Babylon 5: Flowers Of Fate (Fusion with Stargate and Robotech)

Flowers of Fate Chapter 3 Complications

Exodus Fleet, Hyperspace, May 29th 2248

John Sheridan groaned as he woke up. Glancing down he saw his first wife, Elizabeth, snuggling into him. The past two and a half weeks in Hyperspace had been a mix of calm and hectic, but something must've been watching out for them as they hadn't seen any sign of hostile vessels since the Battle of System J-117. On the technical side of things, Odyssey and their engineers had managed to remove the Narn sabotage and even improved them a bit. While the Laser and Plasma Cannons were still inferior to Odyssey's Proton Cannons, they now had around a third of her range. 1 Million kilometers was certainly nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately, attaching Gravitic Focus Arrays to them would require a complete redesign of the guns that they simply didn't have the facilities for at this point.

On the more personal side of things, Elizabeth and John had upped the dosage on their birth control, mostly because the separation from Anna being sent forward in time was messing with their soul's connections to each other. While they both wanted children at some point, the entire reason she had split her soul in half was so one body was always available to follow John into hazardous situations, and if her combat body got pregnant she wouldn't be able to do that. Something most of the other Triads could sympathize with. While they did have technology to create something that was basically a 23rd century version of early 22nd century Iron Wombs, they didn't want to take the risk while their ultimate survival was still in question. Especially since that technology had been nearly outright banned due to the potential side effects.

Otherwise, they'd been working to replace the Auroras with Cobras, and given the latter was only slightly larger on the horizontal axis and smaller on the vertical they could more or less fit them into the same spaces. It was tight and would've been almost impossible for all but the most experienced pilots if not for their Mechamorph Abilities, a Human invention, and Gravitic-Ion Engines, a shrunken version of the type used by the Odyssey, but it was doable. Though Lisa had apparently almost torn the hide off her brother in law when Roy goaded Rick into some rather crazy maneuvers in the Pegasus' docking bay. But given the stress they were all under, John had let it slide. After seeing the looks Claudia and Lisa were giving them, he didn't think the military had an equivalent punishment. And it had given them some ideas for how to exploit the Cobra's Mechamorphosis against capital ships.

They'd also found a way to bolt some Ion Shield Generators to their Novas and Hyperions. They were a few million years out of date compared to Odyssey's Gravitic-Hard Light Shields, but they would increase their survival odds. The Plato didn't have the internal space for generators large enough for her own shields, but they had synthesized some extra armour plating based on Zentraedi designs for her. Captain Guv'Chee had been appreciative, but didn't want them sacrificing their own safety for his people. Apparently the Dilgar had felt his people hadn't earned continued existence, a feeling shared by every surviving Dilgar. The Humans of the Fleet disagreed, but some worried about the possibility of the cat-like aliens trying to find some way to die in battle and "redeem" themselves.

Something they'd find out for sure if they reached Drazi Space and ended up in another firefight. There were those who thought they were jut flying out of the frying pan, but they needed somewhere to rest long enough to retrofit their other ships. The Odyssey was designed to cruise at speeds of .50c, keeping her at .05c so their other capital ships could keep up with her was causing strain in their Ion Engines. Retrofitting them into Gravitic-Ion Engines like the Cobras and Odyssey would allow them to reach speeds of .20c, their hulls wouldn't support much more than that.

"SERIOUSLY?!" The yell from the bathroom, not to mention the mixed wave of joy, anxiety, fear, and annoyance from his wife, made John run to see what was wrong. When he found out, he ordered Odyssey to see about that Iron Womb design.

Four hours later, the Fleet emerged into orbit of Zhabar, the Drazi Homeworld. If they were friendly, then it was a good stop for them to make some minor refits to their ships. Not to mention take a breather. They were met by 500 warships.

"Hail them, but be ready to raise shields if needed." "Channel open, Sir." "This is Commodore John Sheridan of what's left of the Earth Alliance, we mean you no harm, please respond."


Zentraedi 2nd Imperial Fleet Flagship Resolute, Unknown System

Breetai stood on the Command Bridge as he looked over the results of the search for Zor's BattleFortress. Commanders Tomin, Azonia, and Cavalia had completed their pacification of the Minbari, reducing most of their fleet to ash before glassing their worlds. A result of updated orders from Dolza, who apparently thought the local races were better off extinct. He disagreed, but it wasn't his place to question the orders of the Supreme Commander. Though as he continued to listen to that Human music, something by a group called Sabaton, he felt his bonds to Dolza's commands weakening. It was if a fog was slowly lifting from his mind. Speaking with the other Commanders privately, it seemed this was a growing concern among all four Fleets.

This had also allowed him to quietly order his men to begin studying the wreckage of the aliens who had attacked the Humans. Though slow going, they had already found several areas of improvement and even a way to use the Factory Station to create their own Energy Mines. The primary difference was these would be entirely energy, with no physical rounds or ammunition that would need to be carried. Already, 20% of the Zentraedi Fleet had been retrofitted with these new weapons, which would prove invaluable against enemy fighter swarms.

He only hoped they would find the Humans in time one way or the other. Their own supplies of Protoculture were already running dangerously low. They had maybe a year, at most, before they ran out. While several of the Humans Explorer Class vessels had provided the DNA required for new gene lines of Zentraedi, their true objective remained the Ancestral Warship.


Exodus Fleet, Drazi Space

"Sir, they're answering." On the monitor appeared the face of Ambassador Attre, who John had last seen on Earth when the Drazi withdrew their official diplomatic staff a few months before The Fall. "Ambassador! It's good to see you. We need a place to stop off at for a few days, and were hoping you'd be willing?" "Of course, the Drazi have always been friends of Humanity. We sent a fleet to assist you at Earth, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to them?" John's brow furrowed, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ambassador. The Minbari must've intercepted them in Hyperspace."

"I see. Nevertheless, your ships are free to stay here for a few days. Information is hard to come by. We heard the strangest rumor of the Minbari Fleet being shattered by strange, new aliens, who then burned their worlds to ash. We also heard you had been involved in a fight between the Narn and Centauri trying to muscle in on your worlds?" "As for the first, we can only confirm that someone else who wants us dead or captured destroyed the Minbari. As for the second, yes, we were caught in the middle of Narn and Centauri ships but managed to escape, though not without casualties. Our Novas and Hyperions have sustained the most damage, and need repairs."

"Sorry to hear about your losses, Commodore. Transmitting docking coordinates, you're free to follow them at your convivence." The transmission cut as the Exodus Fleet made for the docking slips. Odyssey maintained station keeping, watching for any hostiles. As they went over the plans for the repairs and retrofits, they found it would take at least five days. Skull Squadron settled into training the other Squadrons flying Cobras, as most of them seemed to get Mode Stuck a lot of the time, forgetting that the Cobra had Fighter, Guardian, and Battleloid Modes.

Vorlon Space, Ancient Vorlon Starbase

Kosh approached the station. Shaped much like an oversized mushroom with several tendrils sprouting from the ventral side, it was over 12 kilometers tall and 8 across. Aboard was their primary contact with the backup to the main Minbari civilization, a tribe that had been chosen to be modified for even greater fanaticism and capacity for bloodshed. Their ships were visually distinct from their brothers: blood red in coloration with a single lower fin instead of two. Primarily living as nomads who'd defend the edges of Vorlon space until they rapidly died out, as designed, in the five years prior to the next Shadow War, it seemed they would be needed this time.

Over the next several hours, 45,000 ships of Frigate, Cruiser, or Dreadnought Class, Tishaar, Cauvoris, and Falotti, gathered around the station. Once assembled, it wasn't long before they split off again into groups, one of which was headed directly to Zhabar.


Drazi Space, Unknown Vessel

Aboard a strange vessel unlike any seen even by the First Ones, a being 6 feet 7 inches tall by Human measurement approached his commander. Like his fellows, the being had dark grey skin and glowing green eyes. They had no mouth, for even their speech was entirely Telepathic. "The Drazi Fleet remain secure in the Temporal Stasis Field." When his commander spoke, you could hear the millennia he had lived in his voice. "Good. When the Ashar arrive we will release them. Better they die fighting an enemy like this instead of being torn apart by a more volatile layer of subspace at the whim of spoiled children like the Vorlons." "Yes, Dark One. But... Why are we intervening for the sake of the Humans?"

The commander looked at his subordinate for a long moment before speaking. "I have seen their potential, their destiny does not lie in dying here and now. They will be an ally, one who asks nothing in return for saving us as is tradition for our people, for we would not ask that of them. They can understand and connect with us, and would have the will to try if they didn't. That sets them apart from most."

Things went quiet as they began waiting for the Ashar.

Exodus Fleet, Odyssey Hanger Deck

"RICHARD JOSEPH HUNTER!" Rick almost fell off his fighter in shock when his full name was shouted across the Hanger. Some turned to look, but most of the other Pilots just froze in terror since it wasn't just Lisa who had that look on her face, it was almost every last one of the women married to someone in the Squadrons. The rare few who were in the same Squadron as their spouse found themselves in a similar predicament, and most of the few female Pilots were hunting down their own spouses elsewhere. Nova just looked around, activated her prototype Cloaking Device, and snuck out of the Hanger. She did not want to get in the middle of that. Tosh followed his Platonic Soulmate, planning to jump in the vents if he lost her.

