As the SDF-3 made its way to Sigma 957, David Gina sat in his office and rubbed his forehead. He thought back to his antics on Earth during the Global Civil War and the fact that if even a tenth of them came to light with evidence, his team would have been given Section Eights and in one case shot for treason. "Why me? I'm a lunatic when it comes to plans and a ground pounder to boot, so why did Gloval give me the command of this ship?" Gina muttered to himself. "So far, we've been lucky in dodging the Shadows and Vorlons. It's not going to last. I just hope UN Spacy has enough time to get ships and mecha prepared for those two idiotic races." David looked up when the door to his office opened and Dernia came in. "I see you're brooding again," Dernia said with a half-smile. "I really dislike being a starship captain. I have time to think and reflect about the actions I have taken," David stated with an amused snort. "Hopefully after this mission, they'll put me back in charge of just a mechanized infantry company." "I don't think they will," Dernia said. "You have been very effective as the Xanadu's captain and you are one of the more senior officers that Gloval has." "Oh well. I really do not want to put up with various political games," David said. "And, I didn't want to look to closely at micronian culture, but I did and I'm a bit happier for it," Dernia countered. "Maybe. We'll be at Sigma 957 soon. It's time to put the crazy David Gina mask back on and see if I can get some information about the Vorlons and Shadows from that race," David said and started smiling. Before he left his office, David picked up a dart and tossed it at a dartboard with a picture of Lynn Kyle taped to it. He plunked the dart right between the eyes of the picture. "Time to go talk to an unknown race with strange motives," David said. Captain David Gina walked onto the bridge and sighed, as he put the hat on. "Jan? What are the readings?" David asked. "There are old ruins on the planet and I'm detecting some strange energy readings orbiting the planet," Jan replied. "Direct a communications pulse towards the energy readings and open channels," David ordered. "Channels opened," Jan reported. "This is Captain David Gina of the SDF-3 Xanadu representing UN Spacy. I am here to ask about Shadows and Vorlons." A reply came over the speaker. "Vorlon tavutna chog!" "I have no idea what that means. Are you an ally of the Vorlons?" David asked. "Zog!" David glared at the empty screen and took a deep breath. "If you are allies of the Vorlons or Shadows, we will defend ourselves and attack to destroy you." "Sir? A ship is appearing in front of us," Jan declared. David saw a ship that looked like it was made of stone appear and then a hologram of a stone head with glowing red eyes and mouth appeared on the bridge. David was reminded idly of Halloween jack-o'lanterns carved out of turnips. "What do you want here?" came from the stone head. "We have encountered several tamperings done by both the Vorlons and Shadows and want to know what the blazes is going on. We need to know more about both species, in case they try to enslave us or take away our technology again," David stated. "You do not follow the Vorlons?" "We don't follow either of them. When the SDF-1 crashed into Earth, it brought us back in contact with our long lost ancestry of the Protoculture," David said. "We have learned of both their manipulations and have resolved to keep our independence from them." The First One started chuckling at David's words. David waited a few minutes as the First One laughed. "We have a disagreement with both races as well," the First One stated. David breathed a sigh of relief. "What do we call you?" "You can not pronounce our name, so call us Walkers," the First One replied. "All right, Walkers. What the Hell is going on with the Vorlons and Shadows?" David demanded. "They stayed behind to teach and guide the Younger Races," the Walker replied. "Teach and guide? More like moving pawns on a chessboard," David said in exasperation. "Okay, misguided teachers with huge amounts of arrogance. Thanks for the help. If you can get word to other races like yourselves to stay away from us, I would appreciate it." "Other First Ones? There aren't many of us left, but we will do as you ask. We would like to be left alone as well." "Send us information on where they are, so we can stay away from them and we will. Now we just have to figure out what to do about the Soul Hunters. Any way we can scan the nearby stars?" "On a planet around the sun you call Epsilon III is a powerful machine left over from an earlier time," the Walker said. "Thank you and good-bye," David said. The image of the Walker's head vanished and the stone craft also vanished. "Set course for Epsilon III and get our maps updated," David said. "Also mark this planet as a