The Battle of the Line is a fictional battle in the Babylon 5fictional universe, the final battle of the Earth-Minbari war. The Battle of the Line was a desperate attempt by the Earth Alliance to stop a Minbari combat fleet from attacking Earth. Over 20,000 Human defenders fought in the battle, including most of the remaining warships of the Earth fleet. Despite this armada, the Minbari fleet easily destroyed most of the defending human warships, taking few losses themselves. Incredibly, however, the Minbari suddenly surrendered to the almost-defeated humans with no explanation.
Jun 02, 2013 They were busy trying to surrender because no matter how hard they tried, THEY! Get that through your head. They couldn't see them, could not TOUCH them. Even 15 years AFTER THE WAR, and only with DIRECT MINBARI ASSISTANCE they still couldn't break their stealth systems, that's how damn good they were. In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Battle of the Line was the final battle of the Earth-Minbari war.The Battle of the Line was a desperate attempt by the Earth Alliance to stop a Minbari combat fleet from attacking earth. Over 20,000 Human defenders fought in the battle; including most of the remaining warships of the Earth fleet. Despite this armada, the Minbari fleet easily destroyed. Babylon 5: The Battle of the Line. 'We continue to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy. They have not responded. Many in the Psi Corps saw themselves as superior to the rest of humanity. I knew better and so did the Minbari. That's why I volunteered to fight them every chance I got. I trained as a military teep.
The first commander of the Babylon 5 outpost, Earthforce Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, was captured by the Minbari during the battle.[1] One major plot element of the first season of the television show involves his attempts to regain his memory of those events.
- 1Event
- 3Plot significance
Event[edit]
Background[edit]
Approximately two years before the Battle of the Line, the first contact between Humans and Minbari ended in disaster. The lead Minbari ship opened their gun ports as a customary show of respect, but the captain of the lead Earth ship, believing this heralded an attack, opened fire pre-emptively. This resulted in the death of Dukhat, one of the nine members of the 'Grey Council' who rule the Minbari species. The Grey Council, offended, declared a holy war against the humans.[2]:192 Dukhat's protégé, Delenn, cast the deciding vote.
The resulting conflict was essentially one-sided, as the Minbari were far more technologically advanced than the humans; their weapons were superior and their defenses so powerful that most human pilots and weapons officers could not even achieve firing solutions. Additionally, the Minbari gave no quarter. The result was a bitter war in which the Earth Alliance military bought time with their lives. Commander John Sheridan succeeded in destroying the Black Star, the Minbari flagship—it was the only Minbari capital ship lost during the entire war, and it was ultimately a fruitless victory.[3]:174
Battle[edit]
After two years of bloody warfare, the Minbari came within striking distance of Sol system. The President of the Earth Alliance requested that 'every ship capable of fighting' take part in a final defensive maneuver to allow evacuation: 'one last battle to hold the line against the night.' Over 20,000 human defenders answered her call and took the field.[4] Confident they could quickly destroy any human resistance, the Minbari fleet bypassed Mars and Io to strike at Earth directly, destroying the human defenders with impunity as they had before.
As the battle drew to an end, the Earth fleet was virtually annihilated, and the Minbari fleet virtually unscratched. The devastation of Earth seemed inevitable.[5]
Minbari surrender[edit]
Lt. Commander Jeffrey Sinclair flew a Starfury fighter into battle. His entire squadron was destroyed in under 60 seconds. After his fighter suffered serious damage, he attempted to ram the nearest Minbari cruiser,[2]:192 unaware that it was in fact the Grey Council's flagship. At Councillor Delenn's suggestion, they instead chose to capture and interrogate him in an attempt to better ascertain Earth's defenses. He was rendered unconscious and was brought before the Grey Council, and scanned with the triluminary. To their profound shock, it indicated that he not only possessed a Minbari soul, but that soul was none other than that of the Minbari's most revered cultural and religious figure, Valen. Because of the Minbari belief in reincarnation, they believed that Sinclair was the current host of Valen's soul, since the triluminary was coded with Valen's DNA and said to only 'react' in his presence. For generations, fewer and fewer Minbari were being born and many wondered where the souls were being reincarnated. The triluminary seemed to answer this question: they were being reborn as humans. The Grey Council was horrified at the fact that, by killing humans, they were harming their own kin, and violating a deeply respected stricture that Minbari must never harm each other. In response, they ordered Sinclair's memories of the examination purged, returned him to his fighter, and set him adrift. Desperate to stop the final consummation of this profound mistake, The Grey Council then ordered the Minbari to immediately cease hostilities and surrender, without explanation; due to the xenophobic views of the warrior caste, they believed that spelling out their reasoning would have only resulted in the warriors refusing the order.[2]:192
Aftermath[edit]
When Sinclair awoke, he found himself drifting in his damaged fighter, 24 hours later, after the war was over. Human losses were catastrophic, with fewer than 200 survivors, but the planet remained intact.[6]As the first season of the television show begins, Sinclair has struggled with survivor's guilt and been bothered by his amnesia.
Why Did The Minbari Surrender Mean
The near-annihilation prompted the Earth Alliance to expand its diplomatic and technology efforts, prompting the Babylon Project. Post-war Earth-Minbari relations were understandably tense, but the Minbari did help fund Babylon 5.[6] Delenn, who volunteered to stay close to Sinclair and observe him, was assigned to Babylon 5 as the official Minbari diplomat, with no other station occupants (originally) aware of her membership on the Grey Council.
Plot significance[edit]
Series creator J. Michael Straczynski cites the mystery surrounding the Battle of the Line as a key aspect of introducing Babylon 5 to the audience: 'The Battle of the Line and the hole in Sinclair's mind was always intended as the entry point or trigger to the story. It's like Frodo being given the Ring in LoTR. The story isn't about that, that's how we get INTO it.'[7] Straczynski further explained that actor Michael O'Hare's departure at the end of season one did not impair the resolution of the storyline: 'The only difference in the resolution of that aspect is this: we had originally intended to resolve the missing 24 hours, and the Battle of the Line, by episode four, season two. We've simply moved it up 3 eps to the first episode.'[7]The Babylon File author Andy Lane calls Sinclair's memory loss 'one of the most important plot threads to run through the series'.[3]:76
Straczynski claims to have always intended the Battle of the Line storyline to be resolved in early season two: 'I said, from the very beginning, that once the series got rolling, no single primary question could be allowed to go more than about one season before answering it, otherwise you get into a frustrating Twin Peaks situation where *nothing* is resolved'.[8]
Reception[edit]
In American Science-Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate, and Beyond, author Jan Johnson-Smith notes 'the Battle of the Line reminds us of the flotilla of little ships at Dunkirk or perhaps the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain.'[9] James Iaccino, writing in the Journal of Popular Culture, notes of Sinclair that 'The mysteries which surround this hero's past are in keeping with those encircling the Jungian prototype'.[10]
Episodes[edit]
The Battle of the Line is referenced as a major plot element in the following Babylon 5 episodes:
- 'The Gathering', the series pilot, in which the backstory of the Earth-Minbari war and Sinclair's blackout during the Battle of the Line are revealed. During the pilot, Sinclair is told by a Minbari, 'There is a hole in your mind.',[3]:75–76 which becomes a recurring theme throughout season 1.
- 'And the Sky Full of Stars', season 1, episode 8, in which Sinclair is captured and interrogated by two humans convinced that he knows more than he is saying about the Battle of the Line.[3]:115–118[11]
- 'Legacies', season 1, episode 17, in which a diplomatic incident results after the disappearance of the corpse of the Minbari war leader who oversaw the Battle of the Line.[3]:148–150[12]
- 'Points of Departure', season 2, episode 1, where the full story of Sinclair's questioning by the Gray Council is revealed.[3]:173–178[8][13]
Additionally, the event is mentioned or referenced in the episodes 'Soul Hunter', 'A Late Delivery from Avalon', and the Crusade episode 'Patterns of the Soul'.[14] The television movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning, developed between seasons 4 and 5 of the television series, provides a complete look at the events of the Battle of the Line; while the movie is set chronologically earlier than the events of season 1, it aired after season 4 to an audience who had already seen the mystery evolve throughout seasons 1 and 2.[2]:191–199 A separate book adaptation of the film was published in 1998.[15]
References[edit]
- ^'Everything You Need To Know About Babylon 5'. Io9.com. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
- ^ abcdLane, Andy (1999). The Babylon File Volume 2: The Definitive Unauthorized Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Virgin Books. ISBN0-7535-0233-X.
