The Sword of Damocles II- Teaser
Part IV
The Darkness Revealed

Vir sat alone in his gardens. He had ordered that no one, under any circumstances, should disturb him. Today was the latest addition to his personal list of worst days. Most of the ISA worlds blamed the Centauri for the destruction of the Victory and many were gearing up for war. Delenn was trying to calm everything down on Minbar, hoping that everyone would see that the Centauri were innocent. Here on Centauri Prime Vir was trying to keep his military advisors and Centaurum members from clamouring for war. If something doesn't change soon, he thought bitterly, a horrible war will begin and no one will be able to stop it.
Vir stood up and began to walk among the flowers until he saw one of his Royal guards standing at a respectful distance.
"Go," Vir said, "Have my ship prepared. I am going to Minbar. Do it quickly and tell no one else of this."
The dedicated soldier hurried off to do his Emperor's bidding. Yes Vir thought, no more hiding, no more bitterness. I will go to Minbar and set everything right.
Vir left the Royal Garden and made way for his shuttle. It would take him to his personal liner and then to Minbar.

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Billanii was leading a counter strike on some Narn raids when he received word of the Emperor's sudden disappearance.
"Where," he asked angrily "Did he go?"
"We don't know Admiral," the officer said, "The Emperor left yesterday late in the evening. He gave no notice to anyone and no one in the Centaurum will discuss it."
Billanii considered his options for a moment. He wasn't completely without supporters in the Centaurum. "Get me Lord Draffo," he ordered, "code the transmission to my office."
"Yes Admiral," the officer said.
Billanii began the short walk to his office. Walking inside he activated the communication system.
"Lord Draffo," Billanii began, "Can you tell me where the Emperor has gone?"
"That is privileged information Admiral," the tiny little man said, "I risk my life if I tell you."
"Your life is in greater jeopardy if you done not tell me my lord."
Draff thought it over for a moment. Fear and uncertainty played across his face. Finally he seemed to have come to a decision. "He has gone to Tuzanor on Minbar to meet with the Alliance president and end the conflict."
Burning fury raised in the heart and mind of Billanii as he considered this turn of events. If the emperor could convince the ISA that the Centauri were innocent then the entire plan would begin to collapse.
"Thank you, Lord Draffo," Billanii managed but cut of the transmission before he could respond.
"There was no way he could intercept the emperor's cruiser before it arrived at Minbar. It was the fastest ship in all Centauri space after all. Even the Drakh might not be able to stop him. He would send them a message anyway, if there was a chance that the Emperor could be stopped than this was the time.
He sent the encrypted message to the Drakh fleet. They would take care of it, the Drakh always do.

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The lead Colav sat in a chair with the two others standing behind him. Over the past few days he had begun telling of the Vyron's return to the stars and the Empire they had created. Some they already knew, the Shadows had tried to drive their world into a stone age one thousand years ago but had not entirely succeeded. The Vyron had spent the last thousand years trying to build technology that could stand against the Shadows.
What they did not know was that the Vyron had only returned to space in the last ten years and that it was the Drakh who informed them that it was safe to do so. The Vyron had spent the last decade rebuilding the empire they held in the past and began expanding beyond their wildest dreams.
"It was the Drakh who brought this evil upon us," Colav had said, "But the Vyron do not trust them, they have not shared their knowledge of blocking energy or the secret of their weapons of death."
"So it isn't a united front," Fisher said, "The Vyron wont share their toys with the Drakh but they will work together."
"Yes," the Colav's said.
"Why have the Vyron waited so long to attack us again," Fisher asked?
"They moved to quickly before, the Drakh were not ready, the Drakh said that the Vyron were not ready. Only one hundred ships went to fight against your Alliance, that was most of their fleet. They have spent the last few cycles building new ships, they have hundreds now, maybe thousands. We are unsure."
"The Drakh no doubt also needed time to rebuild from all of our battles," Fisher told him.
"It will take us some time to get back to your world," Colav asked?
"Yes," Fisher said, "We have been traveling for about a week, it will take another two before we arrive."
"Can it go no faster?"
"We should be able to transmit a single within a few days," Fisher replied, "but until then we'll just have to wait."
"We see," he said.
Fisher thought some more about it, "We could go directly to Minbar and present you directly to the ISA council. We would have to maintain radio silence for your protection and ours but they would be able to take more direct action. By now the Narn and the Centauri are at each others throats over the G'Daern incident. We need to prove to the Narn that the Centauri were not involved."
Fisher activated his link, "Cmdr. change course for Minbar. We're going to speak to the President."

