Synopsis

An embassy from a race previously unknown to the Earth Alliance, the kotain, come to the station requesting an economic arrangement with Earthdome and a seat on the Babylon Five council. Delenn resists their efforts, for the Mimbari and the kotain are ancient enemies. While the kotain ambassador, Drakon, attempts to win the support of Captain Sheridan, others of his clan kidnap Delenn’s niece in a separate effort to force Mimbari acceptance of their embassy. Lieutenant Keffer — on vacation at the behest of Commander Ivanova — is nearly killed in the kotain raid on the Mimbari star-liner carrying Delenn’s niece and he involuntarily joins the Mimbari ships pursuing the raiders, while his luggage is misplaced in transit.

Despite considerable success on the political front aboard Babylon Five, Drakon’s efforts founder when infighting within his own race endangers Delenn’s niece and the Mimbari pursuit force attempts to rescue her from the mining world of Orodzune. The raid fails and Keffer is captured by a kotain clan in opposition to Drakon’s mission. Despite Earth Alliance backing for a treaty with the kotain, Delenn derails Drakon’s efforts in the Council by ransoming Keffer and her niece from the rival clan and providing Sheridan with proof of Drakon’s’ maneuverings. Keffer’s luggage, however, is not recovered.

Earthdome, disgusted to learn that the kotain domains are neither large enough nor well organized enough to warrant a seat on the Council or as lavish an alliance as considered, abandons their support for the kotain embassy. His mission failed, Drakon is removed from his position as head of the kotain delegation and returns to his homeworld in disgrace. Keffer, his vacation ruined, returns to the station to discuss his travel reservations with Commander Ivanova.

Time Period

Latter half of Season Two, but before The Shadow of Z’Ha’Dum.

New Elements Added to the B5 Universe

• A new race, the kotain, who are ancient relatives ( and current enemies ) of the Mimbari — long ago driven into exile by the current dominant race of Mimbar ( called the gaizain by the kotain ).
• A new Mimbari jump-point formation technique involving two Mimbari light cruisers.
• Provision of a noble title for Sheridan and ( presumably ) lands in kotain space.
• Cellular level radiation damage to Lieutenant Keffer due to the events on the CrystalWind.

The Kotain

Long ago, even before the first war against the Shadows and the coming of Valen, the Mimbari homeworld was occupied by not one race, but two — the kotain and the gaizain ( what we think of as the modern Mimbari ). Through their long history, each race kept to themselves in great part, even though they had sprung from the same basic stock. At the nations and clans of Mimbar grew at last in knowledge enough to reach the stars, the races took great pains to settle new worlds separately. There had always been a tension between the two peoples, for the gaizain were more numerous, the kotain less so. Too, religious differences separated the communities and language as well. Still, relations were as cordial as could be expected, moderated by the Council of Mimbar. Then, of a day, a kotain scout-ship prospecting for iridium deposits came upon something ancient and cold hiding in the dust corona of an ill-marked and infrequently visited star system.

This event could not have been more poorly timed for the gaizain. By this time they had allied themselves with the Vorlon Empire and other powers against the rising of the Shadows. Great political struggles were being waged, both within the gaizain realm and with the other interstellar powers. By virtue of their alliances with the First Ones, the gaizain clans were rapidly advancing their technology. The kotain clans viewed this with distaste and envy. Still, their pride could not bear to bow down before the Vorlons and claim the pittance being offered. The discovery of the Shadow vessel showed them another option and secret communications were opened with the ancient enemy.

The gaizain had, in great part, kept the secret of the Shadows to themselves, sufficient to deny the kotain high council the knowledge that the gaizain also knew of the enemy. The kotain problem then, was that the sister race was not willing to go along with the alliance with the Vorlons. Now, however, the kotain had strange technologies of their own and began to re-arm their own fleet with new weapons and propulsion systems. At the same time the Shadows, urged on by the more reactionary elements amongst the kotain that they had suborned, conceived of a surprise strike on Mimbar itself. A substantial population of kotain still remained on the homeworld, though they had been migrating off-world in large numbers for decades. Kotain ships could enter Mimbari space within minimal trouble due to their extensive presence there.

So it was that the Shadows and their kotain puppets gambled on a crippling strike against Mimbar, moving before they were fully prepared for open hostilities against the Vorlons and the other races. Mimbar burned in hellish fire, then, and a fierce struggle was waged before the Vorlons could come and drive the Shadows back. The kotain population on Mimbar was destroyed. In the war that ensued, the kotain suffered terribly, for the Shadow masters drove them hard and used them in a profligate manner.

When at last Z’Ha’Dum was besieged and the power of the Shadows broken, the kotain were scattered far and wide. Reduced to living at the fringes of civilized space, they were hunted by the gaizain for long years. In these dark times they were forced to use what dwindling Shadow technology was left to them to strengthen their people to survive in the harsh conditions that were now their lot. This both saved their people and also left them with an unknown legacy. The works of the Shadows do not come without a price, and that price was obedience. All unknowing, for now the Shadows slept in the crypts under their broken world, the kotain inculcated in themselves genetic traits of submission to the insectile masters. Still, no kotain would know of this for hundreds of years.

After a long search, some of the kotain survivors found a habitable world with clean air and water off of the beaten track. This was Moruvor, where they attempted to rebuild their race anew. Those who gathered on Moruvor forswore the ways of their antecedents. The cult of the Shadows was driven from them, and they attempted to reclaim the traditions that had sustained and enlightened them on Mimbar.

The kotain that still held the darkness of the Shadows in their hearts were then driven away. It was one of these clans, the Outcasts, that led a Mimbari scout ship to hidden Moruvor, seemingly by accident. The settlements on Moruvor were sleeping, then, when the Mimbari battle-fleet poured out of hyperspace over the planet. An awful rain fell, incinerating cities, plantations, farms. Hundreds of thousands of kotain perished as Moruvor died. The Outcasts fleet slunk back when the Mimbari were done, claiming the survivors. Once more the kotain fled in the abyss of space. Now the last vestiges of the old ways were gone.

Still, the growing power of Mimbar and the ever-present might of the Vorlon Empire made the kotain cautious. The Shadow cult was placed aside, save in certain families. A new past history was fabricated and the kotain focused their rage on the gaizain alone. They became nomads, their cities in constant movement between the stars, their domains elusive and migratory. After a long period of hiding, they returned to civilized space, a little at a time, trading and raiding out on the Rim. Making slow contacts, selling and buying arms to and from the Dilgar, the Centauri, the Narn.

Over the last fifty years, the last of those that had escaped from Moruvor died, and the new leadership of the kotain began , slowly, to become more liberal in its outlook. In very recent time sufficient support was garnered by the most forward looking for the great families to attempt something wholly new in the history of the kotain. An attempt to regain a ‘respectable’ position on the interstellar stage of affairs. So, a mission was launched to reach the Earth Alliance — a possible ally and even friend against the power of Mimbar.

In their slow return, the kotain are well known to those that eye the Mimbari with envy or fear. The Centaurum has entertained their emissaries in secret. The Narn have done business with them. Londo Mollari, the Centauri ambassador to Babylon Five, is not unfamiliar with their people or their ‘public’ history.

New Characters

Kotain Destroyer Gâshad

Strike Cruiser Claw of Hermat

Minbari Light cruiser Icespear

Light cruiser Whiteflame

Space-Liner CrystalWind

Outline

1. A kotain light cruiser, the Gâshad, comes to the station. Its approach triggers activation of a hitherto unsuspected Mimbari sensor grid. Between the appearance of an unexpected warship and the Mimbari grid activating, there is considerable excitement in C&C. Delenn is summoned to argue with Sheridan about the hidden grid and whether the Gâshad should be allowed to dock. Drakon, the commander of the Gâshad, comms in to request docking, as well as to announce that he bears demands by the kotain for a seat on the Council, for the kotain claim many worlds under their sway. With him he brings his servants and armsmen.

   His initial proposals include a desire for trade negotiations with the Earth Alliance and an offer by the kotain to build a series of new, EA-spec, jumpgates out beyond the Akkad jump-point to facilitate Earth merchants reaching kotain space and vice-versa.

   Delenn is coldly furious at this and returns to her quarters to light up hyperspace between Babylon Five and Mimbar with a slew of coded messages. Mimbar expresses its extreme displeasure at the presence of the kotain at Babylon Five.

   Earthdome, on the other hand, is quite pleased by the trade offers, as well as the kotain antipathy towards Mimbar — a balance to them would be welcome.

   Lt. Warren Keffer is having trouble with the "Deaths Heads" ( Delta Wing ) pilots. He lost a Starfury and its pilot in a recent training accident. He’s not handling it very well ( this is his first command ); he knows he made the right decision, but Lt. Ikopane is still dead. Now he rides his men and himself too hard, trying to achieve perfection and cheat death.

   Sheridan has a talk with Keffer after Ivanova relates these events to him in the daily briefing, which pisses Ivanova off a mite; it is her job as XO to handle these kinds of things, but Keffer is still in a funk. Garibaldi, trying to be helpful, points out that Keffer hasn’t taken any off-station leave yet in this tour. Maybe he should take a break. Ivanova thinks that this is a fine idea and packs Keffer onto a transport for the human colony at Simonsen ( Tau Ceti ) to visit his sister and her family. Keffer will transship at the Mimbari deep-space facility at Dodekhan ( a collapsing red giant / singularity system ). Protesting, but also secretly relieved to get off the station, he goes.
   

2. Drakon has his first meeting with Sheridan and the Babylon Five command staff, an informal affair, to discuss the format of negotiations. During this conversation, he reveals something of the depth of the age-old enmity between kotain and Mimbar. Now, however, the kotain high council has decided to attempt a different tack in dealing with other races. Cautious neutrality and trade will be their entrée into galactic society, rather than warfare and raiding. The Earth Alliance, being the other immediate victims of Mimbari aggression, were chosen as the first, best, chance for regular relations, and Babylon Five the best place to do so — particularly with Sheridan Starkiller in command.

   In an aside, Drakon relates to Sheridan that the Captain’s destruction of the Black Star has earned himself and the crewmen involved quite a sum in prize money, as well as a title for himself on the kotain homeworld of Agarmat ( equivalent of a barony ), along with other gifts: fine swords, hunting rifles, two slaves, a concubine, etc. Sheridan is simultaneously aghast ( "slaves!" ), embarrassed (his notoriety) and secretly pleased ( the cash will make both him and his crew quite well off ). Sheridan finds Drakon to be polite, erudite, and possessed of a sly wit. Ivanova thinks that he talks too much. Garibaldi and Franklin just don’t like him — each for different reasons ( Garibaldi says "the kid is too clever, and he thinks so too," while Franklin sees kotain culture as a caste-ridden patriarchy.

   Sheridan returns to his quarters to find his ‘gifts’ camped in the living room; the kotain concubine, Valeria, having cracked the electronic lock. Disgusted at the thought of keeping slaves, he ‘frees’ them and sends them away. The two slaves disappear, but Valeria takes him to task for insulting her so. He sends her off to find Ivanova to get some quarters.
   

3. Valeria finds Ivanova in the crew cafeteria and spoils her lunch; Ivanova is a little taken aback by the prospect of Sheridan being saddled with a concubine and uses her link to get Valeria a room in the transient quarters. She also orders the security interlock changed on all of the command staff doors.

   The kotain delegation settles into their ‘temporary’ quarters and immediately begins giving Garibaldi and Ivanova fits. Ivanova is already displeased with Sheridan over his handling of the Keffer situation, and her humor is not improved by the intermittent, "accidental", efforts of the kotain technical staff to hack into the BabCom main computer "while trying to interface their equipment." Garibaldi’s security teams have a running interaction with the kotain armsmen, who are prone to ignoring the weapon restrictions and generally acting like they own the place.

   Delenn learns of the ‘gifts’ given Sheridan and becomes rather incensed at the boldness of the kotain. Momentarily, she considers having Lennier assassinate the kotain ‘witch’, but then relents at the expression on his face. No, more subtle means are called for.
   

4. Keffer’s transport reaches Dodekhan too late to catch the Earth Alliance heavy transport to Simonsen. A Mimbari station agent reluctantly puts him on the Mimbari liner CrystalWind, which is making a stopover at Novato, where he can catch the EA transport. Keffer boards the CrystalWind without his baggage, which has to go through Mimbari customs. Aboard the liner, there is a huge ruckus over an unexpected human in the works — particularly where he will be allowed to stay. After an extensive argument among the purser, the ship’s religious officer, and the XO, they send him below decks to camp in live storage. Keffer vows to murder Ivanova in a particularly evil way when he returns to the station. He is not alone in the storage deck, a cargo of mahen ( monkeys ) are his traveling companions. His luggage misses the departure of the CrystalWind and is placed by the Mimbari agent aboard a Drazi ore-freighter bound for the Isatos system.

   Ivanova, rising early, is cornered at breakfast by Delenn, who icily requests that the kotain be watched closely by security to ‘protect the safety of the Mimbari citizens’ on the station. Ivanova asks if the Ambassador would prefer to have the kotain thrown out an airlock. They understand each other. Arriving at the C&C, Ivanova is thus particularly pleased to find Valeria waiting in her duty office. However, the concubine is very polite and explains that now that Sheridan has refused her, she has no duties to fulfill in regards to him and is there any way that she can, perhaps, find work. Ivanova warms to her a little and directs her to the EA social services office to request a work permit.

   By the end of the day, after the usual assortment of calamities, Ivanova confronts Sheridan in his office and gives him a piece of her mind about his ‘responsibilities’ to others, in particular his treatment of Valeria. The captain returns to his quarters with a headache to find his living room still piled with all of the kotain boxes, crates and assorted gifts. He comms Garibaldi and has security come and haul everything away to storage. Garibaldi’s smirking and commentary do not improve his disposition. Reading his personal messages, he finds that Delenn has canceled their dinner engagement with a terse note. Now his head really hurts. Drakon has also left a message requesting that the B5 Council meet to vote on the admission of the kotain to their august body.
   

5. Aboard the CrystalWind, Keffer finds in his exploration of the storage spaces that he is not the only non-Mimbari taking such low passage. Aside from a variety of livestock, there are two expatriate Narn traders on their way to Beler, one of the Mimbari colony worlds in search of various Mimbari luxury goods. Playing whist with them, Keffer learns that aside from foreign dignitaries and the very rich, all non-Mimbari are treated quite poorly within Mimbari space. The unconscious racism of the Mimbari begins to make itself felt to the Lieutenant.

   The day following Drakon’s arrival Sheridan rises to find his console clogged with messages from Earthdome and other members of the Council about the negotiations with the kotain. Ever higher levels of the home office are becoming involved as the particulars of the kotain economic offers become apparent. Eager to exploit a new area of space at minimal cost, the interstellar combines are nudging their Senators to close the deal. Earth corporations have made little headway in Narn or Mimbari space, and the active support of a friendly government would help them greatly. At the same time, Sheridan has an equal number of messages from the Mimbari and their allies in the League urging him to delay such a vote.

   Drakon, his techs having cracked some of the network on the station, is quite pleased with the way things are going. He continues to ignore the attempts of the war-leaders on Agarmat to monitor his progress. He also ignores the protests of his ‘security officer,’ Ign, that he will bring his appointment into question if he does not placate the concerns of those on the home world. Shagat is sent out into the station to secure ‘sources of information.’ The old kotain has a long talk with Garibaldi in the Zocalo and makes an arrangement to see that there is no more trouble between station security and the kotain armsmen. With Shagat safely off of the Gâshad, Drakon disguises himself and slips off of the ship by himself to escape the constant flow of distractions. Downbelow draws him, and soon he loses himself in its corridors and chambers.
   

6. Delenn visits the various minor ambassadors and works the comm, seeking to bring the League into alignment behind her efforts to defeat Drakon’s initiative. In doing so, she finds that the kotain have already been at work, fanning the resentment toward Mimbar heavy handedness and xenophobia. Much of the League is leaning towards allowing the kotain to have the seat. Delenn begins to become depressed at the age-old pig-headedness of her race. Now the slope is getting steep and slippery. She comms Kosh, but he refuses her an answer as to his vote. Londo and G’kar are similarly noncommittal. At last, exhausted, she leaves Lennier to see to the daily business of the embassy and makes her way to the Zocalo. Now it is station night. The market is filled with people of all races coming and going under the reduced lights. The trinkets and baubles of the Zocalo fail to draw Delenn’s eye and she rides a lift into Downbelow.

   Data-crystal sellers have a warren of rooms filled with their wares: books, treatises, manuscripts, monologues, plays, epics. Delenn wanders among them, seeking something, some clue to reveal the core truth of this humans that she has half-joined in the rows and rows of data-crystal holders. Suddenly she realizes that Drakon, in the simple garb of a common kotain warrior, is also browsing amongst the stalls. Watching him, all unknowing, she sees that he is without guile or artifice, lost in the simple joy of discovery. Her heart is filled with a strange empathy for the lonely young man and she turns away, distracted. Drakon, unaware, continues through the tunnels.

   The CrystalWind has made the transit out of the gravity well of the red sun of Dodekhan and is boosting towards the jumpgate when it is attacked and boarded by Watching Eye clan kotain raiders, who slaughter the crew and take several captives — including Celebrian, the niece of Delenn. The kotain blow the hull and pressure integrity is lost. The kotain raiders slink away, screened from Dodekhan station’s sensors by the electromagnetic storm of the singularity. A garbled distress call is fired off from the kotain strike-cruiser Claw of Hermat to alert the Mimbari transfer station of the ‘fusion core accident’ when the kotain are safely gone.
   

7. Keffer and the two Narns struggle to survive in the wreck of the liner. They make their way to the control spaces of the crippled ship, losing one Narn to booby traps left by the kotain raiders. Keffer sees that the orbit of the CrystalWind will soon degrade into the path of the radiation stream coming off of the axis of the singularity. The Lieutenant pulls the telemetry crystals from the remains of the main navigation console. With air running out, and no food or water, Keffer and the remaining Narn jury rig a damaged lifepod and blow it free from the ship. They hurtle away into space along a vector that keeps the bulk of the CrystalWind between them and the radiation storm. The lifepod drifts, and its inhabitants hope for rescue.

   The B5 Council convenes, with all parties in attendance. Normal business is quickly dispensed with and Drakon makes his pitch for an embassy on the station and a council seat for the kotain. Delenn, having recently learned that the CrystalWind and her niece have been lost in an accident, is distracted and belligerent. Sheridan attempts to find some accommodation between the two, but finds little success. Delenn and Drakon spar about the past enmity between the races and whether it is justified or not. Drakon uses this opportunity to play to the presumed sympathies of the League and Sheridan. Finally, as Sheridan calls for a vote on the matter, Delenn gets a message from Lennier — survivors from the CrystalWind have been recovered by the Icespear and the Whiteflame, two Mimbari FireWing clan strike cruisers responding to the distress call. Their report fingers the kotain in the attack.

   Delenn is suddenly calm; she believes sees part of Drakon’s plan — she decides to not reveal that she knows that the kotain have moved against her family. Any advantage of information ( real of perceived ) will be necessary to foil Drakon. When her turn comes to vote, she votes for the kotain being granted a permanent embassy on the station, but suggests that before they are granted a Council seat that the size of their domain be verified by some independent authority like ... the Vorlons. Everyone stares at Kosh, who says nothing, being content to sing to himself. Drakon steps into the moment and proposes that verification by either the EA, or Narn or Centauri would be acceptable to his government. The vote thus changes into a discussion about the composition of this verification team. Londo and G’kar begin sniping at one another.
   

8. Seeing that his immediate strategy to gain a Council seat has failed, Drakon exercises those sources of information that Shagat has now established on the station to try and figure out what Delenn has learned. Shagat is beside himself for failing to pick up Lennier’s message on the spy-mike or in station records. They have little luck with station sources; Delenn is playing things too close to the chest. Drakon frets and continues to argue with high command on Agarmat. Now that Celebrian is in Watching Eye hands, the war-leaders pressure him to blackmail Delenn to accede the vote. Drakon refuses.

   Valeria, having become quickly fed up with Earth Alliance bureaucracy, proceeded to wreck the EA worker registration office and sent several security guards to Franklin’s medlab. Now she is revived by Franklin at Garibaldi’s behest. Garibaldi is in kind of a pinch, since Valeria has entered in station logs that she and Sheridan are wed. A check of the EA legal database reveals that since Sheridan did accept the gifts, he and Valeria might be legally wed. Garibaldi comms Sheridan and asks him if he wants to bail his wife out of jail. The Captain is more than a little discomfited by this and another discussion about responsibility ensues. Valeria winds up sitting in the holding tank with only a read-only link to keep her company. She begins reading earth divorce law.

   Ivanova, meanwhile, has gotten off duty and, avoiding the officers mess like the plague, winds up in a little Drazi cafe in the Zocalo. There she is accosted by some kotain armsmen who insult her and she is forced to kick some heads in. Just as things are getting fired up for a real riot, Drakon and Shagat intervene and disperse the troops. Shagat drags the malcontents off to the Gâshad to be congratulated for a job well done. Drakon apologizes to Ivanova and offers to buy her dinner someplace lacking so much riffraff — someplace like Fresh Air. Thinking that it is about time she got something out of this latest mess, she agrees. The ambassador then suggests that they walk though the Garden instead of taking the lift-tube. She agrees and they discuss Valeria and the position of women in kotain society as they walk among the fruit trees.
   

