Qo'noS Orbit

The Heralds were holding Qo'noS in an iron grip, and the Alliance was going to break that grip by force. A large fleet of 60 ships were inbound, led by the three flagships of the Alliance: Lleiset, Bortasqu and Enterprise. They were NOT fucking around.

Of course, before most of the fleet could get there, a path needed to be cleared for the troop transports that would make their way past the transporter interdiction system to get boots on the ground. Hence, an advance force was sent in ahead of the main fleet to clear the main approach routes—The main Starbase and the Shipyard. Said advance force consisted of two ships each from Starfleet, the KDF, and the Romulan Republic Navy.

The command ships of the force were the R.R.W D'Deridex (named for the prototype, and stolen from the Tal Shiar) and the Odyssey-Class USS Ra-Cailum, leading the assault. "All ships, prepare for combat," the Ra-Cailum's captain ordered. "We're the spearhead, and we're going to stab those motherfuckers until one of two things happens: either THEY die, or WE die taking all of them with us!"

"Understood," came the reply from one of the smaller ships, and one of the newer ones, too—the USS Firestorm, one of the new Mercury-Class High-Mobility Escorts to come out of the yards.

"We will send them all to Gre'thor! Today is a good day to die!" yelled out the captain of the larger of the two KDF ships, a Mogh-Class Battlecruiser.

"All hands, stand to battle stations!" The trailing lights on the bridge of the Ra-Cailum turned red. "Target the closest one of those assholes and give them the raping of their lives!"

As they closed in, the Firestorm and the Romulan High-Mobility Warbird Sienov s'Okhala struck first, unloading high volumes of Phaser cannon fire and Plasma cannon fire, respectively, on an Iconian Battleship near the Shipyard, their combined fire punching through the shields before a volley of Quantum and Hyperplasma Torpedoes tore into the hull. The two continued firing even as they flew past the ship, using thrust vectoring to keep their weapons aimed at the battleship even as they maintained their trajectory.

The mighty Ra-Cailum leveled her phaser arrays on two of the Iconian warships, followed by the D'Deridex's disruptor banks spamming bolts and beams at the orbiting dreadnought. "Hell's too good for you, you bastards! This is for Virinat!"

The Mogh-Class struck next, Disruptor Cannons and 'Morath's Fist' Quantum Torpedoes destroying one of the enemy Raider vessels before it could slip into one of its Gateways to launch a ramming attack on the larger ships.

This, unfortunately, caused a chain reaction in subspace, causing a massive tear. "Son of a bitch! All ships, get clear!"

They tried, but the tear was massive, and seemed to have the properties of a black hole in terms of gravitational pull. The Firestorm had the most powerful engines, but its trajectory had taken it closest to the tear before it had started pulling, so it was pulled in rather quickly.

"Fucking wonderful: not only did we fail, we blew up the entire system! Gah, the Klinks are going to be pissed when they find out!"

One by one, the other ships in the group fell into the rift, unable to escape its pull. Several Iconian ships were pulled into the rift as well, before it seemed to snap closed.

When the rest of the fleet arrived, they would find that the path to Qo'noS, while not entirely cleared, was rather undermanned, meaning it was easier to clear the way and land their troops. Of the six ships they had sent ahead, however, there was no sign, not even debris.

"Where did they go?" Koren, Captain of the Bortasqu', asked. "They would have said something if they had just moved on!"

"Koren, we have bigger problems at the moment than six missing ships," replied Captain Va'kel Shon of the Enterprise. "Lleiset, you'd better take up a cloaked CAP: keep an eye out for any more Herald forces." The Enterprise began escorting the troop ships towards Qo'noS, not knowing the fate of their comrades.

USS Firestorm, Bridge

Location Unknown

"Ugh… did someone get the registry number of the cruiser that hit us?" a man with chocolate brown hair done in a buzz cut and amethyst eyes, wearing the Starship Captain's variant of the 'Odyssey' Duty Uniform with a Long Jacket as opposed to the regular jacket, asked as he picked himself up off the floor.

"NCC-94517-A," came the voice of a woman with slightly lighter-brown hair that fell to her shoulders and blue eyes, wearing a standard 'Odyssey' Duty Uniform with Science Blue trim. "The Ra-Cailum nearly hit us there." The massive bulk of the Oddy drifted past the Mercury-Class ship, narrowly missing the Firestorm.

"Jeez, this is not our day," the man, Captain Takeshi Yamato, said as he got back into the seat he typically commanded from, the Helm Console. "Status report."

"Minor thermal damage to the hull; that's easy to fix," reported the Operations Officer, a Bajoran woman with close-cut reddish-brown hair and green eyes. "Navigational systems… Ok, what the hell?"

"What's wrong, Rina?" Takeshi asked.

"Says we're only a few lightyears from Vulcan. How the hell did we get from Qo'noS to Vulcan?"

"OK, that is strange," Takeshi replied. "See if you can get in touch with the Ra-Cailum, or any other ships from the task force. See if their readings corroborate ours. Kim, can you get us any other information?"

"I'll do what I can," Kim, the brunette woman, replied.

Rina hailed the Ra-Cailum, getting the ship on the horn. "Ra-Cailum, this is Firestorm. Do you read?"

"This is Lieutenant Corpsa H'lak, Tactical officer on the Ra-Cailum. The Captain's indisposed at the moment: what can I do for you?"

"Our navigational systems are saying we've relocated from Qo'noS to near Vulcan," Takeshi replied. "Can you confirm?"

"Hold it, I'm working on… it… Your sensors are off. Or… fuck."

"Ra-Cailum?"

"Our navigational sensors are telling us that the stars are out of position."

"Confirmed," Kim reported. "Even for near Vulcan, the stars aren't quite where they're supposed to be. We'll need to make adjustments for Stellar Drift. And that's not the only problem."

Takeshi blinked. "What is it, Kim?"

"I've got enough readings to determine the quantum signature of the area around us is different than the quantum signature of our ships," she said, before adopting a very serious look on her face. "We're not just in a different timeframe… we're in a completely different universe."

"Well, we're screwed then, aren't we? I'll inform the boss once he gets back from sickbay: he hit his head off of the ceiling when we got through."

"Not much of an injury," Rina remarked.

"It is if the inertial dampeners fail and he went in at Mach 2.4, lady."

Takeshi winced. "Ouch," he said. "Hopefully he'll be alright."

"I'll call back once he gets back. Ra-Cailum out."

The link cut, and Rina scoffed. "Cheery crew," she said.

"The Ra-Cailum takes the Enterprise's rejects, from what I've heard," Takeshi informed. "The best with issues that kept them from the Big E. It's expected." He then set up an intercom channel to Main Engineering. "Yamato to Engineering. Matt, what's the status down there?"

"No internal damage, Capt'n," his Chief Engineer replied. "Just carbon scoring on the hull. Can't say the same for those Herald ships, though, because they're in pieces."

Takeshi looked out the viewscreen, and indeed, he could see pieces of various Herald ships floating around his ship, the Ra-Cailum, and the other ships in the task force. "Understood," he replied. "Status of the Warp Core?"

"Fully functional. We're go for return to ESD at any time."

"Doubt if it's that simple, if we're in another universe," Takeshi muttered quietly.

The comm beeped again. "Sir, it's the Ra-Cailum," Rina informed.

"Put them through," Takeshi replied.

"Firestorm, this is Ra-Cailum: we're picking up a tachyon-based transmission from Epsilon Eridani. Are you reading the same?"

Takeshi looked at Kim, who nodded. "Yeah, we are," Takeshi replied. "Think we should check it out?"

"That's up to the boss-"

"Who's saying yes. Ra-Cailum Actual to all ships: anyone dead over there?"

Takeshi checked the incoming status reports. "No casualties on our end," he reported. "And with a crew of only 45, that's a good thing."