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Kor'Van had received the message from Admiral Billanii and he was not impressed. His ship raced toward the planet Minbar in a probably vain attempt to stop the Centauri Emperor from reaching that world. This move was completely unexpected. It was thought the sniveling little simpleton would be forced into giving in to the war.
"How long till we reach Minbari space," he asked his Second?
"Two hours," the Second replied.

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The Primus Class Battle Cruiser Majesty raced through hyperspace. She was the fastest ship in the entire Centauri fleet modified with all the latest in gravimetric drive technology that the Centauri had gathered in the last few years. Her weapons were state-of-the-art designs of the classic Centauri systems.
This ship was built with one purpose, protect the life of the Emperor of the Centauri Republic.
The Centauri Emperor sat on his thrown counting down the hours until he would reach the capital world of the Interstellar Alliance. About one more hour by his estimate and his ship would arrive in the Minbari starsystem and an uncertain fate.
Without warning the ship began to shake violently. Vir was nearly unseated by the massive jolts that were hitting his ship.
"What is happening," Duran Fulano asked fearfully?
Vir why had more experience in such things did not have to guess. "We are being fired on," he told him.
"How can you be sure," Fulano inquired.
"I used to serve on Babylon 5," Vir said, "You get used to being shot at."
Fulano's eyes widened at that but both men decided to remain silent.
Finally the ships Captain reported on the situation. "Your Highness, we are being attacked by the Drakh. There fighters are gaining on us, it does not look very good Highness."

Kor'Van was elated to see that he was wrong about finding the Emperor's ship. He had begun firing on it the moment it had been spotted, hopping to slow it down. Now as the Raider class fighters began pounding at the ships engine systems the Drakh vessel was finally entering killing range.
The Majesty began to slow significantly so Kor'Van ordered the raiders to back off, the killing shot would come from his ship.
The Centauri vessel began to turn toward the attack knowing it could no longer run. The ship began firing its Ion cannons and Battle Lasers at his ship but they were not causing significant damage as the cruiser closed on its position.
"Charge all weapons to maximum power," he ordered, "Fire on my signal."

Vir saw the weapons on the Drakh ship begin to glow with barely restrained power.
"Great Maker," Vir whispered.

"FIRE," the order came and the Drakh ship was transformed into a ball of expanding fire.
The Fusion/Particle cannon turned the unsuspecting Drakh ship into molten slag.
"Signal the Centauri vessel," Captain Fisher ordered, "Centauri ship this is the Earth Alliance vessel Damocles. Do you require assistance?"
"This is the RCS Majesty," the Centauri Captain signaled, "We were on route to Minbar. If you would, we have a passenger of some importance who needs to get their as soon as possible."
"Who is this passenger," Fisher asked?
"The Emperor of the Republic," the Centauri told him.
"Well then the more the merrier," Cone said.
"As it turns out we're going to Minbar anyway," Fisher told the Centauri, "Will gladly take your Emperor along if he would like. We will make whatever preparations he requires ready for him. He came come aboard at any time."
"Thank you Damocles. The Emperor informs me that no special arrangements are required. Only make sure there is room enough for a squad of body guards."
"We understand. Damocles out."

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"The Centauri have attacked us, how can we not respond," the Brakiri Ambassador asked?
"They have shown no honour in these actions," the Enphili Ambassador agreed.
"We must fight," the Drazi added.
"It is not the way of the Interstellar Alliance to make war without cause," Delenn tried to yell over the bickering of the assembled representatives of the Alliance. Few heard her, fewer still would have cared.
"We must have order," Delenn said to no avail. Finally she stepped up to one of the ceremonial guards standing near her, grabbed his plasma rifle, and fired into the middle of the room.
"I said that we must have order," she explained, "If violence is all that you understand then I will use violence to gain your attention. This Alliance was established on peace, for the pursuit of peace. We have had to much of war and death, do you want to add more without any real evidence of wrong doing. If the Centauri are responsible then they will be punished in good time....."
Delenn was interrupted by the crashing open of the doors leading to the Council Chambers. Delenn dropped the rifle as she saw who walked into the room.
"I assure Madam President," Emperor Cotto said as he approached the lectern flanked by two Royal guards and followed by an Earthforce Captain and three strange aliens, "that the Centauri Republic is not involved in these attacks."
"Your Highness," Delenn said as she regained her composure, "Welcome to Minbar. In the name of the Interstellar Alliance I greet you."
"Thank you Delenn," Vir said turning to face the Ambassadors, "Allow me to introduce my escorts; first Captain David Fisher of the EAS Damocles, and secondly Colav. Colav is a single being sharing three bodies, or so I'm told."
All three Colav simply shook their heads.
"Captain Fisher has encountered the real threat and has brought back with him valuable information about that threat," Vir said, "Captain Fisher, please tell the Ambassadors your story."
"About a month ago my ship encountered a Drakh cruiser deep in Earth Space. We engaged and destroyed that ship. We then took some time to repair some of the minor damage we received when new ships began to arrive. It was a fleet of Vyron ships supported by a number of Drakh vessels. We tried to escape into hyperspace but the Drakh damaged our navigational system and we became temporarily lost in hyperspace."
"No ship lost in hyperspace returns," the Drazi Ambassador said doubtfully.
"We did," Fisher said simply. "We attempted an emergency jump out and we found ourselves in sector 900. Near a jumpgate, fortunately. We also encountered Colav in this system. Colav is a member of a resistance group fighting the Vyron, they call themselves the Seekers of Light. After we left that system we decided to come here and warn the ISA of the coming threat. As we approached we saw the Emperor's transport being attacked by a Drakh cruiser and we killed it . We then took His Highness on board and brought him here."
"How can you be sure that it was the Vyron and the Drakh who began all this," Na'Toth asked skeptically?
"My ship found the G'Daern. There was clear evidence of weapons fire but we couldn't pick up any residual energy signatures," Fisher explained, "At first we thought the nebula we found the debris in had erased any evidence of the attacker. Now we realize that it was Vyron weapons that destroyed the G'Daern. Their energy signature would appear as nothing more than radiation gathered from the nebula."
"So it was the Vyron," Na'Toth said.
"Yes," Fisher said, "And the Drakh."
"Well," Delenn said, "I believe we have found our war."
"Yes Madam President," Vir said, "And I pledge the Centauri Republic's forces to aid you. The Centaurum wanted me to act decisively on this matter and know I have."
The doors to the chamber crashed open again and as everyone turned to see how else would disturb the business of the Alliance Susan Ivanova marked into the room.
"Madam President," she said, "It was the Vyron, the attacked the G'Daern along with the Drakh."
"Yes, we know," Delenn told her indicating to Vir.
"That's not all they've begun attacking openly. They have hit targets in Narn, Drazi and Earth space and our building forces along the rim."
"The Alliance will begin drafting a formal declaration of war," Delenn said, "Colav, anything you can tell us about the Vyron would be most useful, please go with Ranger One Ivanova. I'm sure she has some questions for you."
"Madam President, Your Highness, if I have your leave I would like to get back to my ship and head home. If the Drakh are attacking us I'll be needed."
"Go," Delenn said, "We have plenty to do here for the next little while."
"Yes Captain," Vir agreed, "Go help your people."
"Thank you, and good luck," Fisher said before fleeing the chamber.
"Now Your Highness, we should get down to the business of drafting a formal and joint declaration of war," Delenn said.
"I completely agree," Vir told her.
"So do I," Na'Toth said with a little reluctance.
"Good then let us begin," Delenn said.

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