After a further split second of indecision, Shaw nodded and began to pick his way painfully from the bridge. He began to reach for his first aid kit again, intending to use the same stimulant and pain suppressant combination on himself that he had administered to Badeau and the President. As soon as he put his hand on the pouch, he thought better of it. He could soon encounter someone who needed it far more than he.
Outside the air seemed burnt, the stench of ozone thick in his nostrils. He scanned the area but his sight was blocked by mountains on all sides. The thin vegetation at the foot of the towering rock faces was either burning or already blackened. What he had taken for clouds earlier was actually thick smoke. It seemed the sky itself had caught fire. What remained of EarthDome and the great lake, he could not tell. The bridge of the
Intrepide
had indeed separated from the main hull, and its ruin had come to rest a quarter of the way up the mountain.
Looking down, he saw scattered wreckage of the White Star, though nothing large enough to be the main hull. Shaw guessed that lay beyond one of the mountains around him, though whether it would be behind the bridge or in front, he could not guess. Seeing a large fragment of purple armour plating a few hundred yards from him, perhaps from the drive systems, Shaw began a painful climb down toward it. He was grateful they had not ended up higher in the mountain ranges, where treacherous terrain and thin oxygen would have added to his difficulties. It did not take long, however, for him to realise that many of the crew might be stranded in just such a place. So long as they were not badly injured, he knew the Minbari would be tough enough to survive for at least a little while, but he did not have such hopes for the EarthForce officers who had evacuated with them.
It took Shaw several minutes to reach his target, but he was rewarded with sounds of movement from behind the wreckage that towered above him. It was from the rear section of the
Intrepide
, he could tell now, where it had broken away from the core of the gravitic drive. Trying not to think of injured crew lying too close to the ship’s fusion reactor, he limped round the wreckage, peering inside. He immediately saw a line of Minbari bodies in a shattered corridor, all arranged in a neat row. He did not know whether they were unconscious or dead but his heart lightened as someone had obviously placed them thus.
A groan of supreme effort sounded just beyond the prone Minbari, and Shaw called out. A pause hung between him and the unknown crew member, then a hesitant voice returned to him.
‘Mr Shaw?’
A surge of relief swept through him as he recognised the light tone, and he redoubled his efforts to clamber through the twisted supports framing the corridor.
‘Tilanna!’
He found the small Minbari just beyond what had once been a junction that split service panels around the drive system. Looking at her, he thought she looked a real mess. She favoured her left arm and the robes around her legs were soaked through with blood. Her face, normally so delicate and precise in its features, had a deep cut running across the back of her head and blood dripped from her bone crest. Still, she had been trying to force open a wedged door with brute force. In spite of the situation, Shaw could not help but admire her Minbari fortitude and resilience. A human in her condition would have been out for the count, if surviving at all.
‘Help me,’ she said simply, then went back to straining on the door. ‘I heard movement inside.’
Shaw cast his eye about, seeing the door was open by an inch or so--either jammed that way or moved through Tilanna’s incredible efforts. He spied a loose pipe jutting from the floor and wrenched it free. Stepping up to Tilanna, he wedged it in as a lever, and the two of them strained together. Gradually, an inch at a time, it yielded to their efforts. Finally a pair of hands from the other side gripped the edge of the door and aided them. The work easier now, the door was soon forced open, and they looked inside to see a darkened chamber crushed to a third of its original size. On the floor were three Minbari. The first looked up as the others began to move slowly.
‘I thank you,’ he said to both Shaw and Tilanna. ‘I could not have moved that by myself
They both crouched down to inspect his injuries. ‘Are you hurt?’ Shaw asked.
‘Nothing major, I think. I believe, at least, I will live.’ He winced as he stood. ‘Help me with the others. I think they will live but a little light would help the diagnosis.’
Between them, Shaw and the two more able-bodied Minbari struggled to drag the wounded third to where Tilanna placed the others. She told Shaw some had perished while others might not recover without assistance, as she finally sat down to rest and let him tend her injuries.