"No one's dead over here," added the female CO of the Sienov s'Okhala.

"We still live to earn glory for our houses!" the Mogh's Captain informed.

"One hell of a headache for the Colonel, but otherwise, no fatalities," replied the captain of the other KDF ship, a Vor'cha-Class Attack Cruiser.

"Alright, people, we've got work to do and never enough time in the day to do it. Helm, set course for Epsilion Eridani, maximum warp."

Takeshi did the same, and soon enough the six ships banked towards Epsilon Eridani and shot off into Warp, heading towards what would be a very fateful encounter.

Epsilon Eridani system - orbit of the third planet

Orbiting Epsilon III was an O'Niell-class space colony, 8 kilometers from end to end. the station was the last of its' breed, as none would be built after it. Babylon 5 was the last best hope for peace in a galaxy filled with violence. And its' goal was beginning to prove fruitless.

Floating several kilometers away from the station was a cruiser, belonging to a race known as the Centauri.

Hours earlier, Captain Sheridan had granted a Narn cruiser sanctuary in order to allow them to repair themselves so they could leave and continue the fight, but the local idiots from Nightwatch had informed Londo Mollari, the Centauri ambassador to B5, about the cruiser, shortly before a Primus-Class battlecruiser jumped into B5 space.

Now they were in a stand-off, the Cruiser demanding the Narn be turned over to them, and Sheridan refusing. However, the cruiser was charging its weapons to break the stand-off, and open fire on the station.

"Centauri battlecruiser charging weapons, locking on target."

"Is it targeting the Narn ship?"

"It's targeting the Narn cruiser, Zeta Squadron… and us."

Sheridan resisted chuckling. He just pissed off the Centuari Republic just by doing the right thing. "Return the favor: target their ship."

Pinging was heard throughout C&C. Susan Ivanova glanced at Sheridan. "They're trying to provoke us into making the first move."

"I don't think so."

"Got an energy spike!"

Sharidan said it best with two words. "Oh, hell."

The battlecruiser opened fire, shots ranging towards the station, the Narn ship, and the Starfuries escorting it. The shots at the station impacted, breaking one of the spires on the 'bow' of the station.

Before Sheridan could order return fire, however, something happened which changed everything…

A red-orange beam of light cut between the two combatants. "This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton, commanding the Federation starship Ra-Cailum. Cease hostile actions immediately or you WILL be fired on."

The main screen on the command center changed its view to show the ship that had fired that beam, revealing a rather… sleek-looking ship over a kilometer long, a wide ellipsoid saucer connected to a ovoid secondary hull by a pair of short pylons, longer, swept pylons in the rear connecting the secondary hull to a pair of long nacelles. As they watched, five more ships flashed into existence around it.

One of the others appeared to be a boxy ship, like a curved box with wings and two prongs in front, similar in build to the massive ship IDed as the Ra-Cailum.

On of the others was more rough, looking more like a ship bred for war, with reinforced sections on the hull with two downward nacelles, and a head section that had a cutout, making room for some form of weapon. Another ship looked very similar, if smaller.

But the second big one took the cake: a bird-like head connected to two hulls, which were supported by nothing but two nacelles. It looked like a massive bird.

The last ship had a bird-like appearance, as well, but was much smaller, a narrow hull which had two 'wings' extending from the sides, sloping up shortly from where they left the main body before sweeping down again and forward, ending not in nacelles like the rest, but in two… what looked like very big cannons.

The Centauri ship seemed to pause for a moment, before it began turning, bringing its guns to bear on what its crew believed were interlopers.

"Seriously, if you don't stand down in the next ten seconds-" Pulse cannon fire shot from the Primus, impacting… were those energy shields? "Ok, seems you don't want to listen to reason. Good thing I speak violence, and I have two Klink ships that want to kill something."

As if that were a cue, the two warlike ships fired, green bolts of energy flying across space to slam into the Centauri cruiser.

The Primus was cored by the first shot, sent into a Dutch Roll before the bolts connected with the reactor and destroyed the Centauri warship, just as the G'tok entered the jump gate with Zeta Squadron in tow. "Londo is not going to be happy," Sheridan remarked.

Ivanova's response was… well, typical Ivanova. "If Ambassador Mollari isn't happy, the rest of the universe is. Besides, the Centauri needed a kick in the ass."

Sheridan couldn't argue with that, even as he looked over the strange newcomers. Somehow, he felt like they would bring great change to the galaxy… change that, if he was honest, it desperately needed.

"Sir, Mr. Lantz wants to speak with you as soon as possible. I think he's-"

"I know EXACTLY what he feels right now. And to be really honest, I don't care. Get those ships on the horn: I want to talk to them."

USS Firestorm, Bridge

"Well, that could have gone better," Kim remarked.

"The assholes deserved it, firing on a station with so many civilians like that," Takeshi replied, remembering the results of their initial scans. "Besides, Klingons will be Klingons, and you know they were wanting to kill something."

"Agreed," informed the ship's first officer, one of a few Xindi-Reptilians to join Starfleet in the wake of the Undine assault on Earth and Qo'noS several months back, who was seated in what was normally the Captain's Chair. "Not that I disagree with them in this instance."

At the Tactical Station, a redheaded woman with blue eyes nodded. "We'll need to learn the full situation, but I get the feeling we did the right thing there," she said.

The station had taken a hit, but that would be easy to repair. "Sir, we're being hailed by the station," Rina reported. "It's identifying itself as… Babylon 5."

That meant the station was in a series. But O'Neill-Class colonies were easy to build: the Lya-Class was more or less an Island-3 with a few addons.

"Well, let's find out who we're dealing with," Takeshi remarked. "Put them through."

"This is Captain John Sheridan, commanding the Earth Alliance station Babylon 5," came the voice of what was likely the commander of the station. "Thanks for the help."

"Captain Takeshi Yamato of the Federation Starship Firestorm," Takeshi replied. "Glad we could help. I don't know what's going on, but that ship likely deserved what it got."

"They wanted to get what was more or less a defenseless ship and destroy it without any concern for the crew. The Centauri have gotten more and more violent over the last year; I just hope what you've done makes them back off. I'd also like to talk to you in person. Can you send a shuttle over?"

"We should be able to," Takeshi replied. "I get the feeling we have a lot to discuss, though Captain Pinkerton of the Ra-Cailum is the one in charge of our little group—He'll probably do most of the talking."

"Pinkerton?"

"Yours truly, Sheridan. Ronald Pinkerton, Captain, USS Ra-Cailum and reigning champion of the Asshole Games." Rude and blunt as always. While he was smarter than most humans (he WAS an ex-drone) he didn't act like most former Borg like Annika Hansen, and it showed in his crew, as well. "We'll be there in 10 minutes, Sheridan."

Takeshi ignored the rest of the conversation. "Linda, assemble an honor guard detail and have them meet us at the Cyclone," he ordered. "Tholra, you have the Bridge."

"Yes, sir," replied the redhead and the Xindi, respectively, as Takeshi and Linda left the Bridge.

One shuttlecraft each left their respective craft: a Toron-Class shuttle each from the Klingons, a Commander's Gig from the d'Deridex and a Tiercel shuttle from the Sienov s'Okhala while the Type-10 Cyclone left the Firestorm's bay. The oddest shuttle, however, belonged to the Ra-Cailum. Two thin, boxy nacelles, large curved hull and older-style markings identified the shuttle as a Class-1, also known (inaccurately) as the Class-F refit.

The three shuttles flew in, following the guide beacon from B5 into a rather spacious hangar bay.

"Babylon Control to all craft: you are clear to land in Bay 6."

"Roger, Babylon Control. En route now."

"You don't even know where bay 6 IS, Ron."

