BEEP. It is 0430, your wake-up time. You have the following meetings today: a Wind-Shadow treaty at 0800, a—

Lt. Commander Storm moaned. "Okay, okay, I know! Lights!" Sitting up, she gave a yawn and stretched. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, grabbing her uniform on the way and muttering "Mouse dung" as she stubbed a paw on who-knows-what.

Still not quite awake even after her shower, the lt. commander made her way to the mess hall. Commander Gray was there already, annoyingly optimistic at 5:00 in the morning, as usual.

"Good morning, Sandy!"

"'Morning, Twilight. Tell me one thing: Why do we have to get up so dang early?"

Gray feigned surprise as he headed for a table. "Why, it's our job, of course."

Sandy heaved an irritated sigh. "I know! I just wish our job didn't involve getting up at 4:30!"

"Good morning, everyone!"

Gray groaned good-naturedly. "Oh no, here comes Mister Happy."

Security Chief Bramble took a seat opposite Gray. "Mr. Happy? Look at you, Commander Optimist!"

Sandy smacked her paws on the table. "All right, you happy toms. Make way for a pessimist."

Gray and Bramble exchanged a glance.

"Why do they say, 'Good morning' when you are so dang tired and just wanna sleep?" Sandy yelled. She stuffed a bite of mouse oatmeal into her mouth and chewed angrily.

Bramble leaned over and whispered into Gray's ear. "I'd hate to be that oatmeal."

Bramble and Gray finished their breakfasts in silence, trying to ignore Sandy's rants about mornings. At 0700 they headed for their different work areas—Gray and Sandy to C & C, Bramble to Security.

At 0701, Bramble plopped into his fantabulous swivel chair in the Security room. His sergeant padded in.

"Good morning, Chief."

"Hey, Blade! Good to see you! Sleep well?"

Sergeant Thorn sat in another chair. "Nah. Had some trouble in Brown Sector around 0100, then the air recycling system kept me up making funny noises."

Bramble leaned back in the chair. "It's those dang rouges. Some species eats old crow-food, and I think the food's messing up the system. I'll get Maintenance to look into it."

"Thanks, Chief."

At C & C, everyone was doing their jobs, and Sandy was finally fully awake.

"Sir, we've got a ship coming through the jumpgate," Lieutenant Birch called.

"Put it onscreen," Gray replied, heading for the screen near the window.

Birch pressed a few buttons and an image appeared on the screen. A streamlined medium-sized blue-gray ship came into view.

"Sir, that's a River ship," Sandy mewed.

Gray stood back from the screen. "It's the River ambassador. Sandy, come with me. I'm heading down to the docking bay to meet them."

Mist was grooming, licking her fur with slow, careful strokes. She looked up as a black cat came in.

"Mist, we've docked. Are you coming?"

Mist got up. "Yes. Thank you, Reed." Reed bowed, and she bowed back. He followed her through the ship's halls and out the door. They ended up in a large metal room, scattered with boxes. Two humans were standing nearby, evidently waiting for them. Upon seeing the two River cats they headed over, the tom in the lead. He inclined his head as Mist and Reed bowed.

"You must be the River ambassador," he meowed. "I'm Commander Twilight Gray, and this is my second, Lieutenant Commander, Sandy Storm."

The said lt. commander dipped her head. "It's an honor to meet you."

"And an honor to meet you," Mist replied. "I'm Mist, and this is my aide, Reed."

Reed stepped forward at the mention of his name.

"Storm will show you to your quarters," Gray continued. He inclined his head again as Mist and Reed bowed, and he departed. (The Minbari bow too much...)

At 0800, Sandy headed for the Council Chambers. The Wind ambassador and the Shadow ambassador were there. Immediately the white tom stood up, his fur bristling angrily.

"Great, the lt. commander is here. Now we can get started. It was the Winds again! They have been terrorizing the troops we left stationed on their Homeworld!"

G'Lun growled at Flash. "Those troops weren't even supposed to be there! According to the rules of the treaty, you—"

Flash swiped at the air with a massive black paw. "Pah! That wasn't a treaty, that was a forced agreement!"

"We didn't force you to sign it!" G'Lun protested.

"Well, that's a complete lie. You pestered us so much that we had no choice but to agree to the terms!" Flash retorted.

Sandy put both paws up. "Guys, guys, we're not going to get anything done by arguing!"

The two ambassadors fell silent.

"Good. Now, the war is over, and a treaty was made. Correct?"

The ambassadors nodded.

"And both of you signed the treaty. The terms were that Shadow troops be stationed there for a two-year period to ensure that peace was still present between your two races. That two year period isn't over yet."

G'Lun seemed to sag. Seeing this, Flash began to laugh.

"Ha! I bet 30 credits that you encouraged your people to terrorize the troops! You probably thought that the two-year period was over!"

G'Lun bared his teeth at Flash.

"Guys, there are still five months left for the troops. G'Lun, please don't murder Ambassador Black if he taunts you, and keep your people peaceful for five months, please. Flash, don't blame me if you wake up with G'Lun's dagger at your throat." With that, she left the ambassadors glaring at each other.

Well how was the first chapter? I'm planning to have the Medlab in the next chapter. Please review! And don't be too annoyed about the line breaks; in another one of my stories the line breaks didn't show up. Sad face. I put bolded and underlined hyphens between lines this time; please tell me if they didn't show up. Okay, review! Even if you don't have an account, please! But don't flame. Sad face.