Battle of Coriana VI

Previous	Battle of Dorrek VII
Next	End of war, no further battles
Battle of Coriana VI
Conflict	Second Shadow War
Date	February 2261
Place	Coriana VI
Result	Army of Light victorious Shadows, Vorlons, and remaining First Ones leave Galaxy beyond the Rim End of the Second Shadow War Beginning of the Third Age of Mankind
Combatants
Army of Light Anla'shok Babylon Treaty First Ones
The Shadows
Vorlon Empire
Commanders
John Sheridan Delenn Lorien
Unknown
Unknown
Strength
Whitestars White Star 2 Starfuries Sharlin-class War Cruisers Nial-class Heavy fighters Brakiri cruisers Drazi Sunhawk-class Drazi Sky Serpent-class fighters Vree saucers Vree Xill-class Heavy Cruisers Various First One ships
1 Shadow Death Cloud Shadow Vessels Shadow fighters Shadow scouts
1 Vorlon planetkiller Vorlon cruisers Vorlon fighters
Casualties
Medium
Light
Light Vorlon planetkiller destroyed

The Battle of Coriana VI was the final battle of the Second Shadow war and location of departure of all the remaining First Ones, including the Vorlons and Shadows, from the galaxy.

White Stars attacking a Vorlon listening post, prior to the battle.

Setting up Armageddon

The Second Shadow War had been escalating for over a week in February 2261. The Vorlons and Shadows, who had up to this time been very reluctant to face each other in pitched battle, began twin campaigns, each meant to eliminate any race that had dealings with the other race. The Army of Light, having suffered heavy casualties over the course of the war, were shocked at the sheer brutality of both the Vorlons and the Shadows.

John Sheridan, the leader of the alliance formed to fight the Shadows, realized that neither race would be satisfied until the followers of the different ideologies of Chaos (supported by the Shadows) and Order (supported by the Vorlons) were annihilated, and decided to go on the offensive after recieving news of the Vorlon advance against Coriana VI and Centauri Prime.

Realizing he did not have the resources to save both planets (with populations in the millions), he focused his campaign on saving Coriana VI. Taking the White Star fleet, he hit several Vorlon bases, totally destroying them all. At the same time, he had a group of six White Stars head out towards the Shadow Fleet, and planting on the lead ship information about a base being set up on Coriana VI. This was meant to draw in both fleets there, for a final confrontation with these two powers.

Sheridan's Plan

Bringing in the two sides to Coriana VI was only phase one of the plan. The second part required that as many ships as could be rallied from the Army of Light would be there, in part to protect the planet, and also to engage the two sides in a bold move. But this would only be successful on the condition of a third part of the plan: using the last of the First Ones that had not left the Galaxy to face off against the two sides.

But, in order to get their support, they needed to find the First Ones. To this task, Marcus Cole, Susan Ivanova and Lorien were assigned. Markus and Ivanova had found one of the five remaining races the previous year, making them ideal for the job, and Lorien was the very first of the first race and if anyone knew where they were hiding, it was him. They were successful in rallying them to the banner of the Army of Light.

The Battle Commences

Sheridan and his fleet arrived shortly before the Shadows and Vorlons. He positioned the fleet right in the middle of what would become the battlefield, reasoning that if they were to get at each other, they would have to go through him first. But, when the two sides arrived in numbers that vastly outnumbered the Army of Light, they totally ignored them and went at each other with a vengeance.

Sheridan, refusing to allow the allied fleet to go unnoticed, launched an attack on the Vorlons, which "got them pissed." As the sheer numbers of the Vorlons and Shadows threatened to overwhelm Sheridan, he called in the First Ones, which arrived and evened the score, holding them in check.

Ceasefire

In the middle of the battle, the Shadow death cloud engulfed the participants of the action. As they were engulfed, the life support on the allied ships went dead along with their weapons. It was merely a matter of time before they would freeze to death. At this time, the Vorlons and Shadows telepathically connected with Delenn and John Sheridan. While thus connected, they were entreated by each side to follow its ideology. They weren't intimidated in the slightest and in no uncertain terms told them to get "the hell out of our Galaxy."

Angered by the lack of cooperation, they began firing missiles in the cloud at the White Star Sheridan and Delenn were on. But each time they sent a missile at them, another ship would get in its path, shielding them from destruction. Surprised by the unity they saw, the Vorlons and Shadows projected themselves onto the ship. Lorien stepped in, and convinced them that it was time to leave the Galaxy, promising them that he would go with them.

With that, the Vorlons, the Shadows, and the remaining First Ones left the Galaxy, and power was restored to the ships of the Army of Light. Lorien informed the Younger Races that it was their time now and that when the time came, they too would join him beyond the Rim. Lorien then transformed into a being of pure energy and departed.

Aftermath

With the end of the war, the Third Age of Mankind began. Sheridan could focus on retaking Earth from President Clark. It was shortly after this battle that the idea for the Interstellar Alliance was conceived.