neutral race that has no desire to get involved." "Roger." David Gina looked through the information on Shadows they had gained from the Tri-Union and grimaced. "About 100 Million years ago when they are rumored to have gained hyperdrive? I don't think the Shadows are going to appreciate a race with proof that they have 400 million years on them running around," David muttered to himself. "It looks like Humanity might have to spank the children." David Gina hesitated and then headed for what was called the Emulator Throne. He gave a snort when he saw Ishtar sitting on the chair. Ishtar opened her eyes and looked down at David. "Hello Captain. I was feeling the song of the ship," Ishtar said. "I could ask, but I think I might not like the answer," David stated with a smile. "There is something that bothers me. The ship is called Xanadu, but the song gives it as Heaven or paradise," Ishtar said with a questioning expression on her face. David gave a long sigh. "Xanadu is another name for Heaven or Paradise or Utopia. Other languages would have other names for the same object. I think the Zentran name for this ship would be Alus." "Alus?" Ishtar asked. "Yes. At any rate, it's not really important. It's just something that the ship is called," David said, not noticing Ishtar's shock at the name. David turned to leave and removed his hat and scratched his head. "Stupid hat. Ishtar, we'll be having pizza later. Please join us." "I will," Ishtar said numbly. As David left, Ishtar sat back in the chair and mentally went through the legend of the Alus. She closed her eyes and felt the ship's song once more and opened them in shock. "This is the Alus," Ishtar whispered. In Orieni space, Dekarki approached one of the Vorlon ships hovering near a Minbari space station. He waited for a few minutes to let the Vorlons to scan his ship. After his ship was allowed to dock, he nodded to the rest of his crew and left his ship, while taking a datacard with him. He entered the room with the Gray Council and a trio of Vorlons. He ignored the Gray Council and knelt in front of one of the Vorlons and brought his fist over his heart. "Most Holy, there is a situation near the Narn homeworld that I feel you should know about," Dekarki said with a bowed head. "Speak," the Vorlon in front of Dekarki said. "The Narn have joined with the Dilgar and Markab to form a new group called the Tri-Union. They have declared they are not going to join either side," Dekarki stated, doing his best to keep anger out of his voice. "The datacard?" the Vorlon asked. Dekarki held up the datacard without looking up. He felt the Vorlon take the card from him. "Most Holy, if you have no further need of me, I will take my leave and await orders," Dekarki said. "Go," the Vorlon replied. Dekarki stood up and gave a nod to the Gray Council and left. The Gray Council started muttering amongst themselves at Dekarki's action. "You are not in his chain of command and he reported to one who is," the Vorlon stated. The datacard was placed into a viewer and the Gray Council got a good look at the new Tri-Union ships. The Vorlons narrowed their eye slots at the ships and took their temporary leave from the Minbari space station. On board one of their own ships, the Vorlons had a conversation. "This is not part of the circle. The Markab should have joined the Minbari and they might have died out, if they didn't ask for help from us," Ulkesh said. "There is the problem of the Dilgar. How did they join the Markab? The Narn should have fallen to us in preparations for a fight against the Centauri, the Drahk, and their Shadow masters," another Vorlon said. Kosh remained silent, as he contemplated the situation. He looked at his companions and finally spoke. "There is something out there that we don't know of yet," Kosh stated. "We will have to search the other races and see if this contaminant has affected any of the others," Ulkesh said. The Vorlon trio sent their thoughts to the rest of the Vorlons and a few ships were dispatched to look at some of the other races. Not one of the ships headed towards Earth or the other hidden First Ones. On Zha'ha'dum, a group of beings met. The Shadow BrokenLight nodded at the Goblyns, Warriors, and Zener that had met with her. "There has been a development at Narn that is interesting. The Markab, Narn, and Dilgar have formed a group called the Tri-Union and have declared their neutrality in the current conflict. Some of the Goblyns will need to join the Drahk and hold a line against any sort of Tri-Union incursion on Centauri territories. Zener Vrem, how goes the upgrades?" One of the Zener scientist leaders stepped forward and bowed. "We have came up with a basic formula that the Centauri themselves can use to coat their own ships. A basic datapack has been compiled that has information on how the Centauri can