. All along, they had been lead to believe that there was only ONE of those blindingly fast, overarmed Ranger ships, and now...now, if there was an entire FLEET of them, perhaps, just maybe, they did have a hope of surviving this!
* * *
The Hour of Destiny...
"Signal receipt confirmed." Talion reported tersely, his very stance showing what they all felt; a combination of anticipation and fear. "The Shadow Fleet has dropped into Sector 83; White Star One is standing by."
William nodded, his gaze dark. "Link to all squadron vessels."
"Link established."
He rose to his feet. "White Star Four to all squadron members, this is Sha'vei Westcastle.
By now, your bridge crews will have confirmed receipt of the message we have all been waiting for; a large element of the Shadow fleet, larger then any we have encountered up to this point, has arrived in Sector 83. Our goal is clear, our mission dire; we must protect the innocents in that sector, we have no other choice. For almost two years, we have been preparing for this moment...the moment when we step out of all the hidden places, the moment we draw our swords, the day we walk willingly, into the Fire.
We are Rangers, and we are also the believers who followed our Entil'zha, because no one else would. We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass." And then, all the command crews of all the White Stars followed their leader..."We live for the One; We die for the One."
"Captain Sheridan has given his go-ahead.." Talion added, and then, the Young Ranger's voice took on an added urgency. "Forward units have activated their jump engines!..we're going in!"
"Battle stations!"
Space twisted, and with all the lethal grace they could manage, the lead Minbari cruisers, the rest of the fleet around them, passed through the dichotomy of the point, and into Sector 83; with the sudden burst of speed that only the White Stars could manage, White Star Four burst from the point, right on their tail, the first of the squadron into realspace. William looked ahead, and felt a cold, hard knot form within; it was exactly as he had feared.
More then two dozen Shadow Cruisers had jumped into the Sector, surrounded by hundreds of fighters and smaller escorts! The fleets were evenly matched in number, but as for firepower...it would, it seem, come down to who believed in making a stand more...for the Shadows surely had the upper hand when it came to weaponry.
He listened, with all the rest, as their Commander laid down the plan of attack, and waited, with all the rest, for the only command that really mattered...
##"..everyone else, break and attack!!"##
"That's our cue." He muttered, as dozens of deadly strings of light began to reach out for the waiting darkness ahead, and then, he switched to the Religious Caste language, as had been agreed upon beforehand. "Full power to main engines, bring main and secondary batteries to bear on the nearest target, and fire!"
* * *
Chronicles Log...the First Remembrance of Fire.
It was then, of course, that I came, for the very first time, directly under the command of Captain Sheridan in battle; I understood, finally, how charismatic he could be; how the words he spoke could make you BELIEVE you were doing the right thing. Too many of us went to our deaths that day, but we followed him; we watched the Hell of that battle unfold, we watched one of the Minbari cruisers be cornered and destroyed, and hundreds of others die in an instant. I watched the squadron I had brought to war wheel, and fight, and die, and in the moment, I felt nothing, living only for the moment, fighting only to stay alive...
* * *
William grimaced and held on as his command shook with another impact, but the moment they had waited for had come...the Minbari cruiser ENFEELI had died only moments before, cornered by Shadow cruisers, but now it was the turn of the Rangers...
"Shadow Warship in Range!!" Talion announced grimly, as around them and the triad that followed his White Star, space shivered with lines of light, Shadows of death, and explosions beyond count. "Main Battery fully charged, and standing by!"
"Concentrate on its central core...and FIRE!" A long, blazingly bright line of yellow fire leapt out from the nose of White Star Four and her three companions, as they relentlessly descended on the now glowing, screaming Shadow cruiser beneath them. Nearby, the Narns, having seen what the Rangers were planning, targeted the same enemy vessel, and shortly after that, the Shadow cruiser burst apart, dead quivering fragments scattering across the heavens. The four White Stars, not waiting on their needed victory, immediately split apart and aquired other targets, missing the Narn heavy cruiser by scant hundreds of meters. And the battle went on.
* * *
...I watched the horror that unfolded that day, and lived once again through the guilt of knowing how wrong this was. The Shadows, in their mercilessness, dealt death indiscriminately, but the sheer concentration of targets in the Fleet of Light may have saved some of us; for while in the past, the Shadow vessels had attacked small, clearly vulnerable craft of the Younger Worlds, for the first time, we gave them TOO MANY targets; and targets that were, for the first time, unafraid of fighting back, of destroying their own engines of war. At least two of their cruisers died, and some of the rest would go back to Z'ha'dum missing arms..and many, MANY of their fighters stayed as wrecks in Sector 83...and once again, they ran. They could have conceivably destroyed us all, but instead, they ran.
Of course, while we hurt them, they hurt us more, FAR more. Every ship we had, that day, came away with scars, some small, some enormous; the Minbari ships, particularly, graceful in peace, endured, in many cases, the worst of the Shadow wrath, coming away pitted and darkened, as if mauled by great claws.
The worst, of course, was my own squadron ships, the White Stars I brought into that Hell. Over half of them were destroyed in the battle, and the Captains of those who survived looked upon those glowing, tumbling wrecks and understood, finally, what War was all about; and the guilt I felt over the horror and grief in their eyes would never leave me again. Eventually, we were able to gather up all the survivors, and then, those that could jump jumped from the field of battle, leaving behind the fragments of War, both ours, and theirs. Some of the Fleet were bound for Babylon 5, but those of us from the White Star Fleet immediately set course to return to Minbar.
And when I reached there, it would be to find that the Shadows weren't finished with me in the slightest; in fact, it turned out that my personal Hell was about to get a whole lot worse.
* * *
The Waterfall of Gajn'Darahl...During the Battle.
Within the thunderous world of the waterfall, Jennifer knelt, her pike grounded between her hands, face bent in prayer. Word had come, minutes before, that Captain Sheridan had taken the Fleet into Sector 83, and as such, the Other Side of her soul was, more then likely, at this very moment, fighting for his very life. And since she could not be there, she had decided to come to this place, the place they had proposed to one another, to find a little bit of strength, a little bit of belief. Julia had descended to the temple below to pick up their meal, and would be back shortly, and so, for now, she was QUITE alone, to think those thoughts, and try not to worry too much.
He'd come back to her; he'd PROMISED.
And then, a rasping, insectoid sound cut harshly across the sound of the water; a sound that didn't belong. With reflexes tightly honed, she rose and whirled, pike in hands; but not nearly fast enough, as a bolt of green flame flashed out of the stairs, and rippled across and around her. With a cry of frustration, she collapsed to the grass and stone beneath her, her assailant directly in sight. In Valen's Name...how had they done it?? In the heart of the Resistance, in Tuzanor Valley itself??
Walther Gideon strode into the light, his dark smile quite evident, weapon already back in its holster. "My dear Jennifer...what a splendid morning this is. Unfortunately, for you, my associates and I have been waiting to take advantage of just such a careless lapse. You allowed yourself to be seperated from those who might have protected you...and now, certain movements wait on your presence.
You see, my associates want William Westcastle to to come to Z'ha'dum, and as such, we had to create a lure to bring him there...a lure he cannot possibly ignore." Walther nodded down at her. "That, Jennifer, is where you come in; my associates have decreed that Westcastle shall be given a certain time in which to come to you, and if he does not..." Gideon shrugged, and in that shrug, Jennie could see her fate drawn out in the bleakness of painful death. "The result will be, shall we say, uncomfortable for you."
"You bastard." she whispered, her throat nearly paralyzed. "You won't get away with this."
"Ah...but I already have, you see! What my associates want, they usually get." It was that moment, of course, that a movement alerted them both, and Gideon turned towards a just-arrived Julia, whose serious coutenance had now gone quite ashen when she saw the scene in front of her. "Of course...the last player arrives on the scene. Julia; welcome to our little gathering; as you see, and as I warned you, not long ago, if you play with the Greater Lights, you are going to get burned..."
Whatever Gideon had been about to say was abruptly cut off, as with a low whine, another, far brighter bolt of green flame raced out of the stairwell, and caught her Acolyte from behind. The stunned girl barely had time to cast a long, astonished glance down at the charred wound in her side before she collapsed, and Jennifer would have screamed if she could...as a woman, dark both in outlook and smile, appeared out of the Shadows, weapon still in hand.
"A bit extreme, Amilia..." Gideon noted, his gaze now neutral, "But your response is understandable."
"This one," the woman noted, her gaze dispassionate, "Could have escaped and warned the others below, which would have made our escape far more difficult. As such, if they come in time, she may yet live; if not...the loss is negligible, compared to the millions who have already died, and the billions yet to die. In any case, we must, by need, leave the letter for Westcastle to read; leave it on her, for the others to discover."
"Of course." Gideon looked down on Julia's body one last time, before turning back to her. "But for now, Jennifer, Z'ha'dum awaits; my associates have a GREAT deal that they want to talk to you about." He turned, then, to forms unseen, and nodded. "Take her, my friends." And with that, the shadows gathered close, and she dropped down into darkness.
* * *
It was a short time later, that two acolytes ascended the stairs to the Point, to check on the presence of the Val'na and her follower, and were astounded to find the young human laid out on the ground, a small pool of blood beneath her left side, where the uniform she had been given had been burned completely through. A single, well folded piece of paper had been laid across the girl's eyes, and one acolyte quickly bent, and saw, soon enough, who the letter had been addressed to, while the other moved to recover the Val'na's denn'bok, abandoned during whatever had occurred here.
The actions afterward were immediate, and portentious.
