Just the teaser for now… as I have to work tomorrow- I'm not staying up. Sweet dreams kids,

Ranger,

Babylon 5 copyright to Warner brothers, (Have you heard about memory of shadows and replacing the actors? Go to sppicturesdotcom in the news section (keep scrolling it is there)... tell warner what you think of them)

Joe wrote the original... Don't sue my ass Joe. I can barely afford to pay rent with my student loan. I'm just having a bit of fun.... if thats what you can call it.

"If I were dying, would you hold me in your arms, or would you just let me lay there and bleed.?"—Hawkeye Pierce
The former league of non-aligned worlds, namely the races that made up the newly formed Interstellar Alliance were more than displeased with committal. Now they had all agreed to be part of this alliance, they had all refused to sign into it. Not even earth had responded yet, which didn't help President John Sheridans case.

"Please, please everyone! Listen!" He yelled above the din, seeing that convincing these people never got any easier as time went on. "Everyone please! You have to understand the alliance is moving as quickly as it can."

John expected trouble from the Drazi, there was always trouble from the Drazi.

"You promised us technology advances when we joined you." The ambassador complained to anyone who would listen.

"They're coming." Delenn added quickly, trying to save her husband from ulcer in the near future. "As soon as all your governments sign the declaration of principles. You have agreed to abide by everything else, why can't you sign the declaration?" She continued, desperate for this pointless scrutinising of the alliance to stop.

"You cannot legislate morality Delenn." The ambassador continued, knowing that she could not reply in the positive to that.

"No." G'kar said coming to her rescue. "But we can encourage others to act with charity towards one another. This alliance is about more than hard wear!" He insisted, rather annoyed at the pettiness of his peers.

"I would like to remind the Drazi ambassador that the Centari republic has already signed the declaration." Londo stated, trying to throw his influence into the discussion.

"And if the Centari can sign it, anybody can sign it." Came G'kars' helpful reply.

"That's right! I-" Londo began before he realised quite what he was saying. "Wait a minute!"

"Then why has the earth alliance not signed it?" The Drazi ambassador enquired, bringing Captain Ivanova into the discussion.

"They will." Sheridan replied before she could, almost out of pure habit.

"I spoke to the president earlier, she's reviewing the declaration with her cabinet." Ivanova made clear to the various races.

The Drazi turned from Ivanova to Sheridan and asked a little incredulously: "You ask us to sign when your own home world will not?"

"They will!" She insisted, wishing that she hadn't been brought into the discussion when she had next to nothing to offer on Sheridans behalf.

"How do we know that you're home world listens to you?" The Drazi said turning back to Ivanova. "I think that they still treat you like rebels."

"That's not true." She stated, trying to keep her temper down and this meeting as civil as possible. "All military staff on Babylon 5 have been given amnesty for their actions in the war against President Clarke."

At this point the Drazi turned around to the other members of the alliance, in a rather theatrical manor. Susan felt she shouldn't of mentioned the war before he even spoke.

"The earthers will not sign and they go to war with their own race!"

The former league roared. The Drazi ambassador had got them unified, and on the opposite side to progress. This was not going well in the slightest, Susan felt.

"The Drazi have always respected the rights of our neighbouring worlds and of our own people. We have never enslaved another race, or exploited another race. We do not need others to teach us morality."

At that moment, both John and Susan saw Garibaldi at the door of the council chambers. He didn't enter, seeing the trouble that was being caused by the lack of co-operation between alliance members.

"The Drazi refuse to sign!" The ambassador announced, fortunately not seeing Garibaldi signalling shooting in the head to Sheridan, "because we do not need to sign." The irate ambassador continued before rallying to the wrong side, the other worlds, "Who stands with us?"

With a roar of approval, the alliance world delegates stood and walked out on the meeting leaving Sheridan calling after them.

As they dissipated, Sheridan turned on his heel and walked in Ivanovas' direction as she stood.

"Susan…" He began, not continuing and tiring her ears with what he had to say.

"I'm on it." She said through clenched teeth as she stood, not liking the fact that the Drazi ambassador didn't seem to take her seriously as a diplomat from earth. This was the last thing she needed. As she moved beyond the table she added under her breath, "And a hundred other things I'd rather not do."

As she passed Garibaldi she mumbled words to the effect that she didn't run the damn planet it wasn't her fault.

G'kar, turned to them all after she had left.

"That could of gone better."

After an hour or so Susan gave up on being polite to the Earthdome officials and demanded to speak to the president herself. After a further hour of waiting and arguing with a senator she was pretty sure left over from the Clarke era, she had finally got through to President Luchenko.

Only Luchenko felt that the best way to deal with the declaration was to analyse every word for anything that could be used to harm Earth in anyway.

"Captain, I sympathise with the situation, but I feel we should review the declaration further before giving you authority to sign." She re-iterated for what seemed like the twentieth time.

"Madam president," Susan addressed her, knowing that blowing her top in front of the commander in chief would be very bad for her career, "with all due respect, Sheridans getting knocked on his ass out here. He needs the help of Earth if this alliance is going to last. He needs us to sign, soon."

The president paused and leaned back in her chair, she seemed to be genuinely mulling over her options. For a politician this could be interpreted as a great step forward, Susan had to give her some small credit for that.

"Alright," Luchenko finally sighed. "I'll do what I can to speed things up. But the last thing we want is to be screwed out of our own resources or not governing our own territories." Ivanova, nodded, glad to see some hope of a response from Earth in the near future. "I'll get back to you soon Ivanova."

"Thank you ma'am. That would help." Susan managed to say without sounding at all contemptuous. She thought she were quite diplomatic and polite, considering she was on the verge of tearing her own hair out.

"Earth dome out." The president added before blinking out of vision.

Susan turned away from the screen and lifted her coffee to her mouth. Why the hell was everyone in the universe so suspicious of everyone else?

"Technology and rangers," She mumbled, wondering if offering the member worlds fruit baskets would have got better reactions. "...naturally that offer means they want to invade us."

More soon…as soon as I get a better idea of what to do with Act 1 (And yes… I do promise Marcus in this one! Lots of him! two acts virtually written)

Crazy Ranger: