The Lords of Time.
The Coming of Shadows.
The races of the Galaxy were receiving reports of strange ships attacking their planets, their ships and destroying their installations. The reports spoke of strange black translucent ships, ships that shrieked in the minds, that came out of hyperspace and attacked without provocation.
The Shadows had come out of hiding.
The Vorlons and the Minbari put aside their mutual distrust of the Time lords and managed to group the league worlds together.
They met in a neutral part of space, where their differences were set aside. As they were about to begin preaching about how they should proceed, they received an unexpected surprise.
They received an unexpected guest.
A Time lord.
" What are you doing here, Time lord ?" Morann of the Minbari shouted at the figure. He was dressed in the uniform of the defence forces.
The Time lord stared at the group. " Members of the league. I am Jeffrey Sinclair and I am here because my government wish to help you fight the Shadows."
At once the members of the league stood up, shouting questions. Sinclair hadn't expected that they would do that, but he wasn't surprised. The Time lords had helped the various races with dozens of issues and problems and they owed the Time lords a debt of gratitude.
The only figures not to stand and shout questions were Morann and the two Vorlons. Delenn had stood up and was asking the questions on behalf of the Minbari, shrugging off her reticent colleague's hand and talk of dishonouring their people. How was allying themselves to the Time lords dishonouring their people ?
Sinclair held up his hands, silencing the ambassadors instantly.
" For a long time, my people have become aware, as have the Vorlons, of the return of the Shadows. Unlike the Vorlons however we have not been idle. We have already built a headquarters for the coming fight. But we must stand together - Minbari, Drazi, Abbai, Brakiri, all of us. The time for pettiness is long since past, now that the darkness has returned. Come with me. Come and join us to rid the galaxy of the influence of the Shadows forever."
The ambassadors stood up again, ignoring the Vorlons and Morann, left and followed the Time lord out of the room.
Deep in Time lord Space.
The ambassadors had followed Sinclair through a hyper drive conduit, deep into Time lord space. The territories of the Time lords, since the fall of the Centauri were now cut off from the other races out of fear of reprisal. The small fleet of ships followed the Time lord transport ship, including the Vorlons.
Sinclair, like all other Time lords, had been raised with a disdain of the Vorlons and the Shadows, even though their history was laced with those of Lorien. The Time lords didn't really care about the conflicts of the First Ones, until now they'd learnt to tolerate the annoyances for what they were.
Morann was fuming onboard his transport, this wasn't part of the plan. The Time lords weren't supposed to even be at the conference. How could they take the place of the Vorlons and the Minbari ?
Delenn was actually delighted. The Time lords footage of the Shadow vessels which escorted the Centauri to Earth and destroying the Shadow vessels was something Delenn couldn't have hoped or wanted more.
The Vorlons were disgruntled, mostly Kosh. The Vorlon had looked at Sinclair and tried using the sight on him. The Vorlon had seen nothing, it was like mercury running off a pane of glass. Kosh wondered whether being a Time lord was more to do with an ability to manipulate time with the mind and soul than with technology.
Finally, the conduit ended. It opened up into space, revealing a planet, a green subtropical little world. There was one installation above the planet. It was a long cylinder, with large solar panels attached to the structure. Kosh found the appearance primitive, but looking at it provided images.
…..Shadow vessels attacking…..
Minbari arguing in a conference room…..
A Time lord bursting into what looked like flames….
…Kosh's own death…..
The last image made him snap out of it, gasping mentally as he did. He was going to die here ? He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to.
He was broken out of his morbid thoughts by Sinclair's voice, coming through telepathically.
" Welcome to Babylon 5."