The Final Circle is a Babylon 5 Alternate Universe For Want Of A Nail fanfiction inspired by Battlestar Galactica. In it early during the Earth-Minbari War Jankowski, the man whose stupidity triggered the war, tries to kill himself via Russian Roulette but hits five empty chambers on his revolver, leading to him being reinstated as a Starfury pilot while Sinclair is reassigned to the evacuation fleet. This means it is Jankowski who is the human Delenn picks up in the attempt to stop the war, leading instead to the Minbari's willingess to wipe out humanity being reinforced. Thus the escape fleet is launched, and has to try and escape the Minbari chase.
At the end of part one the Exodus Fleet manages to lose the Minbari by getting on an unknown part of the hyperspace grid... And stumbles on a different evacuation fleet, escaping the Twelve Colonies of Kobol after they were nuked by the Cylons.
Can be read here
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The Final Circle provides examples of:
- Ace Pilot: A few:
- Jeffrey Sinclair is widely recognized as the best pilot in all of EarthForce, having shot down Minbari fighters and lived to tell.
- During his first battle with the Minbari, Bester kills three.
- From the Colonials, Starbuck.
- The Atoner: Given their failure to help Earth during the war, the Drazi help the Exodus Fleet by refueling them and either fixing or replace many of their damaged ships, including the Nova, when the Minbari track them down engage them into a game of cat and mouse to make them waste time and let the Exodus Fleet escape... And when the Minbari get spooked and open fire, throw at them everything they have.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Humanity's plan to lose all their pursuers for good is to jump in a system where they can't be tracked and there's no jumpgate or beacon, but as it's there the Exodus Fleet can't go there. Tyrol's solution? Stuff the battlestars with the Exodus Fleet's smaller ships, and cover them with the ones too large to get in the launch pods, with the warships attached to the Rebel basestars. Then Sheridan finds out that the Minbari have finally tracked them down and are arriving, and adds the bit of timing the jump with the Minbari arriving in system and the Cylon nukes starting to explode at them, giving the impression they've been blown up and enraging the Minbari commander at the Cylon apparently stealing his kill.
- The Determinator: Humanity. Both the Exodus Fleet and the RTF are their means of survival against enemies that are just too powerful, escaping no matter what until they can find a world to resettle in peace.
- The Minbari. Nothing can stop their pursuit of the Exodus Fleet, and when it apparently destroys itself in a failed gamble near Z'ha'dum they check, find how they escaped, and resume pursuit. They only give up when they see the Exodus Fleet apparently destroyed... And their commander in the area gets pissed at having his kill stolen like that.
- The Dreaded: The Minbari, as per source material.
- Homeworld Evacuation: Three times:
- First time is of course the Exodus Fleet, containing part of Earth's and Mars' populations and sent out to find shelter from the Minbari.
- The second is the fleet containing the entire population of Deneb colony, built by the locals to escape either the Koulani and Ch'lonas raiders or the Minbari, whoever showed up first. It was about to be launched when the Exodus Fleet showed up to resupply on a local secret installation, and the Deneb fleet joined up immediately.
- The third, though it chronologically happened first, is the evacuation of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol through the Rag-Tag Fleet.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Averted: Colonial and Cylon guns and missiles are shown to be weaker and shorter-ranged than Earth's energy weapons, let alone the Minbari ones.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Sheridan tricks Cavil's Cylons and the Minbari into fighting each other.
- Mugging the Monster: The Cylon do this twice:
- When they first meet EarthForce they use their standard tactics, only bringing a bit more ships than usual due having to deal with a number of unknown ships in addition to the Galactica and the Pegasus. They find out the hard way they're effectively at point blank as far as EarthForce is concerned.
- At the end of part 2, Cavil and the Cylon loyalists engage what they think is a fleet of EarthForce ships, and by their experience guess that having over a hundred basestars flinging all nukes against 27 ships will be an easy victory. As the ships are actually 27 Minbari Warcruisers, the battle isn't as easy as expected.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Jankowski is captured by the Minbari, he figures out he can reveal who he is and offer them revenge for Dukhat, so they'll spare Earth. He can barely tell his name that Delenn goes berserk, drops the Triluminary and beats him to death, wasting the last chance of survival Earth had.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Drazi, the Narn and the Vree give the Exodus Fleet some limited assistance... And promptly lose their entire fleets at the hands of the Minbari for it.
- Subverted with the Abbai: while they provide Earth with their entire knowledge of hyperspace routes, their particle impeders, and information on just how much Minbari scouts have spread, they're able to hide what they did and get away with it.
- Nuclear Option: As per a B5 story:
- Judicious use of nuclear weapons is how the Exodus Fleet manages to thwart Minbari pursuit in a number of occasion, ranging from using three stupidly powerful prototype energy mines as an improvised frag grenade in the middle of a Minbari fleet to fire fighter-launched nukes into squadrons of Minbari fighters as area-effect weapons.
- Surprisingly enough, Cavil gets in the game. After all, when one is facing EarthForce with what he has, the only way to actually win is to fire all available nukes. He then tries that with the Minbari, again the sensible option in the situation, only it's inadequate.
- Poor Communications Kill: When Cavil's Cylon meet a fleet of Minbari warcruisers both side open visual communications, take a good look to the other side, and jump to the conclusion the other side is a weird human group and thus the enemy, as they look the part and both sides lack the information revealing otherwise, so they prepare to fight and discard any idea of talking again. Cavil's Cylon are completely wiped out in minutes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When the Exodus Fleet passes through Descari space, the latter try and bar them, prompting Sheridan to point out the only reason they're still alive as a species is that Earth saved them from the Dilgar and calling them out for abandoning Earth in their hour of need.
- Underestimating Badassery: Cavil is a repeat offender, though not the only one:
- When the Minbari ends up engaging the Drazi, they expect a quick victory thanks to their stealth and superior weapons... Forgetting the Drazi fleet, composed entirely of small and overgunned ships that sacrifice armor for speed and agility, is the perfect counter to their great advantages once they close range... And the fight starts when they're already at close range. They also forget the immense shame the Drazi feel for their inability to help Earth against the Minbari, and fail to anticipate that they wouldn't think anything of ramming their warcruisers if they have no other option. The Drazi suffer staggering losses but actually drive off the initial Minbari attack.
- When the Cylon first meet EarthForce they start with their usual tactics of slinging missiles from long range... And are promptly annihilated by massed energy weapon fire, with Sheridan wondering why did the Cylon jump in at almost point-blank range when he was told they preferred doing the opposite.
- Even after the first debacle Cavil massively underestimates their firepower and range, and refuses to believe they use a different FTL technology or are from Earth.
- When Cavil's loyalist have captured one of the Rebel baseships with Roslin and others on board, he sees a largish EarthForce ship being sent to negotiate their release and, knowing they lack Artificial Gravity, guesses that's what they need to use as the equivalent for a personnel shuttle and the ship is so large to accomodate the reaction mass. As soon as it lands, the ship disgorges a tank and dozens of EarthForce marines.
- When Cavil's fleet meet a squadron of potentially hostile ships, he guesses they're more unknown human ships from wherever the "fake Earth" came from, and as they lack the enormous guns of the Nova he deduces they're at most as powerful as the Lexington. It's twenty-seven Minbari Warcruisers.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Humanity's allies in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds refuse to help the Exodus Fleet in spite of Earth saving them from the Dilgar just ten years previously... And with good reasons, given what the Minbari do to anyone who tries.
- We ARE Struggling Together: During the set-up of Operation Exodus, the high command would assign them damaged warships and then reassign them to the frontlines as soon as they were fixed.