9. Sheridan and Delenn finally have that dinner, at the Astro, with Epsilon Three hanging in the sky above their heads. Relations between them are strained at first — he is very concerned that Delenn seems to have slipped back into a more traditional mode of Mimbari diplomacy, but eventually things mellow. Each agrees that a League of Independent Worlds mission to kotain space would best suit everyone. Delenn allows that she has been somewhat draconian of late — "but I have been an enemy of the kotain for a long time, Captain." Sheridan agrees to hold up any EA recognition of the kotain until the League mission is complete. Delenn, in turn, agrees to not interfere with any economic arrangements between the kotain and the EA. Delenn makes a point of warning Sheridan not to trust any kotain or their works. Sheridan, who has been thinking upon what he has heard and seen, begins to realize that there is more in motion here than he suspected. Back at his quarters, Sheridan attempts to get Ivanova on her link, but is unable to raise her.

   In the Garden, Drakon walks under the vaulting sky and comes to Lake O’Neill. Stunned by the sight of so much open, clean, water he strips down and swims out into the lake. Ivanova is a little surprised by this — but given what he has told her of the environment that the kotain enjoy his action is not beyond comprehension. She turns off her link and sits by the waterside, watching him sport. The kotain guards are very surprised and become embarrassed, fading back into the fruit trees. When Drakon is done, he is very happy, almost gay in his manner. The guards reappear, but now treat Ivanova with a careful diffidence.

   Aboard the Icespear, Keffer is hauled out of the regen tank ( to repair radiation damage ) by the FireWing ship priest Ka’rel and closely questioned about the attack on the CrystalWind. Eventually it becomes clear that the Narn merchant did not survive the trip through the radiation corona of the Dodekhan singularity, and that the two Mimbari cruisers are under maximum burn in pursuit of the kotain raiders. Keffer is taken to the flag-bridge, where Ship Captain Na’dal also questions him about the gear and appearance of the raider boarding party. While these events are underway, the two strike cruisers reveal a previously unknown ( to Keffer ) jump-point technique; the two cruisers form a clam-shell formation and combine jump-field generators to form a jump-point for themselves. A tachyon relay between the main computers on both ships allows them to synchronize the generators to open a gate into hyperspace in a fraction of the time usually necessary.
   

10. The Icespear’ religious officer, having scanned Keffer’s mind, finds him to have a partially Mimbari soul. This causes some discussion amongst the command staff, but Na’dal declares "if his heart is Mimbari, then he will serve as a Mimbari. Those without a clan must make a place for themselves amongst us." Keffer is sent down to the master of apprentices to earn a place on the ship. Squad Leader Feros, who commands the Mimbari marines aboard the Icespear, is not pleased to see Keffer, yet slots him into the unit. The Icespear and the Whiteflame slip in and out of hyperspace, running at high-g, casting about for the trail of the raiders.

    The two cruisers jump into the hinterlands between Mimbari space and those areas frequented by the kotain; they begin their hunt amid the dead suns and wrecked planets of age-gone cataclysms. Keffer is indoctrinated into the fighting practices of the FireWing marines, despite his intermittent protests that he is a fighter pilot, not a jarhead! From his companions, he learns much of the Mimbari hatred for the kotain and their betrayals. The wound is ancient and deep, and the Mimbari show no mercy for the skulking enemy. Too, he learns that the captives taken from the CrystalWind are of the clan of the Satai Delenn.

    A kotain battle-rider ( a heavy transport with exterior fighter-bays) is encountered off of the binary star Calledon and battle ensues. Working in close concert, the Icespear and the Whiteflame engage and destroy the kotain fighters and disable the battle-rider. The marines, including Keffer’s section, board the ship and, after a fierce action, secure it. Some captives are taken and prove to be of the clan of the Pale Hand. Keffer, in the course of this, manages to keep from getting killed and does well as the detachment assault shuttle pilot. He also notes that the kotain fighters and mother-ship are able to maintain a sensor lock on the Mimbari cruisers during the fight.
    

11. The Council meeting where the League agrees to send a team of diplomats to view the kotain domains ends, and Drakon invites Sheridan and Londo aboard the Gâshad for dinner and other entertainment’s. At first Sheridan demurs, but Drakon points out that the Earth ambassador has had dinner with the Mimbari ambassador on occasion, to no ill effect. Sheridan acquiesces. Londo is quite pleased at the prospect of a "barbarian feast" and dispatches Vir to retrieve some of his old drinking accouterments from storage.

    Valeria, having read enough, makes a link call to a station ombudsman and gets herself released from gaol for "societal unfamiliarity." Too, she has now read the public history of the Captain. Musing, she wanders the Zocalo and the transit bays, observing the manners and ways of the humans. Theirs is a complicated and subtle dance; not a fierce contest. While she does so, she encounters ( all unknowing ) Morden and his Watchers. Even though there are others between them — boarding the earth liner Timbuktu — she suffers from sudden and crushing psychological distress. A horrible and overwhelming desire to abase herself before the dark-complexioned human wars with her self control. He passes, and the whispering in her mind passes as well, leaving her soaked with sweat and filled with unreasoning fear. She returns to her temporary quarters in haste and clears them out. In non-descript clothing, she seeks out shelter in Downbelow.

