Ram also knew at that moment that he was going to die this day, this hour, along with his entire force. They were toying with humanity! His entire force was nothing but a farce to them, a thing to be played with until it was broken. They didn’t need to hide and strike because they were just that more advanced. It was at that moment Ram felt the chill of the realization that the Minbari didn’t need dirty tricks or hit and run tactics to achieve the kill ratios they were getting. That glee quickly turned to horror as the Minbari ships stabilized and fired.Īdmiral Ram could only gape as one third of his forces simply disappeared into expanding clouds of gas and debris. Surprise and momentary glee passed through TF 5 as the Minbari chose to jump well inside the engagement range as though daring the well prepared fleet to take its best shot, and Minbari arrogance did come at a cost as the gunners of the five Artemis frigates of the Second Frigate Squadron found the range and firing solution on the Tinashi Nirhala, ripping the ship open even before its hyperspace exit had closed. Shai Alit Schlarr looked at the plot with near disbelief, the humans had set themselves up close to the jumpgate in a wall formation Schlarr thought… With a nod and a gesture the ten Sharlins and twenty five Tinashis of the Minbari Eighth Fleet, Third Strike Flotilla jumped out of hyperspace. The sense of preparedness was present but instead of grim determination there was jubilant, hungry anticipation. Onboard the Sharlin warcruiser Nocalo the mood was of a decidedly different character. The bridge was calm and there was a sense of determination and preparedness among the crew as Sensor Officer Brown called out, “Hyperspace wake approaching…” The Minbari were good with hit and run, slaughtering the smaller patrols and forcing Earthdome to give up scouting the perimeter areas, but now they would have to go through him and they wouldn’t be able to play any of their dirty tricks. Task Force 5 compliment of 112 capital ships augmented with 470 Starfuries and 20 towed weapon platforms represented the majority of the sector’s offensive capability but only a tithe of its defenses and keeping the Beta 4 jumpgate open would allow the EA a great deal of strategic movement between the Sinzar and Vega sector colonies as well as allow for probing attacks and possibly even a strike against Drala Toth, the nearest Minbari colony Ram thought. From "Great Space Battles of the 24th Century" (Penguin 2406)Īdmiral Shri Ram sat on the flag bridge of the Hyperion class cruiser Durchal at his command the most powerful EA fleet assembled since the end of the Dilgar War. This battle, the first of three that would occur at Beta 4, would shake the Earth Alliance to its core and set the ‘tone’ of the war for the next nine months… The first big fleet action of the war took place on Apat the important Beta 4 ‘crossroads’ jumpgate 24 days after the Prometheus Incident. If I ever revise I will pad this out.Ĥ shalt thou not count. I kinda ran out of steam in describing the battle. MFWS Tir'Khast: A Sharlin warcruiser named after a major province on Minbar I made up some of the Minbari and EA names / words since I'm pretty sure these were never clarified and out of the blue.ĮAS Durchal: Named after a battle during the Dilgar War.Ĭhirah: An insect on Minbar similar to a cockroach Here's another part, but first a word from our sponsors.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |