Roy Fokker looked at his 'younger brother' in amusement. He had accepted that he was a clone along with Rick Hunter and Max Sterling. He was a bit surprised at the way Hikaru had turned out. He ambled up to Rick and smirked. "So, how do you feel about Hikaru marrying Misa and becoming a major part of the UN Spacy military?" Roy asked with a grin. "Ha ha ha. Very funny, Roy," Rick said with a sour look on his face. "I'm dealing with it. Right now, I'm more concerned about what's going on in there." Rick pointed to a one-story building that was made out of an aluminum-titanium alloy. A white circle with a red cross was painted next to the entrance. "Well, 'Rick'," Roy said, ignoring the glare that was sent him. "Intel wants information on what happened in system and of course they were checking to make sure none of the Xenoes has any diseases that can be carried back to Earth." "Xenoes?" "Not one of the branches of Protoculture," Roy replied. "Non- human sounds insulting, considering that some of our major enemies are other branches of Protoculture, like the Marduk." Rick shook his head. "Dilgar, Narn, Abbai, and Markab. Four races and we only met three of them." "As Captain Gina surmised, they were innocents caught in the crossfire between the Orieni and Centauri," Roy said. "At least the diplomatic brigade was able to smooth things over between everyone." "You mean Ishtar?" Rick asked shaking his head and looked around. "I still don't believe we are still on Narn." "Standard quarantine practice. Once we get a clean bill, we'll be allowed back on the Xanadu," Roy said. "Okay. I understand that. I just wonder what that mad scramble was that dealt with the Markab," Rick stated. "Not sure. It has to do with the medical team though," Roy said, as he looked up. "Well 'Rick', it looks like it's time to change who is doing perimeter patrol. Max is heading this way." Inside the hastily constructed MASH, UN Spacy doctors were working with a couple of Dilgar biowar experts in examining the Markab. Warmaster Zha'var watched the proceedings with great interest. He and his Markab counterpart asked for the Xanadu to bring ships from their respective worlds to pick them up. Zha'var enjoyed his debates with the Markab captain over the way the Narn should go in their development. Doctor Jane Sydney sat down in a chair and looked at the readings with a disgusted look on her face. She finally addressed the Markab captain. "Thanks to the Dilgar and their expertise in xenobiology, we have confirmed that you and several others on your ship are carriers for this Drafa Plague of yours. It seems to be some sort of bio-weapon that can be triggered at anytime by the ones who placed it," Jane said. "In your response in trying to sway the Narn to your way of thinking in contrast to the Dilgar's way, you brought up this plague and probably saved your race from total extinction." Zha'var shook his head sadly, as his two subordinates smiled at that revelation. Jane gave a glare at the Dilgar biowar experts, who were looking smug. "Don't get too complacent. This is the third instance of outside tampering we've encountered. The Narn and we have had our technology stripped from us. We recovered ours, but the Narn are just going to have to duplicate the stuff from the Orieni and Centauri ships. They will also have the Abbai ship to work with. We did point them in the direction of how the shields work." Before the Dilgar could respond, a call came over her desk phone. "It looks like the Xanadu has returned from your respective worlds with ships to pick you up," Jane said. Warmaster Zha'var nodded. "Good. Despite what you think of me Doctor, I don't want to see the Markab gone. I enjoy fighting. This war of words with the Markab captain has been the most fun I've had in years." Doctor Sydney shook her head in exasperation, as she picked up a headset. Zha'var had his curiosity peaked when a look of shock passed across the doctor's face. "What? Are you sure? Yes, he's still here and annoying the Markab for kicks. What? I see. Okay," Jane said as he face changed from shock to confusion to horror. She put the headset down and looked at Zha'var. "Warmaster, a delegation from the Markab homeworld is here to talk to you to iron out details for a treaty between your two people. I have just been informed that your own people also want a treaty between the two of you." "Why?" Zha'var asked. "The Markab want a cure for the Drafa plague. Your own people want ships to leave Omelos. The Xanadu's sensors were able to detect an anomaly in your sun. In about two hundred years, the sun will explode," Jane stated in a grim fashion. "Tampering number four. Your sensors should have been able to pick it up before now." "We don't have that many ships or the manpower to build them," the Markab captain said. "The Narn do," Zha'var countered. "All the ships in system from the recent battle do belong to them under salvage rights. The Narn rebuild the ships with your help, we help you cure the plague, and the Narn help us evacuate Omelos. I'm not sure where UN Spacy fits in all of this." "We'll act as a neutral party to help hammer out the treaty," Jane said. "Fair enough," Zha'var nodded, as he looked at the ceiling. "With the Narn acting as a buffer between the Dilgar and the Markab they will become a warrior race that holds honor very high. We need the Narn to act as a buffer between our two races. We would kill each other otherwise." Jane looked at Zha'var strangely. "How do you know that?" "I'm a Warmaster. I study how races interact," Zha'var said. The hastily constructed MASH compound was the place where the Tri-Union treaty was ratified. It was an event that would shake the Centauri/Orieni war. Within a week, the rebuilding of the destroyed ships was well on its way. The Narn took to the technology teaching as quick as they could. A new ship was developed to cement the formation of the Tri-Union. The Markab designed the inner-workings, the Dilgar provided weapon systems, and the Narn provided shield technology and a hull design to hold it all together. At the end of two weeks the Tri- Union and UN Spacy signed a non-aggression treaty. After the second treaty was signed, the Xanadu left Narn with updated maps of the local stars and races that dwelled there. David Gina onboard the SDF-3 shook his head and gave an amused snort, as he read over the report of the first contact situation. He looked up, as Ishtar came into the room. "Good job on keeping the Dilgar Warmaster and Markab captain from killing each other early on," David said. Ishtar blushed a bit. "I was doing what you told me to, Captain." "Everything went smoothly from the lowering of the ships to Narn, to prevent any more loss of life. Your talks with the Narn to allow us to use their world to help the Markab and Dilgar and the later talks that formed the Tri-Union were beyond my wildest expectations. I guess we were due a bit of good luck since the Rain of Fire," Gina idly commented. "What about the war they were talking about?" Ishtar asked. "It is between two races and their slave races. The Orieni and the Centauri," David replied, shaking his head. "That doesn't really concern us at the moment. What does concern us right now is returning the Abbai ship with its corpses to the Abbai." "I thought the Narn had stripped it of...." Ishtar began. "With a bit of our help, they were able to understand the shield technology. That's what they took from the ship. We also have a copy of the shield technology and all the other stuff we found floating around in the Narn system," Gina replied with a smile. "The Tri-Union is going to be a great ally." "If they don't kill each other first," Ishtar mumbled. "I doubt it. I happen to agree with Warmaster Zha'Var. From the outside, the Tri-Union will look like it is going to explode in a very spectacular fashion, but in actuality is very stable." On Centauri Prime the emperor picked up a flask of liquor and thought about his dreams. He put the flask down and stared out at the sky. He picked up a recorder and composed his thoughts. "Ten cycles ago, the Death Dreams of all Centauri have changed. To this day, there is no evidence on why this happened. My new one bothers me. I have written down my new dream about the great ship with two forms elsewhere," the emperor said. "I have the feeling that the conditions of my death will start soon." An aide ran into the emperor's throne room and looked a bit worried. "What is it?" The emperor demanded. "Your majesty, the Drahk have broken off from the Orieni and are requesting to join up with us against the ones who betrayed them. Apparently, the Orieni have made an alliance with the Minbari." "So it begins," the emperor said, picking up the flask of liquor. "Tell this to Emperor Refa." "Your majesty?" The aide asked. Picking up his drink, the emperor looked at his aide and smiled. "I have a choice of deaths before me. If I choose the later one, the Centauri will have glorious conquests, but in the end we will be vanquished for all time and never rise again. The earlier one has the Centauri go through dark times, but there is a bit of light at the end." With that the Centauri Emperor took a long swallow of his drink and placed the flask down. "It was filled with poison. Now, the House of Refa will take over the Centauri Empire. Go and tell Lord Refa of the Drahk developments. You will not get in trouble for this. I knew it was poisoned and I took it anyway for the sake of the Centauri." The aide blanched as he realized that the Emperor was dying. "Go! That was an order!" The aide bowed and quickly left to find Lord Refa who would soon become the next emperor. The Centauri Emperor looked down at the recorder he left on and chuckled. "I know who put the poison in my cup and I'm letting them get away with it. I have avoided the fire at the end of my journey by letting death claim me now. I just have to hold on to my sanity." The emperor ignored the alarms that went off around the palace. "Soon. Even...they..." The Centauri Emperor let his eyes close and heard the unmistakable sound of a starship engine and yells of fear and horror. "Soul Hunter!" The Centauri Emperor was denied final rest, as his soul was collected by one of the Soul Hunters. In the panic and grief that followed, Lord Refa took over the Centauri Empire and made an alliance with the Drahk to fight the combined forces of Orieni and Minbari. Deep in the bowels of Zha'ha'dum, the Shadows were watching how the Vorlons had sent the Minbari to drive the Drahk away from the Orieni. The Shadows knew they would have to give names to themselves that the Younger Races could pronounce. "Even with the Drahk, the Centauri are a bit overmatched," BrokenLight, a female Shadow, said. DarkEclipse, one of the more respected Shadows, mused for a moment. "We will have to send the Goblyns and Warriors to counteract the Minbari's client races." "There has been a change of Emperors. The current one is from the House of Refa," BrokenLight stated. "Good. Emperor Refa will be a bit harried by taking up the throne. He will jump at the chance to ally himself with us and consolidate his power," DarkEclipse replied. "Have one of our Drahk negotiators initiate contact with Refa. We will need the Centauri to ask for our help. Anything else?" "The Markab are in talks with the Narn and Dilgar for some reason. Apparently a Markab and Dilgar ship landed on Narn and somehow talks broke out among the three species," BrokenLight said. "There is also rumors that the Markab and Dilgar were saved by a red ship called Xanadu." "Strange, but that does not concern us at the moment. Xanadu can be investigated later. Get some Centauri designs to the Zener and have them prepare a factory to coat Centauri ships with bio-armor and have basic instructions made up so that the Centauri can start producing their own bio-armor for ships." "I'll get right on it."