He saw her left arm was bruised and a wide, nasty slash across her shin was quickly bound up. No lasting damage would result. He was far more concerned with her head wound but consoled himself that it might not be critical as she was still conscious. Shaw knew the Religious Caste were far more adept at some of the pain management meditations he had learned as one of the Anla’Shok, but even so, he was impressed by Tilanna’s strength of will. His task finished, he suddenly remembered his rendezvous with Badeau back in the bridge section.
‘We have to go--a shuttle should be coming for us. Sabine is setting up a commlink,’ he said to the two Minbari.
The male Minbari smiled at the news that his captain was still alive but refused to go with Shaw and Tilanna. ‘I have to stay here. They will need me,’ he said, indicating the prone Minbari.
Shaw shook his head. ‘You are in no state to survive the cold for long.’
‘They will survive a great deal shorter than that if I am not around. Besides, I’ll make a fire. It will keep us warm and serve as a beacon.’
‘What will you use for a flame?’ Shaw asked, looking around the immediate wreckage.
When he did not get an immediate answer, Shaw turned back to see both Minbari looking at him with serious faces.
‘Michael,’ Tilanna said slowly. ‘We Minbari had the capacity to make fire long before you humans did. He’ll manage.’
Shaw dropped his gaze and smiled. ‘Sorry.’
‘Now go, both of you,’ the Minbari said. ‘The captain will need you.’
Shaw put a hand on his shoulder and said, ‘I’ll get a shuttle sent down to you.’
‘I know you will. I have my duties here. Go and attend to yours.’
Nodding once, Shaw stood up and began the march back up the mountain with Tilanna.
As they approached the wrecked bridge section, Shaw saw Luchenko leaning over Badeau. The Ranger was lying very still now, and Luchenko looked up as Shaw and Tilanna approached.
‘Your friend managed to get through, eventually. A shuttle is on its way. I think she needs help very soon . . .’ said Luchenko.
Shaw and Tilanna both crouched by their captain, Luchenko stepping back to give them room. Badeau faded in and out of consciousness, probably from the strain of getting a communications link working and contacting EarthForce. Looking over his superior’s broken body, Shaw wondered what he should do next. He still had his duty to perform and a mission to accomplish--but without Sabine’s guidance and support? Surely the Anla’Shok would have to be informed of her injuries so a senior replacement could be sent to support the President and the Earth Alliance in this time of dire need. But what if no replacement was conveniently nearby? Shaw did not have the faintest clue how to advise a President. She had many years of political experience and was probably twice his age. What contribution could he possibly make?
Luchenko broke through his thoughts. ‘How did you get on?’ she asked.
This, at least, was something he could answer. ‘Didn’t find the main hull, if it is still in one piece. But there are injured Minbari down there,’ he said, pointing back to the wreckage.
‘Shuttles will be scouring the area soon. They’ll be okay.’ She turned to face Tilanna. ‘I carried a beacon outside to direct the shuttle. Make sure it keeps transmitting until they arrive. We cannot spare a second’s delay. I need to get to a secure location as quickly as possible.’
It slowly dawned on Shaw what that meant. ‘We can gather the survivors in the shuttle that’s coming now,’ he ventured. Luchenko shook her head and was about to respond when Shaw felt a hand on his leg. He looked down to see Badeau grasping him, an unwavering expression on her face, and he crouched to hear her words.
‘We have to get the President to a safe location. That’s our priority.’ The effort of this clearly pained her and she closed her eyes, relaxing her grip on him.
Badeau slowly opened her eyes to look straight at Shaw, and he saw the determined set of her jaw.
‘What do you think is happening, right now?’ she asked, looking to press her point. When he did not answer immediately, she grabbed him again and forced him to look at her once more. ‘Think!’
Taking a breath, Shaw considered the situation. ‘Well, there will be those in EarthForce who want to retaliate. They’ll want to attack the Centauri. But they won’t do that without orders.’
‘Until I contacted EarthForce, they were presuming the President was dead, along with the Joint Chiefs. The news she is still alive has not reached every part of EarthForce yet. The senators, those who survived, have been scattered during the evacuation and so, right now, no one knows who is in charge. It will only take one lone admiral or even captain to get the idea that retaliation must take place quickly--and we then have a war on our hands.’
