Categories > TV > Babylon 5 > Macross: The Rise of Babylon
Chapter 3: Homecoming
20:19 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
UNS Essex.
In Transit to Earth.
"Kick number two's output up a bit! Its four percent low, Chief!" Commander Cory Roberts shouted from the cockpit of his fighter. Repairs were being rushed in light of their new situation and the bunk time Cory longed for was being made secondary. So the last four hours had been a mad rush of pulling parts and fixing critical damage.
"Can't, sir!" Chief Mendez yelled. "She's pegged! We'll have to throttle the other one down!" He tweaked a few things and then yelled back, "Ahight, you can cut it!"
The turbines' low whine died away slowly and Cory jumped out of the cockpit and landed in a crouch. He flopped down and leaned back tiredly.
"Well, damn. These engines just suck. You sure you can't fix the old ones?"
The burly chief shook his head and snorted. "Nope, you burned your reactors down ta two mil and pretty much melted the rest a the engine." He rubbed his hands on a rag and gave Cory a long look. "Almost left the limiters off too long. Another minute and you'd have burned out, sir."
Cory waived him off, "Yeah I know. Just needed the extra speed. Had to try to save those people and those Minbari fighters were fast little suckers."
Mendez nodded slightly and looked back to the plane. "Don't worry about the new engines. They're just fresh and they just need a bit a time to get broke in." He grinned, "I haven't had a chance to tweak 'em yet either, so there's some more power in there, sir."
A loud klaxon blared twice, cutting through the din of the hanger. "All hands ready for de-fold," the Captain said over the ship's speakers.
"Well, come on Commander," Mendez said, shoving his rag back into his jumpsuit's pocket. "We still need to patch the right wing's fuel tanks and get the armor patches applied."
...o...o...o...
20:21 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
UNS Essex.
In Transit to Earth.
Jack Miller stood at the bridge's forward window and looked out across the pulsing expanse of hyperspace. He was letting his thoughts drift to home, a home before the Rain of Fire that had left Earth scarred and nearly dead.
"You really think we'll be able to help these people?" Maya asked as she quietly slipped up next to him.
"Maybe," Jack said as he watched a ripple move across the carrier. "It'll depend on how long we can stall the Minbari and how quickly the Alliance can shift its industry. The more time we buy them the better their chances."
"Time bought with our blood," Maya sighed.
"I won't let Earth fall," he said vehemently. "I can't stand by and let it be burned, not again. Not when I can stop it." His tone that left no room for argument.
They stood quietly for a bit before she continued. "You saw the reports on the debris we recovered from the Minbari ship?"
"Umph, it's a bit worrying. Their armor soaks up energy like a sponge. We'll have to reprogram the RMSs to penetrate before detonating. The ASMs should be fine, their output is high enough to blow through the armor."
He turned from the window and stretched his arms. "Did you notice any thing about that ship?" he asked. She pursed her lips and after a moment shook her head. "They only use a gravity drive, that's what the fins were for and why it stopped when they broke off. Same for the fighters."
"You really think so? That's sorta silly, those are too fragile for use on combat craft. I mean sure, they're really efficient, but the projectors have to be huge... like those fins." She stopped and thought on that for a bit. "That's just bad design. Why would they be putting efficiency over combat effectiveness?"
Jack clicked his tongue, "Eh, they've been around for a while, from what Captain Harris said. And they seem to have been top dog for a good part of that time. But, I'm betting that they haven't had to fight an enemy on an equal footing for a looong time."
He looked at Maya and gave her a feral smile. "We're going to be a big shock to them."
...o...o...o...
20:24 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
TG 12.3, EAS Sutsanto.
Sol System, Far Earth Orbit.
"Sir, we're in position," the helmsman said as the Hyperion and its escorts finished breaking maneuvers.
Captain Jack Maynard nodded and glanced at his watch. "Good, just in time. Com, get me General Lefcourt."
"Yes sir," the tech said. "Connection established. Its waiting on you monitor."
Maynard opened the link and it was just a few moments before General Robert Lefcourt appeared. He looked tired and the window behind him was lit by the night lights of Geneva.
"Evening, Jack. You in position?" Lefcourt asked gruffly.
"Yes sir, just finished breaking," Maynard said. "So, what are we doing out here?"
Lefcourt grabbed a few papers off his desk and scanned through them. "Lets see... About four hours ago the evacuation convoy for the Altair base on the Narn Frontier was ambushed by a Sharlin patrolling there. The convoy was rescued by an unknown ship. Its sketchy, but apparently the rescuers were Human."
Maynard whistled, "Someone beat a Sharlin in a slugging match? When are we getting what they're using?" He frowned as the whole statement clicked, "Wait, you said an unknown ship? With a Human crew?"
"Yeah," Lefcourt nodded, "not one of ours. Anyway, its going to take them a little under two hours to make the seventeen light-year jump to Earth."
"That can't be right," Maynard said and he scratched his chin. "It'd be impossible to navigate that deep in hyperspa-"
"Sir!" the sensor tech interrupted. "Forty-seven new contacts! Wait, no now its sixty-one, sixty-fo-, seventy-four contacts! Two are reading as ours!"
Maynard watched wide eyed as dozens of ships appeared in front of his small task force. Four monolithic carriers clustered around a mishmash of pipes and spindles formed the core of their fleet. Sleek kilometer long daggers cut into formation around them. The smaller ships breaking and maneuvering unlike any thing he had ever seen.
Lefcourt smiled thinly, "Maybe you can. Bring 'em in, Jack. We need whatever help we can get," he said and then cut the connection.
"Message from the arriving fleet," the com tech said. "Piping it to you now, sir."
An older graying man in an unfamiliar uniform appeared on his monitor. "I'm Admiral Miller," he said coolly. "If you would, form up an escort and we can get under way to Earth. Captain Harris has been very helpful, but I really need to talk to your command before I can mount any serious operations."
"Ah... Yes sir."
...o...o...o...
09:44 Local, December 20, 2246.
Sydney Spaceport, Sydney, Australia.
Sol System, Earth.
President Elisabeth Levy squinted up at the cloudless blue sky. It was just going to hit twenty-five today and it was looking like it would be a lovely summer day here. The new arrivals had insisted on a meeting on Earth and a winter night in Geneva was just too cold.
'Much better than Geneva,' she decided as she looked out across the spaceport's tarmac from the conference room's curved floor to ceiling window. 'Maybe I can set up a summer and a winter government seat? Might work, if I can get the some of the older senators on my side.'
She sighed and turned back to the conference table and her staff of advisors. They had taken a short break after several hours of discussion about these new allies. General Lefcourt and Franklin were quietly discussing something, probably the tactical implications of 'fold' drives and 'reaction' weapons. Commander Sheridan, the young officer Lefcourt had brought with him, was looking distinctly uncomfortable and trying not to wriggle. He was a good level-headed man from what she had heard. Her good friend Louis Santiago was sitting quietly, deep in his thoughts. Most of her other aides and hanger-ons were clustered in small groups conversing quietly. The news of these new arrivals had only just begun to be accepted with their arrival in Sol and had left many people stunned.
"So," she said, sitting back down. "What do we know?"
"Not a whole lot, militarily, Madam President," General Robert Lefcourt said after a moment. "They have seventy-two ships in seven distinct classes, most of which have some battle damage, and an unknown fighter compliment with those ships." He paused to take a sip of water and then leaned back. "A squadron of their fighters severely damaged a Sharlin cruiser and nearly wiped out two squadrons of Nials. Better than any thing we've been able to do to the Minbari in any skirmish."
General Richard Franklin nodded gravely, "Yes, their fighters do seem to be very good. We don't know what sort of line combatants they are, though. Their ships look impressive and seem to have a high performance envelope, but we haven't seen them in combat yet."
He shuffled through some papers and selected one. "What's really impressive is that it took them an hour and forty-six minutes to travel 16.8 lightyears. That's far in excess of anything we can do, even on the best mapped routes. And their engineers mounted drives on two of our ships in under four hours. If we can get that technology, we could at least stage an evacuation of Earth and be reasonably safe from any pursuit."
"You're not actually suggesting that we abandoned Earth, General?" a Senator, Clark she remembered after a moment, asked.
Franklin winced and shook his head. "Only as a last resort," he said in a placating tone. "The war has not gone well, we are in retreat on all fronts, and our victories are far and few between. I don't want to get my hopes up much."
"That's all right, General. Someone has to be the realist." Elisabeth said softly. "Louis, you've been awfully quite."
"Hmmm? Oh, sorry. Its just the thought that these are people from another dimension. It boggles the mind there could be others-"
"They're here," Commander John Sheridan interrupted quietly.
Elisabeth quickly turned her chair and just caught sight of the shuttle and it's escort flight of fighters as they swooped in on the tarmac. The shuttle was a boxy craft with tilt-engines on short wings fore and aft. It settled into VTOL, Virticle Take Off and Landing, and dropped down lightly near the terminal. The fighters were more impressive as they wheeled in along side the shuttle. When they went VTOL they sprouted arms and legs and carried a giant rifle. They hovered two on each side of the shuttle and as it landed the two fighters farthest from the terminal changed again into huge humanoid robots. They looked rather like a futuristic knights, what with a shield on one arm and that huge rifle they wielded with casual ease.
Sheridan broke the stunned silence after a moment with his succinct statement of: "Damn."
"Well, uh," Elisabeth said scratchily. "Let-ahem. Lets go meet our guests."
...o...o...o...
The shuttle's passengers had already disembarked by the time Elisabeth and her group got outside. Most were guards-
"Marines," Lefcourt murmured quietly, catching sight of the globe and anchor emblem they wore.
-Marines in some sort of light armor and carrying menacing looking rifles. They stood at ease behind an older officer in a white uniform with a brief case. He had the same bearing and aura of competence that all good soldiers have. She was a bit surprised as they all snapped to attention when they saw her and she tentatively returned their salutes.
"I'm Admiral Jack Miller, Madam President," he said after studying her for a moment. "I'm here to offer you the full support of UN Spacy and the 7th Galaxy Patrol Fleet in any capacity possible."
"Thank you, Admiral," she said. "With your help we may be able to finally turn the tide of this war. Please, this way. We have a conference room ready."
"Of course, ma'am," he said and with his Marine escort followed her and her group back to the conference room. The short trip was made in silence and they filed into the room, leaving the Marines and Secret Service eyeing each other uncomfortably.
"If I may ask, Admiral," Louis began after they were all seated. "Why are you helping us? This isn't your war or, for that matter, your world."
"That... That requires a bit of history on my part," Jack said slowly. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a small holoprojector and set it on the table. It powered up and began to show a few scenes.
"In nineteen ninety-nine an alien ship crashed on my Earth and we found out we weren't alone in the universe. But... it was a warship. So, for the next ten years, we prepared the best we could, building new machines of war and a small fleet to defend Earth."
He leaned back slightly, "And then, on the day we were going to launch the Macross, the alien ship that had crashed; the Zentradi came. The Macross had belonged to an enemy of theirs and had been booby trapped before being abandoned." The projector flashed to a shaky image of the Macross firing. "Shot straight through a mountain and a couple tens of kilometers of ocean before blowing apart the ships the Zentradi had sent as a scout force."
"And that began the Space War. I was in the SEALs then, as was part of a counter terrorism unit stationed on Ataria, and sat most of the War out on the Macross." He paused for a moment. "It wasn't a war in the traditional sense. The Zentradi were just after the Macross, initially to destroy it, but after they saw that we had repaired the ship, they became intrigued by us. The Zentradi, then, were best described as bioroids. Imprinted with basic skills in a growth tank and in about a year they came out ready and fight in any capacity a soldier can... except as engineers. They weren't taught anything past cleaning their weapons and our ability to repair things intrigued them."
"Anyway, they came to Earth in force after they lost their ships and Macross made a fold in gravity, a very difficult maneuver under the best of conditions, to escape. We ended up by Pluto with the fold engine gone and we made our way back to Earth with the Zentradi following us. The Zentradi, as they were exposed to us, became culturally contaminated. Which lead to their main fleet commander ordering that the Earth and the contaminated Zentradi be destroyed."
"So on the eleventh of February, twenty ten, three million ships arrived over Earth and began bombardment. The Zentradi already in system had decided that there was something worth saving there and sided with us. With their help, the Macross lead a daring attack on the main command ship, managing to destroy the ship and kill the fleets commander."
The projector flashed to an image of Earth after the battle. Fires raged across the planet. Coast lines were reshaped, cratered beyond recognition. There was not a single city that escaped bombardment.
Jack sighed sadly and sank into his chair. "We won. But the Rain of Fire couldn't be stopped. Earth was burned and humanity nearly wiped out. Out of six billion people there were only a few million survivors and we weren't able to mount the rescue operations to save even a small portion of them."
He gave Elisabeth a piercing look and said softly, "That's why I can't stand by and let this war happen to humanity, even if its not my humanity."
"I see," she said softly. "But what can you really hope to do?" Seeing Earth, even if it wasn't her's, that ravaged had left her disheartened.
"I will buy you time. Time to shore up defenses, retool industries, and retrain personnel."
"How do you intend to do that?" Lefcourt asked as he leaned forward and put his elbows on the table.
"We'll open up another front on the Minbari. Attack them in the rear of their territories and force them to move ships and personnel to reinforce and defend previously safe areas; hopefully taking pressure off Earth."
He adjusted the projector and it switched to a star map showing a two hundred fifty light year sphere around Earth. Blue began to propagate outward from Earth highlighting colonies and tinting space. It shifted to purple and then to red as it crossed from disputed areas and into known Minbari colonies.
Jack pointed to an area behind the known Minbari colonies. "We need more information before that, though. I'll send scouts through this area. My North Hampton frigates are very fast, have excellent sensor suites, and a very stealthy profile. Once we find a suitable target; my commando units will stage a raid and infiltrate the Minbari information network and get as much data as they can."
He smile thinly, "Once we have some idea of their disposition of forces, then we'll start hammering them. Hard."
20:19 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
UNS Essex.
In Transit to Earth.
"Kick number two's output up a bit! Its four percent low, Chief!" Commander Cory Roberts shouted from the cockpit of his fighter. Repairs were being rushed in light of their new situation and the bunk time Cory longed for was being made secondary. So the last four hours had been a mad rush of pulling parts and fixing critical damage.
"Can't, sir!" Chief Mendez yelled. "She's pegged! We'll have to throttle the other one down!" He tweaked a few things and then yelled back, "Ahight, you can cut it!"
The turbines' low whine died away slowly and Cory jumped out of the cockpit and landed in a crouch. He flopped down and leaned back tiredly.
"Well, damn. These engines just suck. You sure you can't fix the old ones?"
The burly chief shook his head and snorted. "Nope, you burned your reactors down ta two mil and pretty much melted the rest a the engine." He rubbed his hands on a rag and gave Cory a long look. "Almost left the limiters off too long. Another minute and you'd have burned out, sir."
Cory waived him off, "Yeah I know. Just needed the extra speed. Had to try to save those people and those Minbari fighters were fast little suckers."
Mendez nodded slightly and looked back to the plane. "Don't worry about the new engines. They're just fresh and they just need a bit a time to get broke in." He grinned, "I haven't had a chance to tweak 'em yet either, so there's some more power in there, sir."
A loud klaxon blared twice, cutting through the din of the hanger. "All hands ready for de-fold," the Captain said over the ship's speakers.
"Well, come on Commander," Mendez said, shoving his rag back into his jumpsuit's pocket. "We still need to patch the right wing's fuel tanks and get the armor patches applied."
...o...o...o...
20:21 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
UNS Essex.
In Transit to Earth.
Jack Miller stood at the bridge's forward window and looked out across the pulsing expanse of hyperspace. He was letting his thoughts drift to home, a home before the Rain of Fire that had left Earth scarred and nearly dead.
"You really think we'll be able to help these people?" Maya asked as she quietly slipped up next to him.
"Maybe," Jack said as he watched a ripple move across the carrier. "It'll depend on how long we can stall the Minbari and how quickly the Alliance can shift its industry. The more time we buy them the better their chances."
"Time bought with our blood," Maya sighed.
"I won't let Earth fall," he said vehemently. "I can't stand by and let it be burned, not again. Not when I can stop it." His tone that left no room for argument.
They stood quietly for a bit before she continued. "You saw the reports on the debris we recovered from the Minbari ship?"
"Umph, it's a bit worrying. Their armor soaks up energy like a sponge. We'll have to reprogram the RMSs to penetrate before detonating. The ASMs should be fine, their output is high enough to blow through the armor."
He turned from the window and stretched his arms. "Did you notice any thing about that ship?" he asked. She pursed her lips and after a moment shook her head. "They only use a gravity drive, that's what the fins were for and why it stopped when they broke off. Same for the fighters."
"You really think so? That's sorta silly, those are too fragile for use on combat craft. I mean sure, they're really efficient, but the projectors have to be huge... like those fins." She stopped and thought on that for a bit. "That's just bad design. Why would they be putting efficiency over combat effectiveness?"
Jack clicked his tongue, "Eh, they've been around for a while, from what Captain Harris said. And they seem to have been top dog for a good part of that time. But, I'm betting that they haven't had to fight an enemy on an equal footing for a looong time."
He looked at Maya and gave her a feral smile. "We're going to be a big shock to them."
...o...o...o...
20:24 Zulu, December 19, 2246.
TG 12.3, EAS Sutsanto.
Sol System, Far Earth Orbit.
"Sir, we're in position," the helmsman said as the Hyperion and its escorts finished breaking maneuvers.
Captain Jack Maynard nodded and glanced at his watch. "Good, just in time. Com, get me General Lefcourt."
"Yes sir," the tech said. "Connection established. Its waiting on you monitor."
Maynard opened the link and it was just a few moments before General Robert Lefcourt appeared. He looked tired and the window behind him was lit by the night lights of Geneva.
"Evening, Jack. You in position?" Lefcourt asked gruffly.
"Yes sir, just finished breaking," Maynard said. "So, what are we doing out here?"
Lefcourt grabbed a few papers off his desk and scanned through them. "Lets see... About four hours ago the evacuation convoy for the Altair base on the Narn Frontier was ambushed by a Sharlin patrolling there. The convoy was rescued by an unknown ship. Its sketchy, but apparently the rescuers were Human."
Maynard whistled, "Someone beat a Sharlin in a slugging match? When are we getting what they're using?" He frowned as the whole statement clicked, "Wait, you said an unknown ship? With a Human crew?"
"Yeah," Lefcourt nodded, "not one of ours. Anyway, its going to take them a little under two hours to make the seventeen light-year jump to Earth."
"That can't be right," Maynard said and he scratched his chin. "It'd be impossible to navigate that deep in hyperspa-"
"Sir!" the sensor tech interrupted. "Forty-seven new contacts! Wait, no now its sixty-one, sixty-fo-, seventy-four contacts! Two are reading as ours!"
Maynard watched wide eyed as dozens of ships appeared in front of his small task force. Four monolithic carriers clustered around a mishmash of pipes and spindles formed the core of their fleet. Sleek kilometer long daggers cut into formation around them. The smaller ships breaking and maneuvering unlike any thing he had ever seen.
Lefcourt smiled thinly, "Maybe you can. Bring 'em in, Jack. We need whatever help we can get," he said and then cut the connection.
"Message from the arriving fleet," the com tech said. "Piping it to you now, sir."
An older graying man in an unfamiliar uniform appeared on his monitor. "I'm Admiral Miller," he said coolly. "If you would, form up an escort and we can get under way to Earth. Captain Harris has been very helpful, but I really need to talk to your command before I can mount any serious operations."
"Ah... Yes sir."
...o...o...o...
09:44 Local, December 20, 2246.
Sydney Spaceport, Sydney, Australia.
Sol System, Earth.
