A Call to Arms (18 page)

A thought occurred to Sheridan. He said aloud, “Navigation... just an idle thought. Does this location by any chance correspond to the one mentioned in the Drazi recording?”

“Yes, sir,” the navigation officer replied.

Sheridan nodded, waiting as the ship tore through the darkness. He didn’t know what to expect, there in that gloom in which the only sources of illumination were the pinpoint lights from the bridge consoles.

He wondered how deep this thing was, how long it would take them to get through it. He remembered stories he had heard about black holes. Might this be one of them? In that case, they were destined to be in here forever, for nothing escaped the event horizon of a black hole.

But he didn’t think this was a black hole. He’d never heard of anyone, not even a First One, being able to tow a black hole around with him. What else, then? Something anomalous, perhaps, like hyperspace, but with its own peculiar properties... More likely, it was a masking device developed by the Drakhs, probably using a technology they had picked up from the Shadows...

Suddenly, they were out the other side, and Sheridan was looking at the sight he had half expected all along.

Thousands of Drakh ships, arrayed in rows like beads on a lattice, were moving in an orderly, military fashion, in the process of entering something he’d never seen before: a movable jumpgate, evidently a temporary structure, held in place by a massive spiderlike structure.

Anderson’s crew was gripped in a state of controlled tension as the
Victory
crept up to the edge of the null field. Firing its forward thrusters, the ship stopped.

Anderson stared at the thing in front of him. It was like a huge wall covering space like an entrance into some futuristic hell.

“Are you sure they went in there?” he asked.

“Aye, sir,” the first officer responded. “But we can’t read anything beyond the null field.”

“What the hell is it?” Anderson said, half to himself. Then his eyes picked up a flash of light, and he saw something coming directly at his ship. His reaction was instantaneous.

“Hard to starboard! Right now!”

His well-trained crew responded without question, socking the engines up to high gain-not a generally approved maneuver but, given the circumstances, the only thing to do. The ship skidded to the side.

That was just as well, because an instant later,
Excalibur
came blasting back through, passing within yards of
Victory
and taking hits from half a dozen or more pursuing Drakh ships. Sheridan’s ship was returning fire with its rear-mounted guns.
Excalibur
passed so closely that Anderson was sure he saw Sheridan’s face in a forward view port, saw his mouth working, and could guess what the president’s words were. “Get out of my way!”

And then they were past. A moment later, the pursuing Drakh were past him, too.

Anderson shouted, “Come about! Rear guns, fire!
Excalibur
, what happened?”

Sheridan’s voice responded over the comlink. “The fleet’s on the move. All of ‘em! They’ve sent the only ships they could spare after us!”

Sheridan’s voice was lost for a moment as heavy noises on the com showed a hit had been taken. Then he came back on.

“Listen, Captain,” Sheridan said, “I don’t think these ships are jump-capable. I have a plan.”

“What is it?” Anderson asked.

“Run like hell,” Sheridan said, “and hope they’re not fast enough to follow us into the jump point before it closes.”

His voice grew fainter as he turned away from the com to address his own men. He said, “Prepare to jump.”

“Standing by!” his navigation officer responded.

“Jump!” Sheridan ordered.

An instant later,
Excalibur
was into the jump point. The Drakh ships pursuing him had poured everything on but hadn’t reached
Excalibur
before the point closed, destroying half of them.

Anderson, too, was commanding, “Jump!” His own jump point formed up. Ahead of it, a number of Drakh ships, which had turned to intercept
Victory
, were caught on the other side of the jump point and obliterated.

Excalibur
and
Victory
shot side by side through hyperspace, two masses of machined metal hurtling along the mysterious shortcut that was the essence of hyperspace.

The question was, where were the Drakh?

“Are you picking up the enemy fleet?” Sheridan asked his navigation officer.

“Aye, sir. They’re riding the primary hyperspace beacon in this area. Ten thousand miles ahead of us, moving fast.”

Sheridan nodded. “Take us off the hyperspace beacon. We’ll try to slip past them. They can move only as fast as their slowest ship... so we’ve got an edge on them. Put us on a course for Earth, maximum burn. And get me Captain Lochley at Babylon 5.”