The commander of the most powerful ship in the ad hoc fleet (NO ONE was denying that, surprisingly) glared at his chief engineer. "Sonja, shut up."

The shuttles maneuvered their way through the hangar, eventually finding a smaller side bay marked with a large 6, and entered as the doors opened.

"And you said I don't know my way around." The Mars-born Hispanic woman huffed as the shuttle put down, followed by the others.

"These guys are human, Capt'n," the station security chief remarked.

"What makes you say that, Mr. Garibaldi?" Sheridan asked.

"Their names, for one," Michael Garibaldi replied. "Yamato's Japanese, Pinkerton's Irish."

The B5 Command Staff were all in the main conference room, waiting for the security detachment to escort their new guests up to them. The guard detail wasn't so much to keep them from doing anything to the station, but to keep any of the station's… shadier denizens from doing anything to them.

"Those ships aren't like anything Earth's ever built. Even the Agamemnon would take more than five minutes to take on a Centauri warship." Sheridan, of course, spoke of his old command, the fifth Omega-Class destroyer EAS Agamemnon. The Omegas were NASTY warships, and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the Minbari's Sharlin war cruisers.

"Point taken, Capt'n," Garibaldi replied, "but that still doesn't change the fact that the names, at least, are human. Either a rogue colony, or something entirely different. I still think they're human."

"And you'd be right." Two people, a man and woman, walked into the room. The woman wore a black and gray uniform with a red turtleneck while the man's was more… colorful, with a black and red pattern. Both, however, wore rank insignia on their collars: two solid gold and one black pip for her, four gold for him.

Following them were two more people, another man and woman, both wearing similar uniforms: primarily black, with a belt with a silvery buckle, with a strip of red fabric just above armpit level, surrounded by dark red metallic material, the stripe separating the black underneath it from the shoulder yoke, which was dark gray for the woman and pure white for the man, both over a red turtleneck. Their rank insignia were more rectangular bars—three gold for the woman, four gold for the man. And the man's jacket appeared to be more of a long coat, extending down past the belt about a foot, with additional strips of red around the cuffs. The man was also wearing an honest-to-goodness Japanese Katana on his waist.

"Our Klingon and Romulan friends were delayed," the first man said. "The Klinks started a fight with the security retards with the black armbands and the Romulans tried defusing it, but it devolved into a brawl. Would've joined in, but I have an unfair advantage."

"What, you superhuman or somethin'?" Garibaldi asked.

"Reinforced skeleton, enhanced strength, shit like that."

"Regardless, our sincerest apologies," the other man replied. "The Klingons… well, they're pretty much a warrior race. Doesn't take much to get them in a fight."

"My boys can take it," Garibaldi remarked. "Besides, those idiots that joined Nightwatch need a boot up the ass or two."

"So the armband guys are yours?" the woman in similar uniform to the second man asked.

"Sort of. They technically answer to me, but they answer to some ass named Wells, too. Most of my people aren't with Nightwatch. I sure as hell ain't supportive of it."

The second man's eyes narrowed slightly. "I see," he remarked. "Do you want them… dealt with?" His hand dipped down to the hilt of his Katana as he said this, making the bent of his question all too clear.

"No," Shepard vehemently informed. "No one dies. I think introductions are in order."

"Ronald Pinkerton, Sonja Henderson, Takeshi Yamato and his wife, Linda," Ron informed.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Takeshi said, taking his hand away from his Katana and bowing in the Japanese fashion.

Sheridan waved a hand in order of his staff. "Commander Susan Ivanova, Chief Michael Garibaldi, and Doctor Steven Franklin. We're grateful for your help, but… where the hell did you come from?"

"A long way away," Takeshi remarked, a brief 'understatement' being muttered under his breath.

"We're from an alternate universe," Ron stated. All three of the others looked at Ron, seemingly disbelieving that he would just… say it. "What? You were going to sugarcoat it and try to avoid it. Quidem primum officium est veritas."

Takeshi just sighed. "Your call, Ron," he said.

"…What?"

"Trust me, Mr. Garibaldi, this shit happens all the time. We deal with alternate universes every few months. As well as incidents involving time travel, extra-dimensional beings-"

"And most recently an ancient empire coming back to try and conquer our galaxy again," Takeshi finished up. "We were fighting a cluster of them near the Klingons' homeworld when something ripped open a hole in spacetime and… well… here we are."

Only Garibaldi could speak. And his words were a commonly uttered phrase of disbelief. "What. The. Fuck."

Footsteps were heard coming toward the conference room, and in came Zack Allen, Garibaldi's XO (and Nightwatch member, only he was using it just for the money, not to be an ass like the others), Frederick Lantz, and that bastard Welles. "Captain Sheridan, I demand to-"

"You can demand all you like, you old fart, but you won't get anything." Lantz froze before looking at Ron, who looked smug as a bug.

"Who're they?" Takeshi asked, jerking his thumb at the newcomers.

"WE, sir, are members of the Ministry of Peace, and we want to know who is responsible for this outrage involving the Centauri warship!"

"Oh, that'd be us. Ron Pinkerton, pleased to kick your ass."

"And honestly, it was their fault," Takeshi remarked. "Ron fired a warning shot then told them to stand down. Their fault that they didn't listen."

"That—That—"

"Oh, kiss my fat ass. Attacking a station packed to the brim with civilians is unacceptable. Anyone with a brain knows that. Clearly you don't, though. Makes me wonder… do you have brains? Let's find out, shall we?" Ron's face adopted what was called the Gowron look: widened eyes that nearly popped out of their sockets, a sickening grin, so on and so forth.

Allen, Lantz, and Welles all had their eyes bug out comically before they ran from the room, screaming bloody murder like the hounds of hell were after them—which they likely were, and running from the same thing.

"WE WILL ALL BE MADE ONE!" Ron yelled after them. "MAKE! US! WHOOLLEEE!"

The command staff backed away in their chairs, as well as Takeshi and Linda. Sonja, however, seemed to be used to it.

"O… kay…" Takeshi remarked carefully. "That was… different…"

"He likes doing that to people," Sonja remarked. "Helps that he used to be a Borg drone: increases the creepiness of the yelling."

Ron reentered the room, smiling like a loon. "Never. Gets. Old. So, now that the stupid's gone, shall we get back to it?"

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Though if the Klingons run into those three and end up gutting them, I doubt anyone will mind."

"I would. Zack's a good guy in a bad crowd. Hope that scares him straight."

"Straight into a plasma storm. So…" Ron plopped back into his seat like nothing happened. "What's been happening the past while? What's the place about?"

The command staff then began taking turns explaining the local region of space to the newcomers, as well as the purpose of Babylon 5's existence.

Once they were done, Takeshi said, "So, in summary, we've got a biotech race that's older than dirt, a race that went to war with Earth over a misunderstanding, a race whose empire is in decline and their former slaves, who have recently been subjugated again, and this station is essentially the last and best hope to maintain the current fragile peace. Am I missing anything?"

"Not… much," Sheridan replied

"You're hiding something, Sheri-boy. I don't like people hiding shit from me."

Sheridan's face paled at that. "Oh, god, not another one."

"Another one what?" Takeshi asked. "Someone other than Ron likes to use nicknames?"

"I knew someone in flight school who called me that. He acts almost the same way as she does!" Garibaldi was the only one to see the evil grin on Ron's face. It put all evil grins to shame, as it… was beyond description.

Takeshi blinked. That sounded interesting, and also… semi-familiar. "Umm… if I may venture a guess… is her last name Pinkerton, as well?"

"Yes. And she will NEVER be mentioned again, so help me god." Sheridan was terrified of her. NOT a good sign.