- ^ abcdefLane, Andy (1997). The Babylon File: The Definitive, Unauthorized Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Virgin Books. ISBN0-7535-0049-3.
- ^'A Late Delivery From Avalon'. The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. 2004-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^Yates, Steven (2003-03-29). 'The First Casualty of War'. LewRockwell.com. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ abSprange, Matthew (2006). Babylon 5: the Role Playing Game. Mongoose Publishing. p. 2. ISBN1-905471-20-3. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ ab'About Michael O'Hare's Departure'. GEnie, via The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. 1994-05-20. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ ab'Points of Departure'. The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. 2004-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^Johnson-Smith, Jan (2005). American Science-Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate, and Beyond. I.B. Tauris. p. 204. ISBN1-86064-882-7. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^Iaccino, James F. (2001). 'Babylon 5's Blueprint for the Archetypal Heroes of Commander Jeffrey Sinclair and Captain John Sheridan with Ambassador Delenn'. Journal of Popular Culture. 34 (4): 109–120. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.2001.3404_109.x. ISSN0022-3840. Retrieved 2009-07-23. (Registration required)
- ^'And the Sky Full of Stars'. The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. 2004-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^'Legacies'. The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. 2004-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^Janulewicz, Tom (2000-10-25). 'Babylon 5 - 'Points of Departure''. Space.com. Archived from the original on 2005-09-14. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^'Patterns of the Soul'. TV.com. Retrieved 2009-07-18.``
- ^David, Peter (1998). Babylon 5: In the Beginning. Random House. ISBN0-345-48363-4. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
External links[edit]
- The Earth-Minbari War and the Battle of the Line at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
The Earth–Minbari War is a fictional war that formed a major part of the back story of the science fictiontelevision seriesBabylon 5. The war began in 2245 when an EarthForce (Earth's military force) expeditionary fleet damaged and destroyed vessels of the Minbari Federation fleet, killing Dukhat (leader of the MinbariGrey Council). The Earth fleet's commander misinterpreted the Minbari warrior caste's tradition of approaching a ship with gun ports open as a hostile action and fired on the Minbari vessels. In retaliation for this incident, the Minbari went on a genocidal crusade against Earth and all humans.
The war lasted for three years with Earth Alliance being almost totally outmatched by the Minbari and ended with the unexpected Minbari surrender at the Battle of the Line. The Minbari surrender occurred when they discovered what they believed was the soul of the greatest Minbari to have lived, Valen, had been reincarnated in the human form of captured pilot Jeffrey Sinclair. This revelation became part of the story arc of the show and the events of the war itself are depicted in the Babylon 5: In the BeginningTV Movie.
- 1War
War[edit]
The seeds of the war were planted when Earth Alliance, flush from their victory in the Dilgar War, was expanding its influence and decided to explore Minbari space. Despite the warnings of Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari that the Minbari are an ancient, powerful species and dangerous if provoked, a flotilla of armed vessels was dispatched and led by Captain Michael Jankowski, who was appointed over the objections of capable officers like John Sheridan who considered the captain unsuited to delicate operations like this.
As feared, the war was provoked by Captain Jankowski aboard the warship EAS Prometheus. During the expedition, the Prometheus and her escorts encountered three Minbari cruisers, one of which was carrying the Grey Council, the highest echelon of Minbari society. The Grey Council was en route to investigate reports of sightings of their ancient enemy, the Shadows. Although Jankowski had been given strict orders to not do anything which might be perceived as hostile, Jankowski disobeyed the orders and refused to jump to hyperspace when the Minbari spotted his fleet. He thought that by waiting to the last possible moment to jump, he could gain valuable sensor information about the Minbari cruisers, and this would lead to a promotion and medals from Earthforce Command.
Upon seeing the Earth vessels, the Minbari cruisers opened their gunports as a sign of respect and strength – even though Humans would have no knowledge of such a tradition. Realizing this, Dukhat ordered the gunports closed, but it was too late. Captain Jankowski misinterpreted the gesture as a sign of hostility, an impression compounded by the fact that the Minbari scanners were so powerful that they inadvertently disabled the Prometheus' jump engines, thus preventing the ship from jumping to hyperspace and escaping. When told by his first officer that his vessel's jump engines had malfunctioned and that the weapons on the Minbari cruisers were 'hot' (active), Jankowski panicked and opened fire on the Minbari ships. Dukhat was killed and his protégé Delenn, in a fit of rage, cast the deciding vote on the Council to wage a war of vengeance against Earth. After calming down, Delenn reconsidered, but found that she was helpless to stop the crusade she placed in motion, even while she remained among the loudest voices pleading for a peaceful solution.
The Earth Alliance made efforts to present official apologies to the Minbari through all possible diplomatic channels, and tried to obtain help (military or diplomatic) from neutral alien races such as the Centauri. However, no alien race wanted to incur the wrath of the Minbari military, and so Earth was left to fight alone. That situation was particularly dire as EarthForce learned that Minbari ships had advanced stealth technology that made anything but short range line of sight targeting of weapons impossible. By contrast, the Minbari had no such problems and were able to easily outmatch EarthForce ships in combat effectiveness. Thus naval engagements in that war proved too often became little more than massacres for Humanity, committed by a fanatical foe determined to exterminate them at any cost. Only suicide attacks by Humans such as their capital ships ramming Minbari vessels were occasionally effective, but even then the Minbari typically considered losses in that situation acceptable since Humans were killed in the process.
Immediately following the destruction of Jericho 3, the Minbari struck at half a dozen EarthForce bases in the space of just a few days, leaving no survivors and accepting no surrender. Even ships no longer capable of fighting were targeted and destroyed. All attempts to communicate, including an offer to turn over Michael Jankowski, were rebuffed.
Destruction of the Jericho 3 station[edit]
The Minbari fleet continued to move methodically through the outer colonies, eliminating defense structures and moving on, leaving civilian structures untouched. At the time, Earthdome believed this behavior was linked to the Minbari caste system and presumed that the human 'warriors' were being targeted first, allowing them to later go back out and exterminate the defenseless civilians.
Knowing they were clearly out-gunned, EarthDome quickly attempted to acquire more advanced weaponry from their trading partners, the Centauri Republic. The requests were rebuffed as the Centauri had no intention of siding against the Minbari. The Republic's sworn enemies, the Narn Regime, proved to be more than willing to do business, especially with the hope of provoking the Minbari to attack the Centauri since Narn weaponry was derived from their former occupiers' technology
Destruction of the Black Star[edit]
In April 2247, two dozen Earth warships were lost to hit-and-run attacks in the space of only three weeks. Though no personnel had survived an attack, word at the time was that there was some kind of ace cruiser on the prowl. That theory was proved correct when a small fleet led by the EAS Lexington was attacked in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Lexington itself was crippled in the opening salvo as the Minbari flagship Drala Fi (Black Star) jumped into the middle of the fleet, killing its commander, Captain Roger Sterns and left to drift while the Black Star engaged the remainder of the fleet. John Sheridan had his crew seed several nearby asteroids with a trio of two-megatontactical nuclear warheads, then sent out a distress call to lure the Black Star back to their position since Minbari doctrine dictated destroying all humans without mercy. As the Minbari cruiser moved into range for a clear shot, Sheridan remotely detonated the warheads and obliterated the Drala Fi. EarthDome wasted no time in capitalizing on what was to date the only victory in the entire war, broadcasting the footage throughout the Alliance. For their part the Minbari were less than impressed; the Warrior caste in particular were affronted at being defeated by such 'dishonorable' tactics and Sheridan would become infamously reviled as 'Starkiller'. For their part, Earth justified Sheridan's attack as an act of legitimate asymmetrical warfare in self-defence against an enemy despicably determined to kill all of the enemy without mercy no matter how defeated and helpless they are.
Epsilon System[edit]
In the midst of all this, the Minbari Ranger leader, Lenonn, secretly made contact with the Narns at the behest of Satai Delenn in hopes of opening peace talks. EarthGov agreed to an initial meeting in neutral territory, sending Sheridan along with a Dr. Stephen Franklin and G'Kar of the Narn Regime to make sure the offer was serious before sending in the negotiators. Travelling aboard a Narn ship, the team arrived at the agreed-upon rendezvous: a nameless abandoned Drazi colony and a one-time EarthForce listening post in the Epsilon System. The meeting was cut short when an unknown party destroyed the Narn ship in orbit and bombarded the surface, killing Lenonn. The Minbari soon arrived and retrieved Lenonn's body, though Satai Delenn chose to simply release the two Human prisoners rather than execute them. Both the Minbari Federation and the Earth Alliance assumed that the attack had been perpetrated by a rogue faction of their own government. It wasn't until decades later that the truth was made known. The attack had in fact originated from the Centauri Republic, ordered by Londo Mollari who had learned of the Narn mission though his sources close to the Kha'Ri and assumed it had been an arms shipment.
By this point in the war, somewhere between fifty and sixty thousand Humans had been killed. With the one hope for peace ruined, the war escalated. Over the next six months 200,000 more would die.
Battle of the Line[edit]
The Minbari were determined to utterly annihilate the younger species by the time their fleet finally reached the Human homeworld. To give Earth's civilian population time to flee to neutral territory, military and civilian leaders on Earth desperately organized a grand last stand. Nearly all of the Earth Alliance's remaining warships, fighters, and personnel were combined into a vast armada of more than 20,000 vessels (many of which are fighters). They were placed in near-Earth orbit and waited for the Minbari to strike.
In the engagement that came to be known as the Battle of the Line, an enormous fleet of Minbari warcruisers jumped from hyperspace and attacked the human armada with overwhelming firepower. They swiftly destroyed almost all of the EarthForce defenders, with the Human pilots reduced to desperate kamikaze tactics. On the cusp of a total Minbari victory, the Minbari ceased fire and surrendered unconditionally to Earth. A great deal of wild speculation was voiced about what could have caused this drastic capitulation. However, the Minbari's governing Grey Council never revealed the official reason, even to their own people.
Aftermath[edit]
With the war over, the Earth Alliance pledged to build a diplomatic space station in neutral territory to promote galactic peace and prevent such misunderstandings in the future; the fifth and final station was known as Babylon 5. Having survived the Earth-Minbari war and with many colonies and outposts untouched by the Minbari, EarthForce was able to initiate an impressive rebuilding, expansion and militarization program. This proved to be a big success as in the next decade the Earth Alliance became a lot more advanced in comparison with the technology they possessed during the Earth-Minbari war. Besides rebuilding, EarthForce also pursued an aggressive research and technology program to close the gap with other races (especially the Centauri and the Minbari) as much as possible. Besides the advancement of Earth technology, they were also able to acquire more and more advanced Shadow technology (Omega-X Destroyer and Shadow Hybrid), Vorlon technology (Victory Destroyer, although the vessel officially belonged to the Interstellar Alliance) and Minbari technology (Warlock Destroyer, a combination of Earth technology and a smaller degree of Minbari and Shadow technology, which also featured artificial gravity without the need for a rotating section).
After the devastating Earth-Minbari war, the Earth Alliance wanted never again to be in such a vulnerable position as they were back then. Investing heavily into diplomacy (Babylon 5) and military technology (Omega Destroyer, Warlock Destroyer, Thunderbolt fighter) Earth aimed to live in peace with the other alien races (with especially a focus on the Minbari), but also wanted to be able to defend against any alien attack, also with a special focus on the Minbari.
At the end of 2261, the Earth Alliance entered the Interstellar Alliance, whose purpose was to promote peace, prosperity and understanding among all the member worlds, on the condition that every race agreed and accepted the Interstellar Alliance code of conduct.
Members of the Interstellar Alliance would include the Earth Alliance, the Minbari Federation, the Narn Regime, the Centauri Republic (withdrew in 2262, but rejoined after being liberated from the Drakh in 2278) the Drazi Freehold and the Brakiri Syndicracy, but there were many others as well.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Straczynski, J. Michael (2001). 'Babylon 5 Universe: The Earth-Minbari War'. midwinter.com. Retrieved August 31, 2013.