He nodded but Badeau did not let him go. ‘Do you understand?’ she said through her pain.
‘Yes,’ he finally said, though he thought of the brave Minbari just a little distance away who might have to survive a night in these mountains. ‘Where are we taking the President?’
‘A shuttle is being sent down from the
Alexander
, a destroyer in orbit. From there, I imagine she will want to go to a command post, either here on Earth or perhaps Mars. I’m betting Mars. They may fear further attacks.’
‘We need to report back as well,’ he said.
‘Now you are thinking. Yes, damn straight we have to report to Sheridan. Or, rather, you do.’ The whine of a craft’s engines caused her to glance up as a shuttle bearing EarthForce markings began a landing cycle just a few yards away from them. ‘Listen to me, Michael,’ Badeau said, ensuring his attention was focussed only on her. ‘I don’t know how long I can stay conscious, and I think I am going to be out of things for a while. Everything rides on what happens next; I cannot overstate that enough. You are now the conduit between Luchenko and Sheridan. You are also going to have to take a lot of tough decisions on your own. Remember what you have been taught. Be true to the Anla’Shok.’
As she closed her eyes once more, Shaw noticed that Badeau’s breathing was becoming ragged. He had to strain to hear her next words over the noise of the settling shuttle. ‘I think this is going to get worse before it gets better.’
Shaw did not have the chance to ask Badeau what she meant, as his captain lapsed into unconsciousness. The area began swarming with people in EarthForce uniforms, first taking President Luchenko aboard the shuttle, then bringing a stretcher for Badeau. He followed Tilanna to the small craft, turning to look once more at the strewn wreckage of the
Intrepide
below them before ducking inside.
July 6th 2263, The EAS Alexander, Sol
Lacking the advanced gravitic systems of the White Star, the EarthForce shuttle was uncomfortable, even for those who were not injured. Shaw and Tilanna endured the short voyage well enough as the shuttle closed distance with its mother ship, the
Alexander
, but he was thankful that Badeau had slipped into unconsciousness earlier. Though they remained alert, both he and Tilanna were engaged in their own silent meditative techniques, taught to them by the Minbari, as paramedics on board the shuttle tended them. Though forced to inaction, Shaw tried to marshal his mental reserves, preparing himself for the next challenge however out of depth he personally felt. Despite holding the title a short time, Shaw was Anla’Shok, and he was determined not to fail.
President Luchenko had no such training and she chomped at the bit, impatient at wasting more time before she could resume her role as leader of a free Earth. Frustrated, she ordered the shuttle’s pilot to hook a communications link into the EarthForce emergency bands and, from the flood of chatter, she began to piece together what had happened in Geneva and the extent of the damage. At first glance, it looked to be total.
The
Alexander
, an Omega-class destroyer and one of the largest and most powerful vessels in the EarthForce fleet, loomed in the shuttle’s forward viewport where all the passengers could see it. The long, square shape of the Omega, common to many vessels built by Earth, had earned the entire fleet the nickname ‘flying bricks.’ However, whereas many EarthForce ships still had zero-gravity throughout their superstructures, the Omega had a rotating crew section where variable artificial gravity was permanently available. As well as granting military crews a measure of dignity, it allowed ships such as the
Alexander
to stay on patrol for extended periods of time without incurring unnecessary crew fatigue.
The pilot exchanged call signs and approach vectors with the
Alexander’s
fighter controllers and then lined the shuttle up with the massive warship. Flying around the front superstructure of the
Alexander
in a long sweeping manoeuvre, the shuttle began the slow approach to the red-lit docking bay in the nose of the ship. Flashing guide lights mounted on pylons extending from the sheer face of the prow gave visual aid to the pilot as he gently coaxed the shuttle forward to the open port.
Unbuckling herself before the shuttle had finished its docking sequence, President Luchenko impatiently waited for the co-pilot to lead them through the forward zero-gravity section of the Alexander. She only gained a measure of self-control when they reached the bridge and were able to put their feet down solidly on the deck. The transition was disorientating for the President, Tilanna and Shaw, as none of them had spent any time on an Omega, but they quickly recovered.