In Lochley’s office, the captain was working at her desk when a call came through.

“Captain,” Corwin said, “call coming in for you. It’s from President Sheridan.”

“Put him through,” Lochley replied instantly. She had been worried about Sheridan. Although she admired the president more than any other man she knew, she actually had begun to question his sanity. It wouldn’t be the first time a great man had become unhinged when faced with the paranoia that so often accompanies high office.

Sheridan’s first words did nothing to ease her mind.

“Mr. President,” she said, “I’m glad you finally decided to check in. We’ve been worried about---“

Sheridan interrupted, “Well, you’ve got good reason to be worried. I’m about three hours ahead of a Drakh assault fleet headed right for Earth. And Captain... they’ve got a Shadow Planet Killer with them.”

“I see,” Lochley said, remaining calm. A great sense of pity flooded her mind. That this should be happening to Sheridan, of all people!

She continued carefully, “Well, perhaps if you were

to stop off here on your way, we could discuss this a little---”

“Damn it, Captain,” Sheridan said, “I know how this sounds, but it’s true. Now I’ve contacted Delenn, and she’s calling in as many Alliance ships as she can get on this kind of short notice. But that won’t be enough. We need a full-scale mobilization back home.”

“Earth isn’t going to scramble every ship they’ve got just because I tell them to.”

“Then you’ll have to be more persuasive.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re still part of EarthGov. Besides, they’re still a little wary of me, given what happened last time I brought a fleet into Earth space. Captain Anderson doesn’t have the clout to do it, and since he went AWOL to join us, his word won’t count for a lot.”

“You’re asking the impossible,” Lochley said flatly.

“Then I’m asking the right person. Elizabeth, if you’ve ever believed me, if you’ve ever trusted me... trust me now. We’ve dealt with a lot of issues over the years--when we were married, when you first arrived on Babylon 5--but trust has never been an issue.

“You haven’t seen what a deathcloud can do. I have. It’ll wipe out all life on Earth unless we stop it. Hell, I don’t even know if it
can
be stopped. All I know is that we have to try.” Sheridan’s face was totally in earnest. And although she was conflicted, she nodded.

“All right... I’ll do what I can.”

“Thanks,” Sheridan said.

The screen went black. Lochley sat in front of it a moment longer, biting her lip, thinking furiously.

Then she said, “Lochley to C&C.”

“C&C on-line.”

She spoke with reluctance, but with decision. “Activate Gold Channel one. Put me through to EarthDome, President Susanna Luchenko’s office.”

“Captain,” Corwin said, “it’s three in the morning back there.”

“I know, I know.” She shook her head, as amazed at herself as at the situation. “I always knew I’d get court-martialed for something someday. Might as well get it over with now.”

Garibaldi came to the bridge of the White Star even as a Minbari Ranger approached him, comp-pad in hand.

“What’s up?” Garibaldi asked.

“Something odd,” the Ranger said. “We had an anomaly in the communications system turn up on a routine check. A sustained, coded message was routed through the StellarCom system. It even tapped into the main power system to boost the signal far beyond usual.”

Garibaldi grunted. “Somebody must’ve really wanted to call home.”

“No,” the Minbari Ranger said, “I don’t think---”

Just then the near console
breep
ed. The Ranger checked it.

“Incoming signal from President Sheridan.”

“Put it on the screen,” Garibaldi said.

Sheridan’s image sprang up on the main viewer. “Michael... the balloon’s gone up. We’ve got an attack fleet heading for Earth. And they’ve got a Shadow Planet Killer.”

Garibaldi tried--and failed--to hide his skepticism.

“How do you know they’re heading for Earth? Another dream?”

“Yes,” Sheridan said, “but more than that. Look at the timing, Michael. It’s the fifth anniversary of the Alliance, which constitutes the primary threat to the Drakh and whatever plans they have for the future. The Alliance was born because Humans got into the Shadow War. Can you think of a better target?

“Look, I don’t want to argue; I just wanted to warn you because I think the Drakh know we’re on to them.”

