As the SDF-3 docked with the main factory satellite, David Gina shook his head in amusement. He looked out the viewport and saw the constructed space station that would go back in time with composite clone that Patch had grown. "It's time to begin operation Failed Matador," David muttered. Jan looked up from her station. "Sir? We are receiving a hail from another ship." "Put it on," Gina said. David blinked in shock when he saw Commander Britai on screen. "Commander? It's good to see you," David said hesitantly. "Even though I outrank you, I have been ordered to follow your lead in this," Britai said, smiling. David rubbed his palms on the legs of his pants and removed his hat to wipe his brow. "I thank you for the trust. I'm just not sure why," David said a bit nervously. "This is your plan. We are just here to make sure it works and that any unexpected problems are dealt with," Britai said, "Understood. Gina out." "Britai out." David shook his head. "I don't believe it. Dernia was right. They are actually going to do it." Helen asked, "Do what, sir?" "Promote me to command staff. Oh well. That's a later headache. Signal the Satellite Command. It's time to go," David said. The massive factory satellite disgorged the newly built space station along with the SDF-3. A small phalanx of Zentran and Meltran ships joined up with the SDF-3. "Jan? How many ships are coming with us?" David asked. "Just a small squadron of two hundred ships," Jan replied. David rested his head on his right fist as he stared at Jan. "Small squadron? Okay. I keep forgetting. Other than the Black Panthers, every crew member on the SDF-3 is a clone and have ship implanted skills and memories," David muttered and sighed in resignation. "Never mind. Signal the squad that we are folding to Epsilon III in sixty seconds." "Roger." Sixty seconds later, the SDF-3 and its companion fleet folded away, taking the newly built space station with it. "Jan, signal the rest of the fleet to hide elsewhere in system and then get Varn on the horn and let's get this mess over with," David ordered. "Understood." After a few tense minutes, a signal was heard from the Great Machine. "Hello Varn. Let's get it over with," David said. "You brought a lot of ships with you," Varn whispered. "My crew doesn't think so, but in relation to the various fleets and their sizes, they are a pitiful few." "Two hundred ships is not a few ships," Varn countered. "Look. The Protoculture had more than one thousand fleets with each fleet averaging about million. The Grand Fleets averaged five million. During the break up, each fleet went its own way. UN Spacy is doing the best to put the Protoculture back together." "You have more warships than most races have people," Varn stated in shock. "Look. We can discuss fleet dispositions later. Let's get this station and Valen into the past, so we can secure our present and future," Gina said. The SDF-3 pulled away from the station and the Great Machine was able to open a temporal rift that sent the space station back into the past. Inside the space station, the programmed clone called Valen woke up and certain parts of the space station activated their hidden functions. "Thanks Varn. Now if you could please destroy anything in the Great Machine that controls time like that, it would be appreciated," Gina said. "Controlling time like that is too big a temptation for any race." "You don't want the Great Machine?" Varn asked in shock. "No. We don't. We just want to ensure that our past can not be tampered with by a spoiled brat of a race and that our present and our future remains that. Ours," David said. "I hope the rest of your plan goes smoothly," Varn said. "I have the feeling this was just the start of it." "You're right and so do I. Marsha, open ship wide communications. Jan contact the rest of the fleet," David commanded. "Yes sir," came the unisoned response. "This is Captain Gina. Operation Failed Matador Stage Two is now a go. Helen set course for Babylon Four's transponder signal and initiate fold. It's time to reclaim our wayward space station." The SDF-3 received acknowledgements of the command and the entire force did a space fold. Gina gave an evil smirk, when he saw the old space station. Cindy looked up from her station in panic. "Sir? There are proximity detectors around the station and we tripped them," Cindy reported. "It looks like the cloak is going to be removed from the Vorlon's eyes. All right, get me Britai." Cindy and Jan nodded and Britai's face appeared on the screen. "It looks like there is going to be a party here. Take the space station and your fleet out of here." Before Britai could object, David held up his hand. "I want the other races to think we don't have many ships, maybe a couple dozen at the most. Varn was an exception, due to the Great Machine nonsense and we needed his help. Surround the station and get going back to Earth." Britai nodded and gave orders to the rest of the fleet and soon the space station and two hundred ships folded away, leaving the SDF-3 alone. "Marsha, Helen get the other departments on the horn," David ordered. After a frantic minute, the two of them did so. "Attention all personnel, this is the captain. I need you to cut all power down to bare minimum and set things up to look like the ship did something that drew a lot of power from it and is recharging. Shortly, we will be in conflict with the Vorlons or one of their puppets and where the Vorlons go, the Shadows will soon follow. Get ready for a fight." Jan spoke up after getting several confirmations. "Sir? Um, Ishtar wants to talk to you about using the Emulator Throne?" David grimaced and gave a nod. "Put it through." "Ishtar, I know that you want to help, but I'm not sure what singing will do," David said calmly. "The power of Emulator songs are