President Elisabeth Levy squinted up at the cloudless blue sky. It was just going to hit twenty-five today and it was looking like it would be a lovely summer day here. The new arrivals had insisted on a meeting on Earth and a winter night in Geneva was just too cold.
'Much better than Geneva,' she decided as she looked out across the spaceport's tarmac from the conference room's curved floor to ceiling window. 'Maybe I can set up a summer and a winter government seat? Might work, if I can get the some of the older senators on my side.'
She sighed and turned back to the conference table and her staff of advisors. They had taken a short break after several hours of discussion about these new allies. General Lefcourt and Franklin were quietly discussing something, probably the tactical implications of 'fold' drives and 'reaction' weapons. Commander Sheridan, the young officer Lefcourt had brought with him, was looking distinctly uncomfortable and trying not to wriggle. He was a good level-headed man from what she had heard. Her good friend Louis Santiago was sitting quietly, deep in his thoughts. Most of her other aides and hanger-ons were clustered in small groups conversing quietly. The news of these new arrivals had only just begun to be accepted with their arrival in Sol and had left many people stunned.
"So," she said, sitting back down. "What do we know?"
"Not a whole lot, militarily, Madam President," General Robert Lefcourt said after a moment. "They have seventy-two ships in seven distinct classes, most of which have some battle damage, and an unknown fighter compliment with those ships." He paused to take a sip of water and then leaned back. "A squadron of their fighters severely damaged a Sharlin cruiser and nearly wiped out two squadrons of Nials. Better than any thing we've been able to do to the Minbari in any skirmish."
General Richard Franklin nodded gravely, "Yes, their fighters do seem to be very good. We don't know what sort of line combatants they are, though. Their ships look impressive and seem to have a high performance envelope, but we haven't seen them in combat yet."
He shuffled through some papers and selected one. "What's really impressive is that it took them an hour and forty-six minutes to travel 16.8 lightyears. That's far in excess of anything we can do, even on the best mapped routes. And their engineers mounted drives on two of our ships in under four hours. If we can get that technology, we could at least stage an evacuation of Earth and be reasonably safe from any pursuit."
"You're not actually suggesting that we abandoned Earth, General?" a Senator, Clark she remembered after a moment, asked.
Franklin winced and shook his head. "Only as a last resort," he said in a placating tone. "The war has not gone well, we are in retreat on all fronts, and our victories are far and few between. I don't want to get my hopes up much."
"That's all right, General. Someone has to be the realist." Elisabeth said softly. "Louis, you've been awfully quite."
"Hmmm? Oh, sorry. Its just the thought that these are people from another dimension. It boggles the mind there could be others-"
"They're here," Commander John Sheridan interrupted quietly.
Elisabeth quickly turned her chair and just caught sight of the shuttle and it's escort flight of fighters as they swooped in on the tarmac. The shuttle was a boxy craft with tilt-engines on short wings fore and aft. It settled into VTOL, Virticle Take Off and Landing, and dropped down lightly near the terminal. The fighters were more impressive as they wheeled in along side the shuttle. When they went VTOL they sprouted arms and legs and carried a giant rifle. They hovered two on each side of the shuttle and as it landed the two fighters farthest from the terminal changed again into huge humanoid robots. They looked rather like a futuristic knights, what with a shield on one arm and that huge rifle they wielded with casual ease.
Sheridan broke the stunned silence after a moment with his succinct statement of: "Damn."
"Well, uh," Elisabeth said scratchily. "Let-ahem. Lets go meet our guests."
...o...o...o...
The shuttle's passengers had already disembarked by the time Elisabeth and her group got outside. Most were guards-
"Marines," Lefcourt murmured quietly, catching sight of the globe and anchor emblem they wore.
-Marines in some sort of light armor and carrying menacing looking rifles. They stood at ease behind an older officer in a white uniform with a brief case. He had the same bearing and aura of competence that all good soldiers have. She was a bit surprised as they all snapped to attention when they saw her and she tentatively returned their salutes.
"I'm Admiral Jack Miller, Madam President," he said after studying her for a moment. "I'm here to offer you the full support of UN Spacy and the 7th Galaxy Patrol Fleet in any capacity possible."