    Sheridan calls a command-staff meeting in the late afternoon in his quarters to discuss the situation with the kotain. Ivanova, Garibaldi and Franklin are in attendance. Sheridan describes the latest EA position on the kotain treaty ( yes to all economic ties, yes to a seat if there is a majority amongst the council, assurances to Mimbar that relations with them will remain the same ). He also relates his dinner invitation and his suspicions that the game between Delenn and Drakon is deeper than is quickly apparent. Garibaldi, having opened some of the kotain gift-boxes, has some pungent commentary on their taste in social niceties. Ivanova relates some, but not all, of her evening with Drakon and their subsequent dinner at Fresh Air. Franklin, having treated several kotain for wounds suffered in bar brawling, has a little to say from a physiological standpoint, but more from the perspective of an unbiased observer. The consensus?: the race as a whole is not very nice, they don't make good dinner guests and they like sharp things. On the other hand, they are trying to change and become an accepted member of the interstellar community.
    

12. Later, while Sheridan is dressing for the dinner aboard the Gâshad, Garibaldi shows up again, this time with Valeria and a huge pile of boxes and whatnot. Eyeing the pair of visitors with a jaundiced eye, Sheridan agrees that if he is attending a kotain social event, perhaps — perhaps! — he should take his ... wife(!?) and dress appropriately. He winds up with an entirely new outfit, which though somewhat martial in appearance does fit the kotain sensibility. Valeria also changes and Garibaldi leaves with a big smirk on his face.

    In Downbelow, one of the shopkeepers from the Zocalo gets into a scuffle in the "Black Hole Sun" and winds up under a table with a steel bolt in one eye. The two kotain servants that Sheridan had freed slip off into the crowd.

    Sheridan, Valeria, Londo, Vir and G’kar go aboard the Gâshad with some ceremony ( Delenn and Kosh declined the invitation ). Sheridan is greeted by the ranked crew, who acclaim him "Starkiller! Starkiller!" A great feast is laid on and there are oceans of drink and continents of food. Guided by Valeria in kotain etiquette, Sheridan does well and has an excellent time, though he finds the kotain wines heady stuff. Drakon is quite pleased at the success of both his festivity, the video of him and Sheridan toasting one another ( a political sop to high command on Agarmat ), and the progress made with Mollari and G’kar. The Narn ambassador, in particular, is hugely pleased with the commonality of outlook between himself and the kotain staff. Londo finds Drakon to be a boon drinking companion and a cunning conversationalist. Seeing Valeria amongst her own people, including other kotain women, Sheridan is struck by how vital and beautiful she is. A deep and familiar sadness passes over him, but he shrugs it off and continues with the revelry.
    

13. At last they leave, Sheridan and Valeria last of all. Drakon, a genuine smile upon his lean face, bids them goodbye from the airlock. Returning to his quarters, Valeria pours Sheridan into bed and pulls his boots off. Groaning, he acquiesces to her offer of a massage. Later, as she prepares to leave, he asks her to stay. Despite her hidden relief ( a night in Downbelow on a station where there might be others like Morden fills her with fear ), she is flustered and apprehensive when Sheridan takes off all of his clothes. In the deep night, Sheridan dreams of Anna, but when he wakes from the nightmare trembling, Valeria holds him close and he falls back to sleep at last — "nestled against her cinnamon back."

    The Icespear and the Whiteflame, under complete emissions blackout and under heavy stealthing, slip into the Orodzune system — a dim brown dwarf star that is a stronghold of the kotain Watching Eye clan. To avoid detection by kotain scanners they come out of hyperspace in the outer reaches of the system. Entering on a ballistic, cometary, orbit they thread through kotain minefields, tracking arrays and asteroidal battle-stations. The Pale Hand captives taken at Calledon revealed that the raid on the CrystalWind at Dodekhan had been carried out by a Watching Eye squadron based at Orodzune. So Captain Rihorl has come to find the cousin of the Satai Delenn.

    As the Mimbari cruisers drift deeper into the system, tensions rise among the members of Feros’ platoon. Keffer’s position as shuttle pilot is challenged as well as his right, as a human with a Mimbari soul, to claim a clan within their society. Keffer, troubled and wary, seeks out the executor Ka’rel and requests that the priest deep-scan him. Long hours pass and at last the executor withdraws from Keffer’s soul — the news is fair: his is a minor clan, long fallen on hard-times and of little note. Further, no other clansmen are aboard either ship. Keffer returns to the shuttle bay and finds that the Master Sergeant has already dealt with the situation by setting the restive troopers straight. There is enough to do in any case, a remote probe sent further into the system has found that the sixth planet of the system houses not only a kotain mining complex but the intermittent drive signature of the Claw of Hermat, one of the kotain strike cruisers that attacked Dodekhan.
    

14. The Mimbari cruisers are aboil with activity as the crews, pilots and landing parties prepare for a commando raid on the port complex at the mine-head. Na’dal and Rihorl argue vehemently over the best approach. Telemetry from the sixth planet is spotty and poor. Only the Claw of Hermat seems to be in evidence in orbit, but the space around the world is clogged with mining equipment, debris, small tugs and cargo lighters. At last Rihorl prevails — the two cruisers will make a high-velocity approach that swings over the top of the mining complex and then loops around the back of the planet to bleed off speed with gravity braking. On the first pass, the cruisers will hammer any orbital defenses and launch all available fighters and assault shuttles. When they come back on the reciprocal orbit, they’ll pick up the shuttles and fighters in a flyby while having lost as little delta-v as possible. The ground teams will have about three hours to complete the mission.

    Aboard the station Ivanova receives a call from Keffer’s sister on Simonsen wondering when he is going to show up. Ivanova is quite surprised and immediately worried. She begins tracking his trip and finds that he has been reported lost with the CrystalWind. Further, the Mimbari authorities have refused to release any information about the loss of the liner, save that it was an accident. Ivanova is distressed — it was her idea to send him off on vacation. Still, she files a request with Mimbari traffic control to recover Keffer’s luggage, which the computer system notes has been traveling on a separate series of freighters and liners. The request reaches the port authorities on Simonsen as they are unloading the bags for delivery throughout the colony. Shrugging, they put them back on the cargo lighter.