able to interfere with telepathy and the like. The Marduk do use it as a weapon. Earth Humans are somewhat immune to it," Ishtar's voice came from the speaker. David pursed his lips and shook his head. "Fine. Fine. But don't sing until I tell you." "What if a telepath gets to you?" Ishtar asked. "Can you tell if a telepath is using his or her power?" David asked. "Yes. I can feel it, if that makes sense to you," Ishtar replied. "Hmm. Interesting. Okay, if telepathic assault is in the offing, you can sing to interfere," David allowed. "Thank you, Captain," Ishtar replied. "You're welcome," David said and had the connection cut. Marsha asked a question that was bothering her. "Captain? Why are we sticking around? Wouldn't it have been better to have jumped with the rest of the fleet?" David shook his head in denial. "Not really. The Vorlons and Shadows would send out spies and do tentative probes. I don't want them to do that. I want to piss them off so much that they jump to Earth without a second thought and we crush them with the Grand Cannons. As such, we might have to hold off in using the Macross cannons. Hmm. I guess Ishtar's singing will help in that self inflicted crippling." "We will be using the Valkyries to full extent, right?" Marsha asked. "Yes, there will be full disclosure on that little bit. I'm crazy, not stupid. Besides, the SDF-1 didn't use its main gun all that much anyway. So, the tactics that were developed in the Great Space War didn't really take that weapon into consideration all that much," Gina replied with a smirk. The crew of the SDF-3 waited a few tense minutes before discs appeared in the space surrounding the planetoid that the space station had been orbiting. A group of Minbari Sharlins and Tinashis appeared along with three Vorlon light cruisers. The SDF-3 maneuvered itself behind David Gina glanced over at Marsha. "Shadows?" "I haven't spotted them, yet," Marsha replied. "Yet. Oh well, it looks like its only going to be a show for one," David said, before he started rubbing his forehead. Soon, Ishtar's voice was heard throughout the ship. A text message appeared at Cindy's station. "What's Ishtar up to?" David grumbled, while Cindy glanced at her monitor. "Sir? Ishtar has reported that we were being probed," Cindy declared. "That headache you just felt was a telepath invading your mind." "That's nice. Good thing music does counter telepathy," David muttered. "On with the show. Open up a channel to the approaching ships." After getting a nod from Jan, David proceeded to verbally tear into the Vorlons and implied that they and the Shadows were long lost lovers and told them what they could do with themselves and their so-called help. After doing so, David ran a finger across his neck and Jan cut the communications. The bridge crew, except David, all looked green and about to throw up. "I don't think I can even think of cotton candy or kittens the same way again," Cindy muttered. "What goes through that mind of his. I have never heard of anything so sick and twisted." "I don't know about that. My grandfather came up with even sicker and more twisted ideas. Launch Valkyries. They aren't going to take those insults lightly," David said in a serious tone. The sleek craft shot from the launch bays of the SDF-3 and the angered Vorlons noted their shape. One of them gave a disgusted snort. "Toys to fight Minbari? They will be wiped out," Ulkesh stated, feeling a grim sense of justice. "This upstart race needs to be taught a lesson." The Minbari Nials approached the Valkyries. The Minbari pilots felt superior to the insignificant looking craft. Before the two fighters came into contact, a pulse of energy left the SDF-3 and Ishtar's voice could be heard. She had just started singing her version of an old rock singer's song called 'I'm Still Standing'. The Valkyries suddenly leapt forward at their top speed and attacked the Nials. At first the Minbari tried to mount a counter-attack, but the song from the SDF-3 started draining away part of their will to fight. The sudden shock of the Valkyries turning into robots added another shock and they didn't last long after that. Not one Valkyrie was lost in the fight or slaughter. David Gina broadcast on a broadband, so everyone could pick it up. "The Minbari are supposed to be great fighters? Our children could beat them one on one. Maybe they should go home and pull the covers over their heads," David Gina's amused voice was heard on communications across that sector of space. The Valkyries maneuvered close to the SDF-3 and Gina gave an amused laugh. "At any rate Vorlons, Earth and Humans are free of your control. We reclaimed our wayward space station. You see, we know the truth and used it as the perfect spying opportunity with the space station as a giant bug. We now know everything you or the Shadows are capable of," Gina said. "This is Captain Gina of the SDF-3 saying good-bye and so long suckers. Jan, take us home." The Vorlons and Minbari stared in shock, as a bubble of energy surrounded the SDF-3 and dispersed, leaving nothing behind. The Vorlons were not happy jellyfish. "This is intolerable," Ulkesh ranted. "Humans are still alive and they have technology that is more advanced than what they should have." Kosh Vanatheen nodded. "Humans have gotten to arrogant and need to be taught their place. We will have to let the Minbari and the Orieni know of these upstarts. Judging by the way the ship listed, it must take a lot of power to jump like that and is vulnerable for a bit afterwards. It is a flaw we can exploit." "What about the changing fighters and that singing?" Ulkesh asked. Kosh grumbled. "The fighters have to go. It gives a race too much knowledge on technical achievements. The singing is annoying, but they will embrace telepathy like all other proper races."