Hate Mail
Adarx
The Debate
His First Post
First, the failure of the shields of the craft
to activate when struck indicates they were non-functional and thus the
craft was damaged. There is no shield effect when it is struck, a
stark contrast to ?Interludes and Examinations? where we see shields activate
on a Vorlon Heavy Cruiser when it is struck by a Shadow Molecular Slicer
Beam; also to ?War Without End?
where we see the shields of the White Star activate
when shot by a Shadow fighter; and the most clear example was ?Thirdspace?
where we see very clearly the Vorlon Shields are activated when it is shot
by the Minbari/Babylon 5 fleet. There has been some debate as to
whether or not the Vorlons have shields. Two canon sources state
they do. First, Babylon
5 Wars source material makes reference to Vorlon
EM shields a great many times. Secondly, a line I happened to catch
from ?Into the Fire? that was said by Delenn after White Star 9 had just
concluded its strafing run on the Vorlon Observation Post. She said,
?Forward screens are down.? This clearly refers to shields by their
other name.
Secondly, if you examine the scene where the Vorlon
Fighter is destroyed, you will notice no debris of any kind, indicating
that the entire craft was vaporized in only one shot from the T-Bolt.
Yes, I know you say one ?volley? but if you examine the scene, only a single
bolt comes close to hitting the fighter before it explodes. Odd that
such light weapons will leave no debris at all where the two occasions
where a Vorlon Fighter is hit by a Shadow Molecular Slicer Beam, one during
the initial charge and the other right before the Walker Ship appears,
there is very clear and distinctive debris left after the fighter is destroyed.
This indicates that the Vorlon fighter was in fact in very poor condition
when it was hit by the T-Bolt?s weapon considering it completely disintegrated
upon being hit once.
Also note that less durable fighters (Starfuries,
Thunderbolts) are seen leaving debris after being struck by Thunderbolts
weapons after multiple hits in ?Severed Dreams.?
Thirdly, Babylon 5 Wars states all of the following:
Earth Thunderbolt Fighter ? Page 15 Ships of the fleet: ?The Thunderbolt
is as fast as a Minbari Nial and just as heavily armed, sporting a single
gatling pulse cannon capable of blowing nearly any fighter out of space
in a single shot? (direct quote). Sounds good for your case, right?
Wrong. Almost any = Not
quite all. Naturally the most durable fighters
would be the very few that can survive multiple hits. The Vorlon
fighter was tied as the most durable fighter from the front at the time
the product was released. Therefore, the most durable fighters survive
one shot, the Vorlon fighter is the most durable, therefore it can survive
more than one shot. Simple huh? Please note that capable of
means what happens under the best circumstances.
Fourthly, Babylon 5 Wars makes special note of the Vorlon fighters durability on page 81 of Babylon 5 Wars: Ships of the Fleet: ?Vorlon heavy fighters have one light discharge gun and no other armament. They are heavily shielded and armored (and even a couple of adaptive armor points), and can take considerable punishment before being destroyed.?
Fifth, we have a logic point instead of a science
point. The Vorlon fighter was moving in a strait line behind the
Thunderbolt that hit (and killed) it.
Vorlon fighter made no evasive maneuvers
despite having a few seconds warning. Instead, it drifted in a strait
line into the enemy fire. Not only this but with an enemy directly
in front of it, what possible reason could they have had for not pulling
the trigger and destroying the target which was now trying to shoot it.
With a beam all you have to do is drag it over your enemies position so
even if you are a little off you can turn your ship by a few degrees and
destroy them. What possible reasons are there for these oddities?
After all, are Vorlon fighter pilots suddenly in a hurry to die?
The most reasonable answer is that the fighter was dead in space.
It had no propulsion, no weapons, no shield. It was a sitting, or
rather drifting, duck. If it were undamaged as you suggest, it should
have blown the T-Bolt out of space before it was ever hit.
That should do for now. More to come later.
Adarx