Takeshi, meanwhile, gave a tired sigh. "Looks like you might soon experience the same thing I did a few months ago, Ron, only yours won't be evil," he said. At the looks from the B5 Command Staff, he explained, "We said we dealt with alternate universes every few months. The one we deal with the most is called the 'Mirror Universe'—where instead of the peaceful and democratic United Federation of Planets, there was a conquering Terran Empire, which ruled over all it surveyed with a Neutronium Fist. It fell in the late 23rd century to an alliance of the Klingons and Cardassians in that universe, then in the 2370's the Terrans started making a comeback. Recently, they've retaken their homeworld and formed the Terran Dominion—and if anything, they're even worse than the old Empire. Everyone in our universe has a counterpart over there—and mine isn't just female, she's a manipulative, scheming wench who took advantage of an opportunity I inadvertently created in order to seize the throne for herself."

"Sounds like my aunt during a barbeque," Garibaldi remarked. And THAT was not something Takeshi wanted to think about.

"So, need any help keepin' the peace?" Ron asked. "God knows the shit's going to hit the fan, and I don't think we're getting home any time soon."

"And because of that, we're likely going to need a bit of help ourselves," Takeshi added. "Nothing much, really—star charts to help navigate the galaxy, maybe an out-of-the-way system we can use to set up a repair yard or something similar…"

"I'll… ask around," Sheridan informed. The unsaid 'to get HIM the hell away from me' was still loud and clear. "I have to go deal with Ambassador Mollari. Susan, can you ask ambassador Delenn if she can provide a list of worlds that aren't interesting to the Minbari for them?"

Ivanova nodded. "Yes, I can take care of that, Captain," she said.

Takeshi nodded. "Thank you very much," he said. "And we'd better find our Klingon and Romulan compatriots, make sure they haven't gotten in too much trouble."

They were currently in the brig: the Nightwatch people weren't happy with them, and had actually shot the group before dragging them into isolation. The Klinks were singing, driving them insane.

Zak'Jul, son of Joragh, Warrior of the House of Martok, was singing the loudest, as he sung a song of Kahless' defeat of the evil Molor in the distant past:

And the blood was ankle deep…
And the river Skral ran crimson red
On the day above all days
When Kahless slew evil Molor dead!

The BabSec boys and girls were going insane because of the singing. "God, shut them up!"

"It took a full cap to put them down!"

Guinlong, son of U'dak, sung along side.

It had been a glorious fight in Zak'Jul's eyes, though the guards shooting them with what were likely stun rounds and locking them up before they could regain consciousness was an act of cowardice.

The Romulans were not pleased. "You HAD to start a fight. The last thing we needed was to start an incident."

"Those fools insulted us, Romulan, and they needed to learn never to insult a Klingon warrior!"

The female Romulan of the group, Veleen Takor, sighed as she was reminded of just why she'd lent her aid to the Federation when the Republic had first formed an agreement with the other two powers. She wished the Starfleet personnel would come for them soon—she didn't want to be locked up any longer than she had to.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"WE WILL ALL BE MADE ONE!"

"What the he—"

"MAKE! US! WHOLE!"

Screaming was heard as the security personnel ran off before the door opened, revealing the face of the only man that could scare the Klingons. "Hoi."

"Pinkerton!" Zak'Jul exclaimed, almost immediately snapping to attention.

"Relax. I'm getting you out with Sheridan's blessing. Helps that I scare the fuck out of people. Get back to your shuttles before the idiots try boarding them."

"Qapla'!" Zak'Jul replied, before heading back to his shuttle, Quinlong following.

Saren, a member of the Romulan Republic Militia Marines, shook his head. "You scare the shit out of me."

"It's what I do."

Veleen sighed as she stood, before making her way back to her shuttle - though she honestly preferred her personal Scorpion Fighter, which she still had in the shuttlebay of the Sienov s'Okhala. She wasn't really a diplomat—what she was was a very good pilot.

Both the Marine and the pilot were from Virinat, and they had fought on the same ship prior to joining the Republic, although they were often assigned to the same missions after getting their own ships. Both of them had taken on and killed Hakeev, although Saren kept stabbing the body afterwards.

Veleen had also gone more… covert. While no one, not even Saren, knew it, she had joined the Starfleet Technical Intelligence Group, or STIG, or, as most people called them, Section 31, to help ensure the safety of her people. She'd lost her family to illness, and her home to the Tal Shiar. She would die before she lost anything else.

"We'll be heading out in a few hours. I've done some scans of their jump gate: our main deflectors should be able to open a rift in to this hyperspace of theirs. I want one of you to leave behind a craft under cloak. We need intel, and this station is a hotbed for events."

Veleen nodded. "I have a pair of Scorpion Fighters in my ship's hangar," she said. "They're small, meaning they can fit with our shuttle, and they also have fully functional cloaks. We can use one of them."

"Then deploy them as we return to our ships. They can't know we have actual cloaking technolo… gy…" Ron froze as they ran into someone else: a man wearing a suit with slick black hair.

"You're the captain of the Ra-Cailum?"

Something about the man set Veleen on edge, and she discreetly palmed a combat knife she always kept on her person, ready to use it if need be.

"I am. Who are you?"

"Oh, just a friend. You can call me Morden. Just want to know the answer to a question."

"That being?"

Morden smiled, putting them all in the mood to murder. "What do you want?"

"Nothing you could provide, Mr. Morden," Veleen replied icily.

"I still think I can provide whatever it is you like."

"Can you get me a drink? That's all I want at the moment."

Morden's eyes narrowed slightly, but he smiled all the same. "You have must have something more worthwhile that you desire."

"You know what I am finding myself wanting?" Veleen asked, as she finally showed her knife. "This, buried in your skull."

Morden stopped smiling. "I think I can provide that!" Ron said, as Morden quickly made his escape from the seemingly psychopathic Captain. "Aw, he didn't want to play! Sad panda!"

Veleen slipped her knife back into its sheathe as she watched Morden run. "Something about that man set me on edge," she informed the others.

"There was something around him. I could see it."

"You are not a seer, Pinkerton, despite your—"

"Not that. Something cloaked. Like a combination of Devidian phase shifting and Jem'Hadar shrouding that my eye was picking up."

Veleen frowned. "I thought none of the races here had cloaking technology," she said.

"Guess this must be something older than the other races. We'll find out eventually."

Earthdome

Morgan William Clarke was, in a word, pissed.

Six ships had appeared near Babylon 5, defusing that situation with the Centauri without any chance of fallout landing on Sheridan. And the worst part? Two of those ships were clearly Human, but unlike anything he had seen from the Alliance.

Defensive shields, weapons whose power exceeded that of the Omega and even the mighty Warlock-Class destroyer's main armaments, just to name a few. Even his allies in Mr Morden's associates didn't have anything like that. But work would be done on trying to get their hands on those ships.

Of course, he was about to get a brand new headache…

The old Jaws theme played inside his mind, which should have served as a warning.

"Hello, El Presidente!"

He didn't heed it in time. 'Oh sweet lord in heaven, WHY?!' he thought. The intruder was the commander of the EAS Achilles, second ship of the Omega-Class. Colonel Riza Pinkerton, Starfury ace from the earth-Minbari war and the LAST thing he needed right now. "What is it you want, Pinkerton?!" he snapped.

"Uh, you called for me, sir."

'Note to self: kill Bester,' he thought, before saying aloud, "I didn't ask for you, Pinkerton. The last thing I WANT is to have you near me, you crazy bitch!"

"Mr. President, I'm almost offended. Everyone wants me!" She wasn't delusional. Just insane.

"Fine. You want an assignment? Go to League space and do… something. Just LEAVE."

He sighed in a bit of relief as she left. She was a particular brand of crazy that was unwanted for his plans. Perhaps Mr. Morden's associates could… deal with her… an evil smile came to his face as the thought bounced around in his head, and he found himself liking it. A lot.

League of Non-Aligned Worlds territory/near the border of the Centauri Republic and Drazi Freehold

Captain's Log, Stardate… Oh, I don't know. Local Calendar Date December 29th, 2259.

It's been a few days since we arrived in this new universe. We've managed to find an uninhabited system where we can set up a repair yard… and surprisingly, one of the moons in the system has rich deposits of Dilithium Ore—ultra-pure ore, too.

Ron and the Ra-Cailum are dealing with the various tasks involved in setting up both the repair yard in orbit and a Dilithium Mine on the moon itself. Meanwhile, the KDF and Romulan ships have been running cloaked reconnaissance runs into other territories, while we've been patrolling our new 'home' system.

The situation around the galaxy is… less than stellar. The various minor races are having problem after problem, the Centauri are stepping up their efforts against the Narn, the Minbari are being isolationist, and Earth…

Jeez, where do I begin with Earth? Suffice it to say that something really stinks in 'Earth Alliance' territory and leave it at that.

Babylon 5 seems to be the only place where things are going semi-smoothly: and it's the DS9 of the local universe, only it isn't next to a quadrant-bridging wormhole. The Earth Alliance Personnel there (at least the senior officers) seem to be okay people and in agreement with me that something is rotten in Denmark.

I just wonder how things are going back in our universe. Did we retake Qo'noS? Are we starting to turn the tide? Or are the Iconians still steamrolling us?

*sigh* I just hope little Larcei's alright, and that Linda and I can see her again… or at the very least, that she grows up well enough without us to do the family legacy proud…

Takeshi had to admit that the Ra-Cailum was a VERY overstocked ship. They had more supplies than they knew to know what to do with: so much so that they could build another freaking ship with them! "Anyone know what the hell the Ra-Cailum's supposed to be?" he asked. "Because I know for a fact that is NOT standard issue for an Oddy."

"According to the files, before the invasion they were tasked with Starbase Construction and Repair," Rina informed. "I'm thinking they never got around to removing the supplies needed for that."

Take remembered now. A news article was posted about the previous Ra-Cailum's captain getting reassigned after his promotion, and the ship's successor taking up the mantle of the SCE's new flagship after it was destroyed by the infamous flagship of the Romulan Imperial Navy, the IRW Laehval. Granted, the old Sovereign-Class ship beat the living hell out of the Scimitar-Class warbird, but it was little more then scrap, and was replaced with a new ship four weeks later, bearing the same registry, plus a suffix. It, along with the Enterprise, helped retake DS9 and the Ra-Cailum helped repair and upgrade the old station to prevent another 2800 Incident again.

That reminded Takeshi about the destruction of his previous ship, the USS Raging Tempest. The Sao Paulo-Class Tactical Escort had served Takeshi and his crew well, but during the Undine Assault on Qo'noS earlier that year, she'd taken critical damage, forcing him and his crew to abandon ship and ram the thing into the Undine Planet Killer. He'd gotten the Firestorm as a replacement—though he had to say he was somewhat thankful to whatever providential forces had given him the High-Maneuverability Escort, which responded to his skills better than the Raging Tempest ever had.

The 'seventh' ship in the armada flew past the escort, smaller still than the Mercury-Class ship: the Aquarius-Class support ship Sekhmet. Takeshi noted that most of the craft attached to the Ra-Cailum had a theme of names coming from mythology: mostly Earth's, but Vulcan and Andorian, and even Klingon were among the massive number of support ships.

He shook that off a bit as he returned his focus to his patrol. For some reason his Spatial Awareness was acting up.

It wasn't acting up in the way that told him there were enemies nearby (yet, at least). Instead, it was acting up in the other common way—the way it had acted up before he first met Ron, shortly before the Iconian Invasion.

Something important was going to happen soon… but he didn't know exactly what…

"Captain, the H'gak is picking up an EarthForce ship 20 lightyears away," Rina reported. "It's an Omega-Class ship. It seems to be under attack."

Takeshi's curiosity was piqued by that. "Let's check it out," he said, adjusting the ship towards the position the H'gak's transmission had pinpointed. "I've seen the specs B5 provided on those things—someone has to be ballsy or possess force of numbers to try and take an Omega on." Seconds later, the Firestorm leapt into Warp.

It turned out to be both. A number of… well, they looked like death, a spider and your worst nightmare mixed together, blacker than night. And beating the shit out of the Omega-Class ship.

Takeshi made a split-second decision. Those… ships were really pinging on his Spatial Awareness in the 'hostile' fashion, and if they were ganging up on an Omega… well, it could only be a Bad Thing. "Red Alert!" he ordered as the Bridge Lighting turned red and the alarm klaxon began to sound. "We're taking those things out! Rina, let the rest of the fleet know!"

"Yessir!" Rina replied.

"Tholra, Linda, you know the drill: Queue up whatever firing patterns I ask for."

"Got it/Roger," Linda and Tholra replied simultaneously.

"Computer, activate Safety Harnesses!" Takeshi ordered, as roller-coaster-style safety harnesses on the bridge folded out from the chairs, securing everyone in place. "IKU ZE!"

The Firestorm shot into battle, its Phaser Cannons shooting bolts of orange destruction at the first of the… things, while a Quantum Torpedo impacted another one.

The first was torn apart, the organic hull not strong enough to handle that much energy at once. The second was outright destroyed by 60 isotons of explosive power, getting the attention of the rest.

"Ok, I think we pissed them off!" Rina called out.

One fired a beam of thermonuclear energy at the Mercury-Class ship, but got a plasma beam to the back for it from the Omega. The ship was STILL capable of fighting, even with the shit beaten out of her. "Come on, motherfuckers!" came a female shout over the comms. "You can't kill the Achilles that easily! We don't have a heel for you to shove an arrow into! COME ON! BRING IT!"

"That Captain has guts," Takeshi remarked. "Definitely will be interesting to meet her after all is said and done."

The others nodded their agreement as Takeshi fired retrothrusters, backing up a short distance even as he flipped the trigger for the Firestorm's Microtorpedo Launcher, firing off a swarm of miniature Quantum Warheads like a certain line of transforming fighter craft from a completely different timeline, shredding another couple dozen of the unknown craft.

The craft focused their fire on the Firestorm, impacting the shields, ignoring the Achilles. And making their fatal mistake as a far more powerful ship exited FTL and began beam spamming. "Surprise, assholes! Here's Oddy!"

Takeshi grinned. Despite Ron's crazy, he was a great asset on the battlefield. "Good to see you, Ron!" he called out. "Let's mop these things up!"

The enemy didn't get the idea. They attempted to counterattack, but the Odyssey-Class was still Starfleet's biggest and most powerful ship for a reason, even in spite of newer ships like the Eclipse and the recently retrofit Guardian-Class. the massive ship fired EVERYTHING, tearing into the enemy forces like a juggernaut.

One of the enemy ships finally got the hint and started to run, but the Firestorm appeared directly behind it in the flash of a micro-warp jump, shredding it with a volley of Phaser Cannon fire before turning and heading back into the main melee, as the enemy ships were dwindling rapidly.

The rest faded away, disappearing. Metaphasic sweeps didn't detect the ships, so they weren't using cloaking devices.

"OK, that was weird," Takeshi remarked. "Will need to show the combat footage to the B5 crew, see if they know anything." A brief pause. "Rina, open a channel to the Achilles."

"Channel op—" Rina began, but the voice from earlier interrupted.

"FUCK YES!" it said. "We win, assholes! This is Colonel Riza Pinkerton of the EAS Achilles to whoever the hell you people are: thanks for the help, but we had that under control."

Takeshi blinked, before mentally sighing. Looked like they'd met FemRon. "Colonel Pinkerton, this is Captain Takeshi Yamato of the USS Firestorm," he said. "Good to hear, but we weren't going to let them gang up on you like that. Besides, something about those things seems… wrong, somehow."

"Meh, they attacked us, so I fought back," she replied. "Nice ship, though: wish we had them during the war."

"Well, the Mercury's a good ship—"

"Not the tiny one. The BIG one."

And Takeshi got what Ron referred to as chain envy. He sighed. "Gotcha," he said after a moment. "How's your ship doing? We have a repair yard nearby if you need it."

"We took a beating, and our IFF's out. Going to need more medical assistance than anything."

Takeshi nodded a bit. "We'll have the Ra-Cailum send medical teams over," he said. "We'd be happy to guide or tow you to the repair yard, as well—it's not quite finished, but even incomplete, we can likely help you facilitate repairs."

"Jump drives are screwed, too. Hope that station's close by."

"A couple of lightyears. We'll tow you using our tractor beams."

"And who the hell are you?"

"Captain Ronald Pinkerton, USS Ra-Cailum. Sounds like you've got chain envy towards the Tool Box."

Takeshi sighed a bit. Well, whatever happened, it was definitely going to be interesting to see the meeting between the two Pinkertons.

He idly wondered if he had a counterpart in this universe, too, and if they were more like him or his Mirror Counterpart, Hitomi Maxwell…

The larger ship closed towards the Omega-class destroyer and locked on a tractor beam, right before jumping to warp. "May we live in interesting times," Takeshi remarked.

"Isn't that a curse?" Rina asked.

"Maybe, but it's also a fairly apt description of our current situation," Takeshi replied. "We're a dimension away from home, in a galaxy teetering on the edge of war, and now we have these mystery enemies to deal with. I'd say that qualifies for 'interesting times'."

Both ships headed back for their temporary home, leaving the borderland behind.

'Home' system

The Regulus class starbase was complete enough for habitation, and personnel from all of the ships were busy learning of their temporary new universe. The news network ISN, based on earth, was one of their key sources of information. "When our ship encountered a distress beacon attached to an EarthForce recording device, these images, released exclusively to ISN, were found on that recording. Strategic analysts in EarthDome have indicated they don't know who this new race might be... but promised to find out."

"Geez, that thing is freaky…" A Starfleet Noncom remarked. He was wearing the standard Noncom uniform Starfleet had recently adopted: Primarily gray, with a division color stripe running up the side of the pants, and the shoulder yoke also being the appropriate division color—in the case of this Noncom, Tactical Red. "Like the Spider from Hell or something similar."

Two redcoats (security personnel from the Ra-Cailum wearing the 2278-2353 uniform) just looked at the ship impassively. "We've seen nastier ships. The Vaadwaur, the Elachi, shit like that. These guys? Small fries compared to the big fuckers."

"It may be small," a Noncom in Science Blue remarked, "but you have to admit, it makes up for it with fear factor. I don't doubt we can handle it, but… I agree. That thing is freaky."

The purple beam made its' way to the recording fighter once more, destroying it and producing nothing but static. "What did the captains call that station?"

"The last, best hope for peace?" The Tellarite woman downed a mug of Warp Core Gin, made on Deck 58 on the Ra-Cailum, near the antimatter storage pods. "It failed."

"Still, that isn't entirely a bad thing," a Klingon Bekk from the Vol'Tare remarked. "It means we have more chances for glorious battle!" he smiled as he considered the songs that might be sung if they ever made it back to their universe.

"For glory!" A Gorn rose a glass of antimatter-distilled alcohol from the Ra-Cailum, followed by many of the Klingon personnel that chose not to rejoin their ships.

"At least the Klinks are happy."

"Not ALL of them."

An Orion woman sat down beside the Starfleeters, wearing a rather conservative outfit. "I would prefer serving on one of the newer science ships the Empire's producing."

The Science Noncom blinked. "I didn't realize the KDF was making dedicated Science Ships," she said.

"They're based on gorn designs: basically the same thing. And those Dyson-type destroyers are mostly scientific in nature. The Klingons may prefer another sword, but they aren't stupid."

The Noncom nodded. "Gotcha," she said.

The Romulans were staying away from the rest of the group, even though there was only one mess hall. Clearly, the idea of sharing the same space with Klingons wasn't exactly ideal. "When the hell are those engineers going to adjust the filters? It smells like death in here!" Mostly because of the musk the Klingons put out.

"Hopefully in another day or two," an Engineering Noncom replied. "We're still dialing in a few things."

"All hands, prep for arrival: Ra-Cailum and Firestorm are coming in with an EarthForce warship." From one of the massive windows, the two ships dropped out of warp, towing an Alliance Omega-Class destroyer.

"Looks like the EarthForce ship took a beating," a Starfleet Tactical Noncom remarked. "I wonder what happened to them?"

"We'll find out later: get the medical teams ready and prep whatever repair crews we have to get that thing back in working order!"

"Aye, sir!" The groups began to rush out of the mess, getting to their duty stations.

Things were definitely going to be busy for them for a while…

Babylon 5 - January 4th, 2260

Ivanova mused about the Babylon Project's intended role. 'The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace.' She remembered the Centauri warship that the Klingons destroyed only a week before. 'It failed. But in this coming war, it might represent something greater. Our last, best hope… for victory.' Her link beeped for a moment before she answered. "Ivanova."

"Commander, come down to my office," Sheridan ordered over the comms. "We need you down here for something."

"On my way," she said as she stood up, heading down to the briefing room.

Babylon 5 was massive, and still suffering from damage dealt by Centauri terrorists trying to kill Sheridan. Kosh stepped in to save the man's life, and had revealed himself as… something supernatural to the people on-station watching. She entered a lift, taking her to the commander's office. Waiting for her was Ambassador Delenn, her aide Lenner, the Captain, Garibaldi (as usual) and someone she didn't know. "Captain, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Commander," Sheridan replied. "I… this is going to be difficult. I haven't had a chance to fill you in on everything until now, and I apologize for that. But from what I've just heard, we don't have a lot of time. this is Marcus, he's—"

"A Ranger," she finished. "They've been trained to fight the Shadows and keep an eye on events outside of Babylon 5. The Rangers in this area are under the direct command of you, Ambassador Delenn, and Mr. Garibaldi is functioning as your liaison. Did I leave anything out?"

Sheridan gaped. "When did you—How did you—"

"Captain, the day something happens around here and I don't know about it, worry."

Sheridan nodded, a little nonplussed. "Alright," he said.

"I came from a colony on the edge of Drazi space: Zagross 7," Marcus informed. "It's the site for one of the largest of our training grounds."

"I thought all the Rangers were being trained on Minbar?"

Lennier clarified it for Garibaldi. "Many of them are, yes, but there is a wisdom in, as you say, not putting all your eggs in one basket. Besides, our people are not entirely comfortable with the idea of the Rangers."

"With the cooperation of other governments, we've created additional training camps," Marcus explained. "Two weeks ago, we were surrounded by Centauri blockade mines. Any ship trying to leave the blockade is shot down." On a nearby monitor, an image of the blockade mines in question was shown. "It's a small colony with very little value, so our guess is that we're the target."

That piqued Ivanova's interest. "Why hasn't the Drazi government done anything about this?"

"The Centauri have captured much larger targets on the other side of their territory. They have no resources to protect a colony with few people and limited strategic value." While that was a good explanation from Delenn, it was still cold.

"We're boxed in on all sides," Marcus informed. "We need your help, now. Before anyone else is killed or the camp is invaded. All you have to do is break the blockade long enough for the other Rangers to escape."

Garibaldi poked MANY holes in that plan just by opening his mouth. "To lead an expedition into Drazi space and take out a planetary blockade you'd need a warship, major ordinance, a crew. We don't have those resources, AND we're already in hot water with the Centauri over the last firefight."

"We have the means if you have the will," Marcus replied. "There will be nothing left behind that can be linked to you. We have no one else to turn to."