“Well,” Garibaldi said, “if there’s a leak, you may want to look close to home.” He looked up and nodded as Drake came onto the bridge. “I just got word from Babylon 5 a little while ago: turns out the woman who joined you is a member of the Thieves’ Guild, an organization of con men, crooks, extortionists, you name it. She’s got a record as long as your arm, and I wouldn’t trust her any farther than that.”

Sheridan, on
Excalibur
, turned to Dureena. “Is this true?” When she nodded, he said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Dureena said, “There’s no sense in belonging to a secret group if you tell everyone about it. But if I were your leak, I would be very stupid, since I could have been killed alongside you.”

Garibaldi had been monitoring the conversation. “Killed how?”

Sheridan supplied the answer. “We were being approached by four Drakh ships trying to make contact. Then suddenly they just attacked. They knew who we were. They recognized our ships.”

“That’s not possible,” Garibaldi said “Nobody’s seen that design before. They couldn’t have known. “

“That’s my point,” Sheridan said “They attacked right after receiving an extremely powerful transmission. Someone told them who we were, Michael. Somebody knew where we had gone, and identified our ships.”

“But that---“

Garibaldi stopped in midsentence. A sudden realization came to his mind.

“This transmission... when did it come through?”

“About sixteen hundred hours GST.”

“That’s about the same time that---“

His words were cut off by the sound of a phased plasma gun firing up right behind his head.

Garibaldi continued calmly, “I think we’ve found the leak, Mr. President. I’ll have to call you back.”

“Michael---”

The transmission blipped off as Garibaldi turned to face his assailant. Drake was pointing the gun at Garibaldi ‘s face. But he didn’t seem to radiate the confidence such a position should entail. He looked scared... trapped. Drake said, “There’s a colony one jump from here. You’re going to drop me off, and---”

“Why did you do it, Drake?” Garibaldi asked. “The Alliance went to bat for you, gave you the chance that nobody else back on Earth would give you. So why?”

“The Drakh made me a better offer,” Drake said.

“And you don’t care what they do to Earth as a result.”

“Why should I? Earth never cared what happened to me. I say let ‘em burn.”

Garibaldi got up slowly, without making any sudden move that could set off the obviously jumpy Drake. He took a step forward, speaking very calmly.

“That’s easy to say, Drake. Maybe even easy to do. Nice and impersonal. But pulling the trigger on that gun and turning my head into a canoe... You got the stones for that?”

“Stay away from me,” Drake warned, panic lending an edge to his voice.

“Because,” Garibaldi went on, “if you’re gonna blow my brains out, you’d damned well better do it right now or I’m gonna tear your fragging heart out, Drake. And if you do shoot me, the rest of my people are gonna be all over you. What they’ll do to you is worse than anything I could dream up in a thousand years. And I can dream real dark.”

Drake’s lips moved, but no sound came out. Then he managed to say, “I---”

The Minbari Ranger, who had been standing nearby all this time, as motionless as a statue, now started to make a move. Drake turned to fire on him. It was then that Garibaldi tackled him. They both went down hard. The PPG was knocked out of Drake’s hand and skittered across the floor.

Garibaldi got up, pulling Drake up with him. He took great satisfaction in punching Drake then, and actually looked disappointed when the man collapsed into the arms of two Minbari Rangers.

Other Rangers had come to the bridge. They held Drake, who didn’t resist.

“All right,” Garibaldi said. “Now you’re gonna tell me what the hell’s going on here. You’re gonna tell me everything you know... or I’m going to turn you over to them.”

Drake glanced at the Minbari Rangers. He shuddered at the look of cold ferocity on their faces. Finally, he nodded.

“On
Excalibur
, Sheridan heaved a sigh of relief when the transmission resumed and Michael Garibaldi’s image came up again on the screen.

“You were right, John,” Garibaldi said. “After some convincing, our new friend has confirmed that the Drakh are heading right for Earth. They want to send a message to everyone else in the Alliance by wiping out Earth in a big show of force.”

“And they may have a good chance of pulling it off,” Sheridan said. “I just hope Lochley was able to convince Earth to mount a full-scale operation.”

The navigation officer said, “We should be in Earth space any time now.”