    Delenn, meanwhile, has been moving heaven and earth — particularly at Mimbari fleet command — to find out what is happening with the Icespear and the Whiteflame and their search. She dispatches Lennier in a scout ship to meet with an intermediary who has worked with both the kotain and the Mimbari in the past. She urges him to hurry.
    

15. For his part Drakon has already filed his rather belated status reports to Agarmat, including the video of his party with Sheridan, Londo and G’kar. He closets himself with Security Chief Ign and Shagat — how much time remains to them? The League is still wrangling among itself over the composition of the team that will visit the kotain domains — the Mimbari are stirring up trouble among the other races — and it may take days to get that effort underway. Learning from Ign that the command council back on Agarmat is beginning to lose its rather fragile unity due to squabbling between his own Iron Tower clan and the Watching Eye faction, Drakon decides to go before the Council again and try and force a vote without the results of the inspection tour. Shagat and Ign argue against this, but Drakon points out that the inspection tour will only work if the kotain council can continue to work together and the League emissaries can be deceived as to the extent of the kotain domains. Neither thing is very likely. So — the League is divided and likely to nullify its own vote — the Mimbari are against, the Centauri and the Narn liable to split between themselves, the Vorlons unknown, and the Earth Alliance; well that is the issue isn’t it? Sheridan seems to have come around at last ( "Valeria can be persuasive," comments a stony-faced Ign ), and his government certainly wants the alliance. So, two for and two against, with possibly two abstaining. Drakon decides it is time for a little face-to-face bargaining.

    Again alone, he takes himself into the station; first to visit … Delenn.
    

16. Aboard the Icespear Keffer straps himself into the assault shuttle command chair and begins his checkoff to launch. Behind him the ship is crammed with Mimbari marines in battle-gear. The two cruisers have now deployed in line, the Icespear in the lead, the Whiteflame flying top-cover. Without a hyperspace entry signature, they hope to be right on top of the Orodzune facility before anyone notices that they are there. Only moments remain until shuttle launch and the fun begins.

    Drakon finds Delenn in her offices, holding court for a passel of League representatives. He waits his turn patiently, then sits with all due respect. Her manner is cold, but he observes the archaic forms of greeting between two high-caste Mimbari. At last she welcomes him. He presents his case, arguing that ancient blood spilt is long gone — they both spring from the same soil, the same air, cannot they find some common ground? Though her heart is slightly moved by his sincerity, she gives him the works. He will find no friend in Mimbar. Still completely polite, he leaves, then leans against the outer wall, shaking with tension. Dangerous, he thinks, so dangerous.

    Icespear is within moments of its flyover and within the shuttle bay the launch doors cycle open. Within seconds the launch catapults have hurled Keffer’s shuttle out into the chaotic melee over Orodzune. Icespear and Whiteflame come in hot, spitting beam-fire and missiles. Their fighters swoop through the confusion of kotain ore barges, orbiting refinery stations and — an unexpected sight — the top-cap of a beanstalk-style orbital elevator. The kotain defenses are in disarray, but return fire slashes the gloomy darkness with missiles and a scattershot of plasma discharges. Keffer’s team has been assigned to capture the docking bay facilities on the main mining station. The shuttle gyrates wildly as Keffer avoids close defense fire and skids the assault craft into the main docking bay. Mimbari marines spill out into a haze of blood and bodies from the sudden decompression of the main bay seal.

    Drakon attempts to visit G’kar, only to be turned away. It is a Narn holy day and the ambassador is meditating. After some discussion, he makes an appointment to meet with the Narn on the following day. He purchases an iced drink in the Zocalo. Nursing it, he considers who to visit next.
    

17. The Icespear and Whiteflame claw free of the debris, explosions and hurtling fighters choking the space over Orodzune station. Now, still firing with their rear gun batteries, they swing tight in around the planet, bleeding velocity against the edge of the planetary atmosphere. Behind them, their fighters continue to mix it up with the kotain defenses. On the flag-bridge of the Icespear, Na’dal trembles with adrenaline — where is the Claw of Hermat? The kotain strike cruiser was not at the station. Now, the Mimbari cruisers pass behind the shadow of the planet. Two hours, eleven minutes before they come out again. In the main docking bay, Keffer’s marine squad has been shot up by kotain forces. An ion grenade rattles into the back of the shuttle and Keffer makes a quick exit. The shock of the explosion throws him across the docking bay and into the side wall. Stunned, he drifts away from the bay into the tangle of wreckage caused by his crash entrance.

    Leaving the Zocalo, Drakon finds Londo Mollari in a gambling den in Downbelow. They discuss the possibility of a new vote, and Drakon passes on new assurances from Agarmat as to the ‘good relations’ that will be created between Centauri and Kotain once the matter of the council seat is settled to the satisfaction of the kotain. Londo agrees to vote in Drakon’s favor should the matter come up again. Not entirely sure that he has gotten the best of the deal, Drakon snags a meat pie from one of the waitresses and continues on his way.