* * *
**Z-3 days**, 18 Dec 2260. Tuzanor; Primary medical facility...before dawn.
The lights had gone low many hours before, but William's vigil at Julia's bedside had not abated throughout that long night. Upon his return to Minbar, he had urgently been summoned down from orbit, to find his world turned upside down. Jennifer had, somehow, been taken when he was away, and those who had done the deed had left Julia close to death. Her wound had been operated on, and sealed properly, but even now, she stood unconscious, seemingly in a light coma. Whether or not she would recover, he did not know, but within the anger and shock, a cold determination were slowly building. On his lap was Jennie's fighting pike, while crumpled in his left hand was the piece of paper that Walther Gideon had left on Julia's body before his departure.
He shook his head, still not wanting to believe; in the heart of all he had known as safe, the Shadows and their agents had strode, assaulted and kidnapped his love, and nearly killed her Follower. And now, as the words on that paper warned, he needed to travel to Z'ha'dum before a time in the none-too-distant future, or Jennifer would die, lost and abandoned, in the hands of the Shadows.
He slowly rose to his feet, the determination complete. That could not be allowed, and he KNEW he could reach Z'ha'dum before the time written; knew who he could ask for help...and *they* knew it, too.
"Sha'vei.." he turned, to see Dreann standing in the doorway to the chamber, candle in hand. "William. The physicians say that she will recover from the hurt visited upon her...indeed, they believe that within the next ten of our daily cycles, she will be able to use, once more, that Talent which is hers. The more important question, however, is what are we going to do about the 'problem' we have??"
"WE are going to do nothing, Dreann; I must do what I must to answer for this outrage." He glanced once more at the unconscious girl on the bed. "They have struck to the center of our being, to the heart of my soul. They have taken the only thing I care for to the heart of all Darkness; it must be answered for!"
"In Valen's Name, William!...consider carefully, your decision on this. The Shadows intend for you to follow Gideon to Z'ha'dum, they would not have taken her from this place otherwise. But what you have helped to build STILL needs you!...the battle just fought was only the opening movement in the Fire that awaits us. The White Star Fleet will have certain difficulties carrying on without the commander that gave them form!"
"Your points have merit, Dreann...but if I let Jennifer die in the hands of the Shadows, then I will not be able to perform the duties you have just described. The only thing I can do NOW is to do what is expected..." But at that, he grasped the pike hanging at his side, Jennifer's pike, and added, "However, the Shadows may be surprised to note I have plans beyond and above theirs. If they intend us dead, then we will not go down easily, and we WILL go down together, if that fate is the only one open to us."
"So..." Dreann noted, her eyes showing regret and sorrow. "You have already decided what it is you are going to do."
"Yes; I can do no other thing." William sighed, and then added, "Also, I must, by needs, ask you to keep this a secret. The way I shall go shall not be direct, but it will not be with Ranger assistance, either. I do this without the permission of our Entil'zha, and if I succeed, I will gladly undertake the penance expected. Do you understand, and agree?"
There was a slight pause, and then, Dreann nodded. "So be it." The Ranger half turned, and bowed to him, a bow he returned. "I pray, in Valen's Name, that you succeed in what you do; and if not...then I will see you again, both of you, in that place where no Shadows fall." With that said, Dreann turned, and left the chamber, and William paused a moment, before going over to the lookout, to watch the growing dawnglow, and the mountains and towers of Tuzanor, in silouette before.
If he suceeded, they would return in time to see Julia make a full recovery.
If not...if not, then it was time for him to say farewell to the last home he would ever have...
* * *
Personal Log of Tashann, Commander of White Star Eleven..
If I had not seen it with my own eyes, in Valen's Name, I would not have believed it. I stood beneath the Portal of Gajn'Darahl, the only member of our Val'na'shal'vae who would, or could be there, and watched the human I have followed to the ends of known space, and beyond, glitter, and then vanish from the Point, the place where so much hurt was done to She he strives to save..gone to the heart of all we know as Darkness, with the aid of his mysterious allies, gone to strike at the very heart of their domain. The Entil'zha will learn of this in due course, when the secret is revealed, and she will not be pleased. However, while that is neither here nor there, it is enough to know that one of our own possesses the courage to attempt what cannot be done..when and if he returns, he will answer for it, but only when, and if.
I must, by need, be honest with myself; I do not expect to see him alive again, in this life. All who go to Z'ha'dum, or even strive to make the attempt, have died or disappeared. It is a place of horror, it is a world no one has ever returned from.
But if anyone can do it, it is he. I will leave a candle burning in my quarters, to guide them home, in the belief that it is possible...for while there is hope, and as long as we stand free to say, 'enough; no more', then the candle will burn.
And I will wait, for his return.
* * *
Next: It is the end of the Earth Year 2260, and through means both dark and decisive, both Captain John Sheridan and Sha'vei William Westcastle find themselves upon the dread world called Z'ha'dum at the same time, each unawares of the other's presence. Unfortunately, the actions of the first may potentially create an inescapable trap for the second.."Paradigm" the final part of DARK CIRCLE, coming soon!