Exodus Fleet, Odyssey Medical Bay

Commodore Sheridan and the various Captains all stood in Dr Jane Grant's Office. One or two couples birth control failing, it'd be understandable. Everyone's birth control had failed. Which meant the Iron Wombs were needed. Badly. "I think I know what happened. It's an unintentional side effect of the Temporal Translocation Beacon combined with our natural Psionics. What most before Odyssey's arrival called Telepaths. With most of our branch of Humanity sent forward in time, the only ones who aren't are aboard these ships. Realizing this, the Psionics started subconsciously broadcasting a signal that somehow negated all forms of birth control."

"I thought most Telepaths were only capable of mind reading or limited telekinesis, and ours had some extra abilities concerning the manipulation of matter and energy that basically boiled down to shooting fire, ice, or lighting from their hands?" "It's a little more complicated than that. There is much we still do not understand about our Psionics, since Telepaths was too limiting a term, and we are still getting the hang of the Vorlon's manipulation of our genome. But it's not all conscious, they will send out routine subconscious signals, most of which don't seem to do anything, but some allow them to communicate more easily across great distances. It appears we now know what one signal does: controls their hormones and allows others to generate more adrenaline in certain situations, but it can be modified in others, the results of which we see here. Unfortunately, it appears that these signals cannot be consciously effected by the Psionic even with full knowledge of their existence."

"So how do we stop it?" "We use the Iron Wombs to take care of every developing baby we can, get as many expecting mothers behind as much armour as possible for the rest, and find a home to use the Beacon on as soon as possible."

Everyone agreed that things just got a lot more complicated.

Ashar Falotti Dreadnought Destiny's Sword, Hyperspace

On the bridge stood a being similar to a Minbari, but with red skin, glassy eyes, and a gold-white hybrid of armour and robes. Shai-Admi Osil watched his screens as his 2000 ship task force hunted for their prey. Their brothers had failed, but they would not. They were the true Chosen of the Vorlons, the Lightbringers themselves. They would burn the unbelievers from the stars with purifying, holy flame. If these Drazi were indeed sheltering the Humans, then they too would burn.

He prayed it was him who found them, for the praise of their masters would be most satisfying indeed.

Drazi Space, Five Days Later

The Exodus Fleet was leaving the dockyards to return to Hyperspace when Jump Points suddenly opened 50,000 kilometers away. From them came the Ashar Fleet. "Battle stations! Launch all fighters, and get the shields up. How'd they surprise us?" "Long range sensors were down for maintenance, and those ships appear to be way more advanced than standard Minbari vessels while lacking the stealth drive. It's possible the extra power let them go deep enough into Hyperspace to evade standard methods of detection." The Drazi Defence Fleet scrambled to assist their allies as the Exodus Fleet gathered around the Plato, which had been trying to fix it's engines for the past three days and would need another ten minutes to finish.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission, text only." "And those who are prideful and refuse to bow down will be laid low and made unto dust." Sheridan frowned. "Well, that was different. Power the Reflex Cannon and target the flagship." "Sir, they just locked on and fired a spread of missiles! I'm seeing 80,000 bogies inbound. Enemy just launched fighters." "Engage point defences, protect the Plato until it can get into Hyperspace." "The enemy just launched a second wave of missiles."

As the fleets raced at each other, the crews of the Exodus Fleet knew that for all their power they didn't have enough point defences to get even half of the incoming first wave of missiles, and the fighters would be stuck dealing with the Minbari's new Nials, which had four forward cannons.

Osil watched the screens, and picked a target for his secondary mission on the off chance he failed. Though he disliked using the tools of the Shadows, the Vorlons instructions had been clear. And so their missiles had been mixed into his own. Picking the slightly smaller of the two largest Human vessels, he had all of their missiles redirect toward it.

Rick saw the numerous missiles on his scanner, and knew he had to do something. His son, all of the sons and daughters of Mankind, needed them. "Reset all missiles for hostile anti-capital fire intercept, lock onto incoming bogies, and fire!" It was a hard call that'd make fighting the Nials trickier, but his gut said they needed to do this. Skull Squadron followed the order as he locked onto the first wave and fired. They didn't need direct hits, just close enough for the detonations to reach within a few hundred meters. And as over 2/3rds of the first wave vanished before reaching the point-defences, he knew it'd worked. Some Cobras peeled off to reload, others joined him in emptying their racks on the second wave. The Ashar Nials, which they called Kul'Nir, had accelerated and many had become intermixed in the second wave of missiles. This resulted in heavy casualties among them.

The Odyssey finally had a lock on the Ashar Flagship, powered up it's Reflex Cannon, and fired. Over 300 ships surrounding it were vaporized along with the Shai-Admi.

But it didn't end there, for not only were the Ashar seemingly unfazed by the death of their Flagship, there were still a great many missiles that the Cobras and the capitals own Interceptor Grids couldn't get, and of those that got through was one from the Shadows. But instead of detonating, it burrowed through the hull of the Plato and quickly rooted itself there.