improve the way their ships are built." BrokenLight was pleased with those reports and then felt a nagging problem. Unlike DarkEclipse, she felt that the red ship called Xanadu was important for some reason. "Zener Threl, have your enclave look for any information on a red ship called Xanadu. I do not want to be taken by surprise by something unknown," BroknLight said. A Zener scientist nodded his head in acceptance of the order. BrokenLight headed back to meet with DarkEclipse and let him know that the plans were proceeding. Back on Earth, UN Spacy was in an uproar over the information that Captain Gina sent back. The fact that the Vorlons were still around shook a lot of the staff. Admiral Gloval rubbed his head and ordered small factory satellites to be built and dispatched to each colony along with numerous support ships. Max Jenius entered the office of Gloval and offered a cup of coffee. "Rough day?" Jenius asked. "If Captain Gina keeps sending information back like this, I'm going to wish I had died when Kyron rammed the SDF-1 with his ship," Gloval said with a rueful chuckle. Max gave a snort at the thought of David Gina. "He doesn't seem to do anything that doesn't cause headaches for the people above him." "No. He doesn't. He's a good person to be in the middle of a mess like this," Gloval replied. "I have read his file and wonder why he was not higher ranked until now. I mean he is one of the oldest members of UN Spacy and the only commander to pull through the Global Civil War with only three casualties to his unit and it was not because of cowardice." "Until the Rain of Fire, he had opponents that would stymie any promotions that he might have gotten. There is also the rumor of the Golden Lion tank squadron." "What rumor?" "The Black Panthers and Golden Lions were on the same side during the war. Later evidence shows that Golden Lions were a bunch of sadistic and misogynistic jerks that set up near a small enemy town and would rape women and girls from the town. The Golden Lions were the favorite group of High Command and any reports of them doing wrong were buried. The rumor goes that the Black Panthers found out about this and took down the Golden Lions one night and left a box of napalm grenades for the townsfolk to practice with." "Practice what?" Max asked. "Well, the town was rumored to have a large outhouse built nearby and it is believed that Gina ordered the Golden Lions to be tossed down the commode and then let the townsfolk toss the napalm grenades down into the outhouse and burn the Golden Lions to death and caused the outhouse itself to collapse into the pit. We never did find the Golden Lions. However, the Black Panthers didn't fill out a requisition form that month." Max Jenius shook his head in disbelief. "Then why...." "There is no physical proof that they did it. However the rumor helped out immensely. The Black Panthers became one of the most feared and respected units during the war. They weren't fighting for a side; they were fighting for an ideal and that is why they were assigned to the SDF-1 in the first place." Jenius shook his head. "I never knew that we had someone like this on board." "Don't feel too bad about it Max. David Gina was more into infantry or tanks than aircraft," Gloval said. "The SDF-3 and its mish-mash of systems finally gave me an excuse to promote him and get him to where his skills would do a lot more good." "I was wondering if he would be a good captain for a ship, but now I wonder if he shouldn't have a small fleet," Jenius said. Gloval smiled. "One step at a time Max. He has to get used to commanding a ship first. At any rate, he has proven he was a proper choice in dealing with the nearby races. I'm not sure what Hikaru or you would have done with the information that the Vorlons and Shadows are still about and that there is another race called the Soul Hunters. Then there is the formation of the Tri- Union and the information gleaned from the fight over Narn." "What is being done to prepare for either Vorlon or Shadow ships showing up?" Jenius asked. "I dislike them, but the Grand Cannon project is well under way. The Alaska Grand Cannon and the Lunar Grand Cannon have been finished and work has started on the other locales. However, resources and personnel are being pushed into as few locales as we possibly can. Small factory satellites are being built and being sent out to our colony worlds. An expedition has been launched to the world where the SDF-3 was first put together and a hidden colony placed there. We are on war footing once more," Gloval said. "I thought we would have a chance for peace," Jenius muttered. "We'll be prepared for the Vorlons and Shadows this time if they try to attack us," Gloval said and looked at his pipe. "It doesn't help. We all know that you light the thing when you are nervous," Jenius said.