In his ship, Flame of Purity, Strike Admiral Hiraka Shrak was 
going over reports on a renegade faction on a data pad.  Apparently, 
they had two Prophet class ships and a squadron of fighters of Templar 
II.  There was also rumors that they were constructing a space station 
out of an asteroid. A young officer looked up from his scanner and 
turned to face his superior.

 	"Sir, there is a ship emerging from hyperspace in front of us," 
the young officer said.

 	"The Centuari?" Shrak demanded, as he leaned forward. 

 	"No, sir, " the officer said softly.  "It appears to be a Vorlon 
ship.  Sir, I've also spotted the renegade faction.  The Vorlon vessel 
is hailing us and asking for you to meet on the renegade's asteroid 
base."

 	"Maybe they weren't renegade after all," Shrak mused.  "Prepare 
my shuttle.  I'm going to meet with them and find out what the most 
holy want."

 	The Orieni admiral left his command chair and headed to the 
shuttle bay.  He thought about giving the order to his fleet to not 
fire upon the renegades, but dismissed it as a waste of time.  The 
Vorlon presence insured that there would be no hostile actions taken 
against the renegades until they left and maybe not even then.  
Entering the base, Shrak saw a Vorlon in and encounter suit and 
immediately put his fist over his chest and knelt.

 	"Most Holy, I am here," Shrak said softly.

 	"Rise.  I am Kosh," the Vorlon said. "This base and its commander 
are needed for a greater purpose."

 	"I shall inform the Blessed Hand of your involvement in this 
base," Shrak said, as he slowly stood up and kept his face turned down.

 	"No!" Kosh declared.

 	Shrak looked up at Kosh.  "No?"

 	"Darkness has infiltrated your empire," Kosh said.

 	"How?" Shrak asked.

 	"Drahk."

 	"The Drahk are servants of the Shadows aren't they?" Shrak asked, 
feeling his anger grow.

 	"Yes."

 	"Do you wish for me to tell the Blessed Hand of this?" Shrak 
asked, as he once again turned his face downward.

 	"Not yet.  Wait for the Minbari," Kosh replied.  "Now go."

 	Shrak stood up and quickly left the base and headed back to his 
ship.  Once he returned to his Paragon, he signaled the other ships.

 	"All ships, the renegade faction has entered an area we can't 
follow without opening up another front.  This is a direct order to 
keep silent and erase the last cecra of your ship's logs.  Shrak out."

 	Strike Admiral Hiraka Shrak smiled, as he planned his next move.  

 	'So the Drahk tried to destabilize us?  It's time to reassign 
them.  Drahk ships would make nice advance guards for our fleets or 
something that we don't need to rely on them for.'

 	Back on the asteroid base, Kosh met the base commander, Tovaka 
Vek, and handed him a data crystal.

 	"Travel into Minbari space and surrender and ask to go through a 
thorough scanning.  After that is done, build what is on this crystal, 
using this asteroid."

 	"I will."

 	"Read up on Minbari history and religion while building the 
station," Kosh said. 

 	Vek nodded and Kosh left the asteroid and returned to his ship.  
He quickly contacted Ulkesh.

 	"The first steps in stabilizing the circle have been completed.  
Vek will replace Sinclair and in the future, the grandson of Shrak will 
replace Sheridan."

 	Ulkesh replied, "When the Minbari join the Orieni, the Drahk will flee. 
The combined Minbari/Orieni fleet will be strong enough to stand 
against anything the Younger Races can throw at it and prove once more 
that Order is the correct path."

	Elsewhere, David Gina looked out the viewport of the Xanadu in his office 
and shook his head.  Before he had left the solar system, he had gotten 
a data pulse on two black ships that had been discovered in system and 
their capabilities.  The first one discovered was on the moon at the 
site of where the lunar Grand Canon would be built.  After finding the 
first, sensors were reprogrammed and the second was found near the Mars 
Base.  The schematics for the sensors and weapon were transmitted.  
Another discovery was that it used a different form of faster than 
light travel and that the Macross theoretically had the ability to 
program its fold drive to travel like the black ships.  Since UN Spacy 
was using the Macross as its main headquarters, it fell to David Gina 
and the Xanadu to test it out.

	David shook his head chuckled.  "What was it Ishtar said when she 
heard that?  Ah.  Now I remember.  There are at least six different 
ways to achieve FTL; the Xanadu should be capable of all of them.  We 
just have to figure out how to program the Fold Drive to access them."

 	The door opened and a woman with flaxen hair entered. David glanced at 
her and smiled softly.  He motioned for her to sit down.

 	"So, Dernia?  How are the city dwellers coping?" David asked.

 	"Quite well.  But, that's not what I came here to talk about.  
It's Ishtar."

 	"What about her?" David asked.

 	"She is drawn to that room with the chair on a dias."

	"The Emulator Throne?"  David asked with a shrug.  "She is an 
Emulator and the only one on board the ship." 

	"I talked with Patch and he says that throne is connected with 
the ship in some way he hasn't been able to figure out yet," Dernia 
said.

	David shook his head and sighed.  "We know so little about the 
Marduk systems."

	"That's what I'm concerned about.  Ishtar is an Emulator and when 
I asked her about it, she told me that Emulators were assigned to a 
single ship," Dernia said.

	"So?"

	"She doesn't consider herself a being, but a component of the 
Xanadu, like the engines or the lasers," Dernia softly said.

	"We are going to have to work on that.  Set up our private 
quarters near the Emulator Throne and have Ishtar's quarters adjacent.  
See if the other members of the Black Panthers will be willing to 
relocate to that area.  You can ask, but I know that Patch will 
decline.   He's probably put a cot in one of the rooms next to the 
engine room and is sleeping there."

 	"Not quite," Dernia said with a smile.  "He's put his quarters 
halfway between the engines and the factory controls."

	David shook his head and chuckled.  "Ah yes.  I forgot about 
that.  He wants the Xanadu to have its own distinct fighter besides the 
VF-4 Lightning III.  He's looking at the scrapped YF-2 and YF-3 
designs."

	"So that's what he was talking about when he was talking about a 
metal siren," Dernia commented.

	"Probably.  I wonder what he's going to come up with."

	"I wonder what he wants an old fighter jet for," Dernia mentioned 
with a thoughtful look on her face.

	"All of the Valkyries are based off of old jets.  I think the VF-
1's were based off the F-14 Tomcat.  I'm not sure.  What does it look 
like?"

	"It looks like a black triangle," Dernia replied.

	"A stealth fighter.  I wish Patch luck.  Dernia, we'll switch off 
on cooking dinner.  I want Ishtar with us for each dinner and we'll 
talk to her each night."

	Dernia nodded and kissed David on the cheek before she left.  
David nodded and turned back towards the viewport and saw the view 
flicker and showed a red sun and the second planet.  David spotted 
something and quickly left his office.  Hesitating long enough to put 
on his jacket and a hat designating his rank. He grimaced as he put the 
hat on.

	"Jan report," David ordered.

	"Sir, our sensors have detected three ships that are in danger of 
falling to the second planet.  There is life on board two of them, but 
the third has none.  There is life on the second planet and it looks 
like there is a couple cities that will be threatened by the ships."

	"Anything else?"

	"The three ships appear to be of different designs and all appear 
to have been in some kind of fight," Jan replied.

	"With each other?"  David asked.

 	"I don't know.  There is wreckage of other ship types in the 
system.  A lot of them have one of two symbols on the hull.  These 
ships have different symbols."

	"Innocents who got caught in a firefight between two forces," 
David mumbled and then looked ahead with determination.  "Get the 
rescue boys scrambled.  I want rescue shuttles and environmental armor 
used for this.  Valkyries, Destroids, and giant power armor are not to 
be used.   Get the ships planetside and see if the inhabitants of the 
planet were also caught up in this mess."

	"Sir?  Why are you doing that?"  Jan asked.

	"If they turn out to be hostile to us, I want what we can do to 
be a surprise," David said, and picked up a phone and typed a number.

	"Patch?" David said.  "We have some ship wreckage here that I 
want investigated.  No, this is not a joke.  I thought you knew that 
when I had you make the Morse code toilets during the Global Civil War 
that I don't joke about what I want from you.  There's also a recon 
group."

	Hanging up the phone, David shook his head.  "Jan have Skull 
Squadron scrambled and accompany the rescue squad down.  Roy Fokker 
will act as our ambassador for this."

	"Yes sir," Jan replied.

	"As to the toilets, that's a long story.  It's one of the reasons 
General Lothair hates the Black Panthers," David said with a smile.  
"Sort of like the hallucinogenic air conditioner that was built once."

	"I don't really want to know," Jan said.

 	On board the two ships that still had life, the crew saw the SDF-
3 approach them and release ships.  At first, there was panic among the 
two crews.  But after the shuttles attached tow cables and proceeded to 
lower the three ships to the planet's surface gently, tensions eased.

	On board one of the ships, a cat-eyed humanoid looked up.  
"Warmaster, the fighters are keeping a holding pattern around us as we 
descend.  I've detected that there is still activity on board the 
Markab ship, but it looks like the Abbai ship is dead.  I don't 
understand why they are lowering it though."

	"They are lowering it so it doesn't hit one of those cities.  
What's the name of this planet?" the Warmaster said.

	"The inhabitants call it Narn," came the reply.

	"The farmers that kicked the Shadows off their planet during the 
last Shadow War?  They need to work on their warrior side a bit more.  
They could become a valuable ally in the fight against the Orieni and 
Centauri if they put their minds to it.  We should also see if we can 
make an alliance with the Markab."

	"Warmaster?  What about them?" the young Dilgar male, said as he 
pointed at the SDF-3.

	"I don't know.  I have never seen a ship like that before.  The 
fact that their ship didn't bother with the Jump Gate shows they are at 
least Orieni level and might even be close to the Minbari in tech," 
Warmaster Zha'var commented.  "Their fighter craft look to be just 
modified air fighters to handle both space flight and atmospheric 
flight.  We have them beat on starfighter design.  As a matter of fact, 
all jump capable races have them beat on starfighter design.  In their 
favor though is their ship design.  Those fighters are probably 
deployed to handle rescue missions like this and not used in actual 
combat."

	"I see sir."

	"At any rate, we'll soon meet with Markab and Narn, along with 
this unknown race.  Maybe we'll get some allies to keep the Centauri 
from annexing our systems."