President Levy looked over the reports she had received. She sighed and shook her head. She looked up and saw the Colonel standing nearby. "Well Colonel, we are fast approaching the time when Earth and Minbar were supposed to go to war," Levy stated. "You are nervous. You are afraid that these Vorlon beings will start the war and the Mu will slip in during the confusion," the renegade Mu said. "Yes. We are much further along than I thought we would be in conversions and updating our ships. Hopefully, we will be ready." "Eighty-five percent of your ships have been completely upgraded, another five percent halfway upgraded, and leaving only ten percent untouched," the Colonel stated. "However, the treaty with the other Earths increased the number of ships by quite a bit, but a lot of those ships need upgrading as well. Which brings up a question about human upgrading." "We are only halfway done with that. PsiCorp is up to something," Levy said with a heavy sigh. "The Eeman women are also going through some treatments to stop the sealing up that they suffer if they don't have children before they are twenty-one. The Dinosoids are in talks with various water mammals to help with agriculture and try to get them into space as well." "Moving back to the original topic: What are your plans about the Minbari?" Levy smiled a bit and picked up a folder. "This a report that states there will be a pirate attack on one of our colony worlds. The Minbari, Centauri, Narn and one other race, which we believe to be the Vorlons, are observing that world. I think one of our new ships should go take care of the pirates in a flamboyant way and scare the other races." "That might start the war anyway," the Colonel observed. "Maybe, but I think it will force the others to prepare. We'll be using old encryptions that we know that have been broken and believed by the other races that we don't know this to communicate. That should throw the other races of the local group into confusion." "You are trying to prepare the other races for the Mu. It might work, but I am uncertain," the Colonel stated. "We have to try. We're still in debates on the entire Valen issue. Maybe if we scare some of the others in the local group, maybe they won't write us off if we and the Minbari do go to war." The Colonel just nodded and left. President Levy leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. "You and Nataruma have opened our eyes to real threats and humbled us. The first threat being the genetic time bomb and the second being the Mu." Near the border of human space a pirate fleet of ten ships gathered. Since humanity had dismantled their jumpgates, there was no obvious means for the human colony world that was about to be invaded to get help from EarthDome. The pirates were renegade Centauri that looked at Earth's colony world as easy prey. They were about to find out how wrong they were. Elsewhere in system there were ships watching the drama unfold, but not stopping the attack. Bevro, the leader of the pirates smirked, as he looked at the reports. "The humans' arrogance have given us a golden opportunity to make money. Begin the assault." Each of the ten ships launched twenty-five fighters, and they approached the colony world. He chuckled as a beam of gold light leapt from the surface of the planet. "That will take at least twenty of your years to make it to Earth. You might as well give up." What Bevro didn't notice was the beam vanished into a ripple in space. The watching ships noted the strange properties of the beam, but did not do anything. What happened next would change the perceptions of the various races. A massive white ship flashed into existence behind the fleet and made itself know by broadcasting in interlac. "This is the Earths Alliance ship Dragon. Cease you hostilities at once." Bevro clicked on the rear view scanners and looked in horror at the new ship. "By the gods! What is that thing?" The Dragon was larger than any known ship that was produced by the local races. To a human, it would like a mechanical two-headed dragon. Each head only had one very large eye. "You might be big, but you won't be that maneuverable," Bevro transmitted back to the Dragon and then ordered the trailing three ships to turn around and engage the Dragon. The Dragon's captain had other ideas. The massive white ship shot forward into the middle of the enemy fleet. The heads started moving upwards and the tail curled under the body. At that point, all hell broke loose as the Dragon launched a massive wave of lasers from its body in every direction, looking something like an exploding firework display. The giant eyes on each head glowed for a second and then launched a torrent of fire down onto ships. Each shot vaporized the back half of a ship. "By the gods! When did the humans get something like that?" Bevro shouted, as his ship was rocked by missile strikes and speared by laser fire. In a single volley, the Dragon turned all the fighters into space dust severely crippled two ships, and pretty much killed the rest. After the volley faded away, the Dragon straightened itself out and flew in front of the remaining pirate ships and turned around. "Well captain, do you surrender?" Bevro looked at the Dragon in fear and sighed. "I want to see the captain of the ship, I'm surrendering to." "Very well." The screen on Bevro's ship showed a man with green hair. At first glance, he looked to be human, but then Bevro noticed the tentacles trailing from the man's head and undulating to each side of him. "Who are you? What are you?" "I am Captain Venkan. I am of the race known as the Eeman. EarthDome contacted my race, along with the Lemurians, Chiram, and the ones we call the Dinosoids. We have formed a group called the Earths Alliance and are sharing our technology with each other." "I have never heard of your race before." "Good. Then you have no idea what we are capable of." Venkan replied with a smile. "Do you surrender?" "Yes," Bevro responded heavily. On board a Sharlin, the Minbari were shocked at what they had just seen. Somehow the humans had gained allies that they didn't know about and then constructed a ship that looked to be far superior to the strongest Centauri design. "How did the humans come up with that thing?" Aylt Sinevel demanded. "I don't know Aylt," came a response from one of the warriors. "Any records of the race Eeman?" Sinevel demanded. "No. There is no records of any race by that name or any of the others." Similar sentiments were felt aboard the Narn and Centauri craft that had observed the one-sided slaughter. The Vorlons for the first time in a long time were shocked. There was a member of an unknown race helping humanity. What made things worse was that this Eeman mentioned three other races. "This is wrong," the Vorlon sent to the rest of the race. "One race we might have missed, but not four races that powerful." Before the rest of the Vorlon Collective could respond, a transmission was picked up from the Dragon. "This is Captain Venkan of EAS Dragon reporting. The disturbance wasn't the Great Enemy. It was just some petty pirates. Returning home." The Vorlon replayed the message several times and sent the recording back to his people. "The Great Enemy? The Shadows or something else?" The Vorlon quickly left the area and headed back to Vorlon space. The other races had also picked up the transmission and left for their respective homeworlds. Venka looked at the monitors and smirked a bit and quickly made a slicing motion across his neck with two fingers. A Chiram officer pressed a few buttons. "We have ceased transmissions Captain." Venka nodded. "Hopefully, this will get the other races to prepare for the Mu." A person who appeared to be a slender woman with brown hair and blue eyes looked at Venka. She was also wearing a shiny blue cat-suit. "You mean the radical Mu?" "Yes, Rine. I meant those Mu who are intent on killing all organic beings," Venka said. "They want to kill me as well, since I look human," Rine replied. Venka shook his head. "I still can't believe that the Lemurians still mess around with robots and androids." Rine shrugged. "Why shouldn't they? Despite all the stories that the radical Mu were going to overwhelm them, they managed to push the Mu off planet after Lemuria was restored with only ten point three percent of their armies and the radical Mu army was two hundred fifty-three point seven percent greater than what it was before the dimensions collapsed. If it wasn't for that bomb of the Chiram's, the lightning nuke would have taken care of the radical Mu." "I've been meaning to ask, are you Mu?" Venka muttered, as he stared at the android woman. "I am loyal to whoever owns me. The moderate and radical free willed robots are Mu. As I need an owner, I am not Mu," Rine replied calmly. Rine left the bridge of the Dragon and Venka shook his head in resignation. "Let's head back to Domer Earth." On Earth, President Levy looked over the transmission from the Dragon with a grimace on her face. She gave a heavy sigh and nodded towards the Colonel. "We've exposed ourselves with this stunt," Levy said flatly. "Madame President, no matter what scenario you chose, there is always going to be the chance that Earth would be invaded. This one puts a little bit of fear into everyone and makes them less likely to attack." Levy shook her head. "True. I just wish... Ironic, you showed up with that space elevator and now you are one of the people I confide in." "There is nothing strange about it. I am trying to make up for my part in the disaster of the second detonation of the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb and that gives you a clearer view of my motives than of the motives of your own people. The Lemurians have contacted the moderate Mu and apparently I am an icon of what they believe the Mu should be," the Colonel stated. "At any rate, we need to prepare for Vorlon examination. Hopefully the new space station will keep them away from Earth. I think I'll assign that Rine gynoid to be the ambassador." "That should work for the short term. However, I think you should prepare for an assault by five ships that are smaller than a fighter but stronger than a Minbari Sharlin," the Colonel said. "What are you talking about?" Levy asked. "Take a look at what's coming from Sector 423." "Nuts," Levy swore and then hit a button. "This is President Levy, send the Tiamat to intercept invading ships from sector 423. We have some roaches that need squashing. Have the Bahamut follow to scan for any unseen hostiles and act as support if necessary. Levy out." Out in the direction of Sector 423 five ships headed towards Earth. One ship would fill any of the known races with dread. Each of the ships only had a single person in them. All of them were ranting and raving about something not making any sense. "It makes no sense. There are two or three then none then one and then...it makes no sense. We must stop them before they mess things up even worse," one of the pilots ranted. A flash of light and a massive mint green colored ship appeared in front of them. Other than the color, it looked just like the Dragon that had been recently deployed. "This is the Earths Alliance ship Tiamat! Soul Hunters, you are not welcome in Earth space! Leave or be destroyed!" "We will not leave! We must stop you before you plunge everything into silliness. We are doing this for everyone's own good, even yours," one of the Soul Hunters replied, as he laughed and cried at the same time. "You'll thank us for this." "Firepower Overkill!" Multiple areas on the Tiamat opened up and different sorts of projectiles were launched forth. The massive onslaught delivered by the Tiamat struck the five Soul Hunter ships and rattled them. The eyes on the Tiamat's heads started glowing and unleashed their fire and two of the Soul Hunter ships were vaporized from the beams. One of the Soul Hunter ships tried to get past the Tiamat, but the green ship energized the tip of its tail and swung it up and impaled the Soul Hunter ship on the tip. After an agonizing few seconds the ship exploded into an expanding sphere of jagged blue lightning. After the volley of destructiveness died down. On the remaining two Soul Hunter ships looked like it had been torn open by a sadistic can opener. The other Soul Hunter ship was heavily damaged, but there was still some life support. "Looks like we have got a prisoner," the captain of the Tiamat said. "I'm sure the bigwigs back home will want some answers." The Tiamat headed towards the Soul Hunter ship and brought its right fore claw down around the ship. It carefully grasped the ship and blipped away in a flash of light. Unseen by the Tiamat, a black ship had watched the entire exchange. It was about to leave when its crew noticed a ship like the Tiamat except in light blue was directly behind them and looked ready to attack. The ship quickly vanished before anything could be done. "President Levy is not going to be happy about that," the captain of the Bahamut muttered. "Sir?" "That was a Technomage ship. I have no idea what they might want." Earth quickly prepared for the investigation that they knew was coming. They finished a green space station and placed it on the edge of their border nearest to Minbari space. On board a space station that Earths Alliance had created to throw the Vorlons off, the gynoid Rine was looking around at the 'crew'. She shook her head and headed for the command area. She sat at the desk and opened a channel. "This is Rine. The station is prepared for Operation: Creep Out." "This is Captain Sinclair. Hopefully both the Vorlons and Minbari show up soon." "I have a question about pulling me off the 'Dragon' and placing me here. Why?" "You can't be read by telepaths. We do need to keep things secret. As to that station, it is a stable design and we will be making more of them. There will be six colors and each color will have a number from zero to nine for a total of sixty stations. Green Four was just made before the others to irritate the Vorlons. The blue ones will be based off that other station, just to really irritate the Vorlons. Sheridan out." "Rine out." The mechanical woman stood up and smiled a bit. She had a purpose and a job to complete and she was going to do it. She activated her inner com-link and gave orders to the 'crew' to prepare the prisoners. She didn't have long to wait as several jump point appeared and ships started exiting hyperspace. She quickly recognized Centauri, Minbari, and Vorlon ships heading towards the station. "A jump-gate will have to be built to keep the illusion up," Rine commented. On board the Minbari and the Vorlon ships shock was felt by those on board. They were looking at something from history that had appeared to give them victory over the Shadows so long ago. A signal was picked up coming from the station. "This is Green Four Babylon Station. Please state your purpose for entering Earths Alliance space,' Rine stated. "I am from the Centauri Republic coming to claim the prisoners you have taken," the captain of the Centauri trio of ships replied. "I am Aylt Sineval of the Minbari. We have come with the Vorlons to ascertain you have not joined with our ancient enemy." "Very well. Docking procedures are being transmitted." The various ships headed for the docking bays that had been transmitted. Once on board, the various non-humans left their ships were met by a welcoming party. The Lemurians came through with a very creepy robot design. They all looked like the same person done in shiny plastic and with a smile permanently painted on the faces of the group. One of them stepped forward and his head started shaking as he talked, yet the mouth would not move. "Follow me. Rine will want to talk with each of you." The various aliens were led through the station where they saw that the entire crew was exactly alike. The fact that the crew did their tasks without making any noise was also creeping out the Minbari and Centauri. The two races breathed a sigh of relief when they entered a meeting room and saw Rine. The Vorlon who had joined the group was unable to be read by body language. "Greetings, I am Rine. Welcome to the Green Four Babylon station. This one was designed to specifically deal with the transfer of prisoners and dealing with other races. "What is with your crew?" a Centauri asked a bit shaken and scared. "Other than the prisoners and yourself, there is not a single living being on this station. It is crewed entirely by robots. Before you ask, I am a robot as well. Those robots you saw were all based of some old character called Don West and I am based off of a character called Wilma Deering. Crewing the station with robots was deemed a necessary compromise. Earths Alliance can talk to other races through me and not run the risk of being contaminated by some sort of engineered virus. The Vorlon was trying to figure out how to get the humans on board the station and have the creepy robots removed when Rine started talking some more. "Minbari, we have not encountered any race that wants to kill you. Although there is a race that wants to kill everything that isn't them that we are planning for. At any rate, it is time to turn over the prisoners to the Centauri. Earths Alliance does offer the station for use to hold diplomatic talks with other races. It is just that we really do not feel like talking with anybody at the moment." "Acceptable, for now," the Vorlon stated. The Minbari group kept quiet after that. The prisoners that were turned over to the Centauri were shaking in terror as they glanced at the robots and it looked like a few of them were about ready to cry. Rine had left and let the other robots escort the aliens back to their ships. "We hope you enjoyed you stay here and have a nice day," one of the robots said with a wobbling head and without moving his mouth. After the ships left, Rine opened a secure frequency to EarthDome. "Rine here. Operation: Creep Out has finished. I do not know if the Vorlons will hesitate due to the actions here, but they did not stick around and investigate that station." "Sheridan here. We will see what happens. It all depends on if that circle is really all that important to them. However, it did succeed in the short term. It got them to back off for the moment. That is what we were after." "Is EarthDome worried that this station will be stolen and sent into the past?" "No, not at all. Sinclair is upset about us building Green Four, since he does not want to become Valen, but he has nothing to worry about. That... thing inside the Space Elevator destroyed that silly time loop, although the Vorlons don't know that yet. That station probably stopped the Earth/Minbari war before it even got started. Sheridan out." "Rine out." Rine thought about Sheridan's words and nodded. "Yes. That war was stopped before it started by having this station built." The Vorlon who had visited Green Four quickly headed back to Vorlon space and reported at what he had seen. The Vorlon race pondered the situation. "That station will be decommissioned before it is sent back. We will make sure those robots are removed before we send it back," the central intelligence sent. "What of the humans' unknown allies?" Kosh sent. "We will investigate that after we have some defenses in place to protect that station from being destroyed by the Shadows. The war between Earth and Minbar was a lie to keep us from interfering with Earth while they prepared." The Vorlons started making plans to find some way to get the humans on the station and the robots off. Back in Minbari space the Grey Council were staring at the images of Green Four in shock. Dukaht gave a rueful chuckle. "That fear the humans felt is what made them build the station. Not only will we need to form closer ties with them for the coming war, but for that war in the past," Dukaht stated. "Their new allies will also be important." "I have no desire to be on that station with those things on board," Sineval forcefully stated and shuddered in distaste. "We will have to put up with it for now. Humans' fears of virus weapons has caused them to go that route," Dukaht replied. President Levy on Earth heard the reports from the 'Tiamat' and 'Bahamut' and was hitting her leg with a clenched fist. "The Technomages. We didn't count on them spying on us and getting away," Levy muttered and then looked at the Colonel. "Any ideas?" "There is going to be a battle at Green Four. If the Technomages are loyal and report to the Shadows, the Shadows will investigate and see Green Four and jump to the conclusion that it is the same station that cost them victory in the past." "We don't need this. We were preparing for a fight with the Mu." "Whether you needed it or not, no longer matters. You will have to talk to some of your generals and see if they have an idea on how to turn this situation to our advantage," the Colonel replied. "I have no clue on how to handle this." "In case the worst happens, I need some way to get Rine off Green Four," Levy stated. "There is an Action class scout on board the station for her to use." "Those things are lethal to use," Levy stated in protest. "You forgot that Rine is a Lemurian robot and can survive using the ship." "Right. I'll send someone to brief Rine on the situation and give her orders in case the Shadows do attack. I just hope she agrees." "Why wouldn't she? She is not a combat model and her programming means she won't disobey an order under normal circumstances. She understands that she is the most advanced piece of technology on the station and that she needs to keep herself out of hostile possession." President Levy just shook her head and thought about all the changes the Space Elevator had brought and the price that was going to be paid for it.