"Thank you, Admiral," she said. "With your help we may be able to finally turn the tide of this war. Please, this way. We have a conference room ready."
"Of course, ma'am," he said and with his Marine escort followed her and her group back to the conference room. The short trip was made in silence and they filed into the room, leaving the Marines and Secret Service eyeing each other uncomfortably.
"If I may ask, Admiral," Louis began after they were all seated. "Why are you helping us? This isn't your war or, for that matter, your world."
"That... That requires a bit of history on my part," Jack said slowly. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a small holoprojector and set it on the table. It powered up and began to show a few scenes.
"In nineteen ninety-nine an alien ship crashed on my Earth and we found out we weren't alone in the universe. But... it was a warship. So, for the next ten years, we prepared the best we could, building new machines of war and a small fleet to defend Earth."
He leaned back slightly, "And then, on the day we were going to launch the Macross, the alien ship that had crashed; the Zentradi came. The Macross had belonged to an enemy of theirs and had been booby trapped before being abandoned." The projector flashed to a shaky image of the Macross firing. "Shot straight through a mountain and a couple tens of kilometers of ocean before blowing apart the ships the Zentradi had sent as a scout force."
"And that began the Space War. I was in the SEALs then, as was part of a counter terrorism unit stationed on Ataria, and sat most of the War out on the Macross." He paused for a moment. "It wasn't a war in the traditional sense. The Zentradi were just after the Macross, initially to destroy it, but after they saw that we had repaired the ship, they became intrigued by us. The Zentradi, then, were best described as bioroids. Imprinted with basic skills in a growth tank and in about a year they came out ready and fight in any capacity a soldier can... except as engineers. They weren't taught anything past cleaning their weapons and our ability to repair things intrigued them."
"Anyway, they came to Earth in force after they lost their ships and Macross made a fold in gravity, a very difficult maneuver under the best of conditions, to escape. We ended up by Pluto with the fold engine gone and we made our way back to Earth with the Zentradi following us. The Zentradi, as they were exposed to us, became culturally contaminated. Which lead to their main fleet commander ordering that the Earth and the contaminated Zentradi be destroyed."
"So on the eleventh of February, twenty ten, three million ships arrived over Earth and began bombardment. The Zentradi already in system had decided that there was something worth saving there and sided with us. With their help, the Macross lead a daring attack on the main command ship, managing to destroy the ship and kill the fleets commander."
The projector flashed to an image of Earth after the battle. Fires raged across the planet. Coast lines were reshaped, cratered beyond recognition. There was not a single city that escaped bombardment.
Jack sighed sadly and sank into his chair. "We won. But the Rain of Fire couldn't be stopped. Earth was burned and humanity nearly wiped out. Out of six billion people there were only a few million survivors and we weren't able to mount the rescue operations to save even a small portion of them."
He gave Elisabeth a piercing look and said softly, "That's why I can't stand by and let this war happen to humanity, even if its not my humanity."
"I see," she said softly. "But what can you really hope to do?" Seeing Earth, even if it wasn't her's, that ravaged had left her disheartened.
"I will buy you time. Time to shore up defenses, retool industries, and retrain personnel."
"How do you intend to do that?" Lefcourt asked as he leaned forward and put his elbows on the table.
"We'll open up another front on the Minbari. Attack them in the rear of their territories and force them to move ships and personnel to reinforce and defend previously safe areas; hopefully taking pressure off Earth."
He adjusted the projector and it switched to a star map showing a two hundred fifty light year sphere around Earth. Blue began to propagate outward from Earth highlighting colonies and tinting space. It shifted to purple and then to red as it crossed from disputed areas and into known Minbari colonies.
Jack pointed to an area behind the known Minbari colonies. "We need more information before that, though. I'll send scouts through this area. My North Hampton frigates are very fast, have excellent sensor suites, and a very stealthy profile. Once we find a suitable target; my commando units will stage a raid and infiltrate the Minbari information network and get as much data as they can."
He smile thinly, "Once we have some idea of their disposition of forces, then we'll start hammering them. Hard."
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