"Captain, there's one more thing," Garibaldi continued. "We still have a VIP on board. You leave now, it's gonna raise 10 kinds of hell."

"When I agreed to share command of the Rangers with Delenn I became responsible for their well-being," Sheridan informed. "I'm not going to abandon them now. Michael, I'm leaving you in charge of Mr. Endawi. Tell him anything. Buy me as much time as you can."

"Will do," Garibaldi replied.

"We've spent too much time reacting when we should have been acting," Sheridan informed. "Let's take the offensive for a change. Fire up a shuttle, commander. We've got work to do."

A pair of craft left the station: an Alliance shuttle and a Minbari flyer. "I sent a fake destination to the station files. We can proceed to Zagros 7 anytime."

Sheridan had to hand it to Ivanova: she was good. "Shuttle 1 to Minbari flyer," he said over the comms. "Stay close. Initiating jumpgate sequence." The Jumpgate opened, and the two ships headed off to free the Rangers.

They didn't know that they were being watched by two Romulan fighters under cloak. And one was following them, sending transmissions back to the fleet.

'Home' System, USS Firestorm

"Captain, we're getting a message from the two fighters the Romulans left at B5," Rina reported to Takeshi.

"That was fast," Takeshi remarked. "Things seem to be heating up rather quickly."

"Captain Sheridan and Commander Ivanova are following a Minbari ship to an unknown set of coordinates. Think we should help?"

"Yeah," Takeshi replied. "Maybe we'll find out some more about those things that attacked the Achilles."

Soon after they'd brought the Omega-Class destroyer into their repair yard, they'd discovered through the news that the Earth Alliance had declared the ship missing, presumed lost. They could have informed EarthGov about the ship's survival, but Takeshi and Ron both felt that something fishy was afoot, as did Riza. So, she'd unofficially joined their fleet until such time as they found out what was going on.

"The Ra-Cailum's deploying the Sekhmet," Kim reported. "It seems the man wants to join us." In order of command, Ron was on top (he commanded a fucking Oddy) while Saren was in charge if the captain wasn't in the area. The Klingons weren't happy with that (distrust of Romulans) but they lived with it as they didn't want to deal with… well, crazy.

"Understood," Takeshi replied. "All hands, prepare to enter Hyperspace."

The Mercury-Class ship pulsed its' deflector dish, opening a jump point into subspace, Takeshi idly noting that they could use this back home. Both ships entered hyperspace, the portal closing behind them.

Auxiliary craft Sekhmet

"This ship is AMAZING! It's got the firepower of an Omega at my fingertips!"

Ron chuckled as his relative (they looked alike, at least) sat at the helm, spinning in the chair. "The Aquarius-Class was designed as a small multi-purpose support craft to the Odyssey-Class," he explained. "It's more durable than a shuttle, but not as durable as other ships, but it makes up for that with a decent amount of firepower."

"This thing puts the Heel to shame!"

"Take the wheel. Just don't get us lost."

"Oh, I know better than that."

The two ships continued through hyperspace, tracking the Scorpion that had followed Sheridan and Delenn.

"Closing in on coordinates."

"Prepare to exit hyperspace."

Minbari medium cruiser White Star

"The White Star is a new breed of Minbari warship," Delenn explained. "Smaller than our other fleet ships, and faster than anything else her size. It uses both Minbari and Vorlon technology. Most important, unlike other vessels her size this one can make its own jump point into hyperspace."

Ivanova was impressed enough to comment. "Very nice. It looks different. It won't be recognized as a Minbari ship."

"Yes, exactly."

"I'll take two."

Before much more discussion could be made, another Jump Portal opened nearby, from which came… the Firestorm and another, similar ship.

"How the hell did they find us here?" Shepard asked.

"Perhaps they have superior tracking technology as well as defensive systems and weapons," Lennier remarked.

"Firestorm to unknown ship," Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "Picked you up leaving B5 clandestinely, Sheridan. Thought we might come along and see what was up."

Sheridan shook his head. "And the other ship?" he asked.

"Surprise, motherfuckers!" came Ron's unwelcome voice. "Guess who's back!"

"And guess who's with him?!" came another, more unwelcome, and much more familiar voice.

Sheridan buried his head in his hands. "No… please, no… not both of them at once!" he groaned.

Evil laughter echoed through the comm, disturbing even the Minbari who knew nothing of English. "Can you PLEASE not be insane for now?! We have people to rescue from a blockade!"

"Oh, we can do that, Sheri-boy," Riza replied.

"We'll drive you crazy later," Ron added. "So, what the hell are we doin'?"

"The Centauri have set up a blockade at Zagross 7," Ivanova informed. "We need to clear the minefield so Minbari Rangers trapped on the planet can escape."

"Leadeth the way. We'll get them off the ground," Ron said.

Sheridan wondered how they could do that, as neither craft were atmospheric flight capable. "Who do I—"

"The others are not yet familiar with your language but I will be happy to relay your orders to the crew."

The captain was pleased to know that, if unnerved by the presence of two Pinkertons. "Thank you, Mr. Lennier. Put us on course for Zagros 7."

The White Star, along with the two Starfleet ships, soon entered hyperspace, their destination? Zagross 7.

Babylon 5

Morden was slightly disappointed in Londo, but the man would come back eventually, so this little deal was of no consequence. "Since you feel strongly about going our separate ways I wanted to be sure we understood the terms of our separation. Ah, here we are." A map of the galaxy formed, and an area of the galaxy was carved up, a c-shape comprising space for the Centauri to take. "This area over here is for the Centauri. Conquer all the worlds you like, we won't bother you. As long as it's understood that this area is ours. Take anything you want over here. We'll take everything over there." The rest of the galaxy was in red, separated by a border of fire.

"What guarantee do we have that your forces will not decide to turn around and attack us?" Londo Mollari, B5 Ambassador of the Centauri, asked.

"None. Ambassador, we both know what promises and treaties mean."

'Very little, clearly,' Londo snarked in his mind.

"All I can tell you is we have what we want. The rest is of no concern to us."

Londo simply agreed. He was free of Morden and his associates. He should have listened to Vir earlier and had nothing to do with him. "Done. We go our separate ways. And we owe each other nothing."

"Of course," Morden said. "One small exception hardly worth mentioning." He pointed out a small world near the border of the two territories. "This world? It's on the border of your space, but we have a vested interest in it. I've taken the liberty of asking Lord Refa to secure it for us."

"Refa?" Londo asked, somewhat surprised.

"Well, you said you wanted nothing more to do with us and he was quite open to my request," Morden explained. "He secured the planet for us, and now my associates will take custody of it. The rest is yours. Good day, Ambassador."

"Mr. Morden… before you go, are the other ships that destroyed our ship a week or so back related to your 'associates' in any way?" Morden looked offended at the accusation, but he supposed Londo DID deserve to make it: after all, he had been wanting to break off their relationship since the bombing of Narn. He could have seen it as retribution.

"No, they are not, Ambassador," Morden informed. "My associates have never seen them before. And they aren't friendly to my associates, either: Two of them stopped some of my associates from doing something for another person we have an agreement with."

"Very well," Londo said. "I apologize. I was thinking I've never really seen the ships that you and your associates have used in helping us. Perhaps one of these days—"

"Perhaps. Meanwhile, as I said, tell your forces to leave the mines but to move their ships out of that area. You don't want them hanging around when my associates come for Zagros 7." Morden left Londo's quarters at that point.

And Londo wondered just what was going on in the galaxy…

Zagros 7 - USS Firestorm

The 'mines' weren't mines, Takeshi had noted. They were watered down versions of the Cardassian weapons platforms that raped them during the battle of Chin'toka, missing the shields and torpedo launchers. In short, they were pathetic.

He fired another burst of Phaser Cannon fire, shredding another two 'mines'. "Geez, this is rather easy," he remarked. "And no sign of a Centauri Cruiser to support them, either?"

"None," Kim replied. "That makes no sense: the mines are pathetic compared to a ship like the White Star, let alone one of ours."

On the White Star, Sheridan agreed.

"We're picking up a disturbance. One ship, unknown configuration."

"Show me."

The holographic display changed to that of a familiar ship.

Takeshi noticed it, as well. "Hello…" he said. "When we last saw you, a swarm of you were trying to tear the Achilles apart. We slaughtered you. Now you only send one ship? You're just begging for annihilation."

"Shadows," Delenn exclaimed. "In Valen's name!" And now they had a name for their enemy. The Shadow attack ship fired its' beam weapon at the White Star, missing the ship narrowly. "They missed. They never miss."

"They don't recognize our ship," Sheridan realized. "They want to find out who we are before they destroy us. They'll either cripple us so they can board us or drive us off so they can follow us."

"We'll take them out before they can do anything like that," Takeshi replied, as he lined up on the Shadow vessel.

"Negative, get the Rangers clear! We'll get that thing to follow us!"

The White Star took out the last mine, clearing the way for the rangers.

"All right, head for the jumpgate," Sheridan informed.

"Would it not be faster to open a jump point?"

"I don't want them to know we have that potential. Now hit it."

The White Star headed for the gate, followed by the Starfleet ships and the Shadow.

"We cannot lose them in hyperspace," Delenn informed. "They will follow us wherever we go."

THAT sounded like something Sheridan could use. "I'm counting on it."

"It's still there, Captain," Lennier informed.

"Good," Sheridan replied.

"Listen to me, Captain," Delenn pleaded. "You don't know what you're dealing with. The weapons on this ship aren't strong enough to hurt a Shadow vessel that size. We must find help. We cannot hope to destroy a ship like that alone."

"With respect, Ambassador, I've heard that before." Delenn remembered the Drala Fi, which Sheridan destroyed. Unstoppable, until Sheridan nuked the living fuck out of it.

"Enemy vessel's closing," Ivanova noted. "Captain, why didn't you want them to know we can make our own jump point into hyperspace?"

"Because most ships this size can't do it: they have to rely on a jumpgate," Sheridan informed. "As long as it thinks we're in that class, we've got one extra weapon in our arsenal. Tell me, Commander, ever wondered what would happen if you opened a jump point while inside a jumpgate?"

"No. And neither should you," Ivanova noted. "Earthforce experimented with the idea during the Minbari War. They called it the 'bonehead maneuver.'" She turned to the Minbari and said, "No offense."

"None taken," Delenn and Lennier replied simultaneously.

Ivanova turned back to Sheridan and continued, "Because it's suicide. Forming a jump point inside a jumpgate releases a huge amount of energy. None of our ships could clear the blast range before being blown up."

"But this isn't one of our ships," Sheridan replied. "Mr. Lennier, what do you think? Is this ship fast enough to get out before the gate blows?"

"I have no idea," Lennier replied.

"Well, it'll do. We should just about be to Sector 45 by now. Tell them to head to the local jumpgate, best speed."

As Lennier relayed the order, Delenn asked the question on everyone's mind. "Captain, why this jumpgate?"

"It's expendable," Sheridan replied. "Used to be the Markab system, but since they died off others have used the abandoned gate to strip the place bare. I do not like grave robbers. This should take care of two problems at once." To be honest, no one did.

"Approaching jumpgate," Lennier informed.

"Stand by jumpgate sequence," Sheridan ordered. "Ivanova, you ride the jump engines, be ready on my signal."

"You ready?"

"No. But you may proceed anyway."

"Activate jumpgate sequence."

The three ships exited hyperspace near the dead world.

"Now!" He counted down, then gave the order. "Aft jump engines online."

A jump point formed inside the gate, just as the ship phased into existence. MISTAKE. "Now! Punch it!"

The three ships pushed their engines to the redline, getting as far away as they could, even as the Firestorm and Sekhmet drew close to the White Star, their shields enveloping it.

Everyone was thrown from their seats on the Minbari ship, as consoles sparked.

"That was fun!" Ron announced.

"DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!" Riza, somehow, was much more vocal.

"Well… that was something you don't do every day," Takeshi remarked. "White Star, you all okay over there?"

"We're fine, Captain!" Sheridan replied. "Thanks for the assist." Then he heard BOTH Pinkertons chanting 'do it again'. "Please close the channel. Those two terrify me more than the shadows ever will."

"And why would you say that?" Delenn asked.

Sheridan gave Delenn a look that spoke of horror beyond words. "Because they're human."

After Sheridan and his crew had returned to the station, and the EarthGov official had left, the Firestorm paid another visit to B5.

Takeshi, upon landing at the station, had gone to see Sheridan and Delenn. "OK, as you probably guessed, I'd fought that kind of ship before," he told them. "A whole swarm of them was attacking the Achilles when we arrived in the area, and shredded them. That's how we met Riza."

After Sheridan had shuddered slightly at the mention of Riza, Takeshi continued, "Now, while I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie, I do make it a point of knowing who and what I'm facing. Ambassador, you referred to them as 'Shadows'. What exactly are they?"

"There are beings in the universe billions of years older than either of our races, Captain. All but one have left, and the Shadows are older than they, and because of that, we have no other name for them. A thousand years ago, we fought them, and won, with the remaining first ones. But they are gone. And the shadows have returned to Z'ha'dum."

Takeshi groaned a bit. "Reminds me of the Iconians," he remarked.

"Iconians?" Delenn asked.

"Remember when we first came here, and I mentioned the ancient empire trying to conquer our galaxy?" Takeshi asked in reply. "Those are the Iconians. They ruled over 200,000 years ago, and their empire spanned most of the galaxy, until their subjugated species rose up and overthrew them. Now they're back in our galaxy, trying to reclaim what was once theirs."

"The Shadows returned every one thousand years, Captain. And now they have returned. With your help, this may be the last time we see the Shadows."

"Well, we'll certainly do our best," Takeshi replied. "Thank you for informing me about this, Delenn. I should probably get back to our fleet, let them know the true nature of this threat."

Delenn bowed slightly. "Give my regards to Captain Pinkerton."

"And tell them both to stay away from my station," Sheridan replied. "Things are insane enough without them around."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "We might have other crews come over every so often for updates and to see how this station compares to some of ours back home, but I'll let Ron and Riza know the two of them are not necessarily welcome."

"They're welcome. The crazy isn't."

Takeshi turned to leave, but paused. "See you soon." He disappeared in a column of light, shocking the hell out of them.

"They have teleportation technology, too?!" Delenn exclaimed.

"What the hell DON'T they have?" Sheridan asked. "The ability to go back in time?!"

Takeshi Yamato: Oh, Sheridan… there's a lot you have yet to learn about your new neighbors…

For anyone who's wondering, I was inspired by 117Jorn's "Star Wars: The Babylon Saga" story with Ron. Wanted to see what an STO Crossover would be like. And since Ron's more of a B5 Expert than I am, asking for his help was pretty much a given.

Ron the True Fan: been watching since I was 9, and thanks to the internet, I can watch it again whenever the hell I want. Besides, B5 is one of the Big Three in sci-fi. And with the aforementioned fic, I've got a foot in all three.

Takeshi Yamato: I'll definitely be relying on Ron's B5 knowledge until I get a chance to watch the series, myself, but I'll make up for that with my STO knowledge.

Though, don't expect this to be worked on all the time—mainly whenever Ron is bored, and none of our other friends are on to work on his other projects.

Ron the True Fan: Oh, Take… you have NO idea how often that happens. May the Great Bird and the Maker bless your lives, readers. We're going off the map, and here… there be dragons!

Takeshi Yamato: See you next time! :D

Ja Ne!