The Kul'Nir and Cobra Fighters soon intermixed and started dogfighting. The Cobras were faster and more agile, but the Kul'Nirs had more armour and greater firepower than the Nials they were used to. Something people like Red Squadron learned much to their detriment. But for every Cobra lost, four Kul'Nirs went down. Even so, only Red 6 and Red 12 survived to return home. Skull Squadron were one of the few that overall remembered to switch Modes mid-flight, something which also led to them saving many who would've otherwise died.

As the Ashar Fleet tried to close the gap, the Exodus Fleet started taking more hits. Ben Dixon's shields failed and his hull took direct hits from 12 Kul'Nirs. He lost control and ended up crashing into the engine wing of an Ashar Frigate. The resulting chain reaction took out the entire ship. Captain Fokker took some shrapnel through the chest and had to be taken to the Pegasus's medical bay. As casualties started mounting Jump Points opened spilling out a fleet of 1000 Drazi Warships. The Battleship Evkars Bollin physically moved itself to cover the Odyssey, with the rest of the Drazi Fleet following suit.

"Commodore, the Flagship is hailing us." "Get out of here, Humans. We'll hold them off." He didn't want to, but only Odyssey's shields were still holding. All the other ships were already taking direct damage and had several holes in their hulls. "Understood. Thank you Admiral." On the way into Hyperspace the Exodus Fleet finished off the last of the enemy Fighters and Dreadnoughts, leaving a few thousand Frigates and Cruisers for the Drazi to clean up. Bereft of the stealth drive their brothers had used and facing an enemy with functional orbital defences, the Drazi lost almost 1400 ships but eventually managed to take out the Ashar. Their fanaticism had prevented any thought of retreat.

In the days to come, the Drazi would quickly plan and launch their own Exodus Fleet, knowing they didn't stand a chance in the long run if they stayed.


Exodus Fleet, Hyperspace, EAS Plato

"What the hell is it?" Vince Grant, Chief Engineer of the Odyssey, stood with Dr Emil Lang and Dr Samantha Carter, two of the most foremost experts in xenotechnology, examining the strange device which had embedded itself in the Plato's hull. With them was Lieutenant Duv'Caar, Chief Engineer of the Plato. "I have no idea, but whatever it is it's a mix of organic and metal components. The metal acted as a protective casing while in transit, and the organic components are holding it together while protecting some sort of device in the center. It's not an explosive, that much I can tell. It's not emitting any sort of signatures we can detect. But the organic components are growing, anchoring it to the ship. We can't jettison the plating, it's already grown to the point we'd have to jettison a significant part of the Plato. And given how close we are to the engines, that'd be suicide for everyone aboard. Even those in the Cryo-Pods. They still emit too much radiation."

"So we're stuck with it, whatever it is?" The four turned to Captain Guv'Chee and Commodore Sheridan. "Yes Sirs. I'm afraid so. We've also found similar devices embedded in the hulls of the Pegasus and Nova." "Great, another complication. Things just keep getting better and better. Keep at it, people."


Unknown Location

He had no sense of time or even where he was. He knew he was submerged in liquid, but there was no light. The Stasis Jar had been sealed shut ever since those creatures which reminded him of the now extinct Reetou removed him from his host and stuffed him in here. The whispers in the back of his mind compelled him to gather his armies and lead them somewhere, but he was above them. He was the ultimate form of life! They would all kneel!

Light flooded the container as a hand reached in. He was being held by a strange humanoid that seemed to be both solid and made of dark mist, with several others standing nearby. The creature walked towards an old organic who was clearly some sort of leader. The man opened his mouth to scream and, taking the chance, he lunged forward biting through the back of the man's mouth and wrapping around his spinal cord, biting onto his brain stem and taking control.

The guards watched the man writhe in his restraints before settling. They were about to point their weapons at the beings who had promised to restore their Emperor's youth and vitality when the man lifted his head and looked at them. Much to their shock, his eyes glowed and when he spoke it was in a voice deeper than any Centauri should possess. "Kneel before your God." And, one by one, they did. When he looked up at the being who'd released him from the Jar, he made to order it's execution. The thought had barely passed through his brain when he was gripped by something, a force trying to crush his mind. When it relented, he tried to give the order again, but eventually chose to stop in the interests of getting revenge later.

The Drahk started preparing the rest of the several dozen Stasis Jars they'd brought. Across the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds, Narn and Centauri space, and the territory of several other powers within known space, similar scenes were playing out. The Shadows and Vorlons knew that with the Device active their pets would be drawn to the Humans like a great Swarm. And so the Ashar and Shiju were, unbeknownst to themselves, sent ahead to slow the Humans down.