    Claw of Hermat suddenly returns to Orodzune orbit, jumping in from hyperspace at right angles to the Icespear and the Whiteflame. On the backside of the planet, a fierce ship-to-ship exchange results. Claw of Hermat launches fighters and the Whiteflame, farthest from the planet and lacking its own fighters, is severely damaged. With one engine out, the Whiteflame falls behind. Aboard the Icespear, Na’dal curses his brother’s aggressive plan and orders a full burn to break out of ballistic orbit. Claw of Hermat closes in on the Whiteflame, all batteries hammering away. Whiteflame loses a wing and then suddenly cracks in half as a kotain missile penetrates into a rear plasma magazine. Icespear arches away, fighting the gravity of Orodzune as the Whiteflame blossoms into a pure white flash. Claw of Hermat hurtles through the cloud of roiling energy moments later. Sick with despair, Na’dal orders full-battery fire at a bad angle as his ship leaps for space. An edge of his barrage rakes the flank of the Claw of Hermat, shuddering the ship, spilling men and atmosphere.
    

18. Alien Sector bubbles with murk around him as Drakon, now in an encounter suit, descends into the Vorlon embassy. Clouds of steam, methane and other gasses part before him as he reaches the doorway. Kosh waits within, a silent figure in his own encounter suit. Drakon trembles, his heart filled with unreasoning fear. An atavistic dread claws at his self control. Struggling to keep on his feet, he apologizes to the Vorlon for past differences between their respective races and asks for his help in attaining a respectable position in interstellar society for the kotain. Kosh does not answer. Now barely able to stand, Drakon offers an alliance — to stand with the Vorlons — to repudiate older allegiances. Now Kosh turns, "When you can bear such a burden, you will." Drakon staggers out of the Vorlon embassy, weak and shaking.

    Aboard the Icespear, Na’dal tersely calls for a hyperspace jump. Without the combined generators of both ships it will take almost eleven minutes to build a sufficient energy gradient. The Icespear jinks erratically, trying to avoid the cloud of missiles and plasma-beam fire that the Claw of Hermat is sending their way. The kotain ship, too, is boosting out of orbit and gaining range.

    Keffer, his suited form thrown from the shuttle bay by the explosion, jets back to the skin of the station and jimmies a damaged airlock open. Within he finds scattered bodies, both kotain and Mimbari. Picking a direction at random, he jets forward ( the station having lost gravity ) a Mimbari assault rifle in his hands. He reaches a vertical access tube and ascends. Suddenly, he reaches a firefight as a group of Mimbari marines are dropping down the shaft at high speed. Bracing himself against a bulkhead, he blindsides the kotain firing on the approaching Mimbari. It is the remains of the Whiteflame’s marine company — with Celebrian in tow. They do not recognize Keffer for a human in his Mimbari flight suit. Together they hurry back down-station, heading for the shuttle bays.
    

19. Outbound from Orodzune at high boost, the Icespear takes a glancing beam hit from the Claw of Hermat’s primary weapon. The rightside fusion core suddenly goes into emergency shutdown as a result. Na’dal is frantic, the hyperspace gradient was only two minutes from jump mass. He orders all power from life support, gravity control and main engines switched to the hyperspace generators. Icespear coasts, firing its remaining missiles in a tight pattern. Claw of Hermat dumps a short flurry of anti-missiles and sideslips out of the path of the Mimbari barrage. The kotain commander tries a deflection shot with his primary beam weapon, missing, and corrects course for a second try. The last portion of the Mimbari missile strike washes over the Claw, shearing off two tracking arrays and puncturing a docking bay. The shuttles within cook off violently, imparting significant spin to the kotain strike cruiser as flame, atmosphere and debris spew out of the flank of the ship.

    Keffer, Celebrian and the marines reach the docking bay level of the mining station and find that all of the Mimbari landing points have been overrun. More kotain troops are reaching the station from the surface via the beanstalk. Breaking contact with their immediate pursuers costs half of the Mimbari left, and Keffer and Celebrian are thrown out of an airlock by the remaining Mimbari sergeant. While the rest of the marines hare off in another direction, Keffer tapes himself and Celebrian together and — eyeballing the trajectory — jets them away from the station, heading for an abandoned ore lighter.

    At last, after a short walk through the park to reach the Earth Alliance command offices (and to regain some composure) Drakon reaches Sheridan’s office. He finds the Captain in a very good mood, and the faint scent of Valeria’s perfume tells him why. They chat amiably for a bit, then begin a delicate dance around the question of a new vote and an immediate instatement of the kotain on the Council ( as an ‘intermediate measure, pending the outcome of the League inspection, of course’ ). Sheridan eyes Drakon cautiously ( whose vote has changed? he wonders ) and agrees to address it in Council in two days time. Drakon leaves both pleased and not; two days is an eternity for the chuckleheads on Agarmat.
    

20. Returning to the Gâshad to check in with Shagat, Drakon finds his second in command quite pleased with himself and Security Chief Ign puzzled and unhappy. Shagat reports that a sufficient number of the League worlds have agreed to vote in the kotain cause to swing the League vote to their side. Ign is quite suspicious of this; previously their efforts to get to the League worlds had been deftly forestalled by the machinations of Lennier, but now that sly Mimbari is absent from the station. Now, if Drakon can gain only an abstention from G’kar on the vote, he can win. A good day!

    The Claw of Hermat regains control of its spin within moments of the Icespear going to hyperspace. Aboard the Mimbari ship, Na’dal exults as the yellow flower spins open before him. His navigator, eyes clouded with blood from his wounds, punches the jump button and the Mimbari ship leaps forward. Aboard the Claw of Hermat, the kotain commander growls the order to fire and its primary beam weapon lashes out, touching the dorsal fin of the Icespear as it enters the tunnel of light. For a moment, the Icespear hangs in suspense, then the dorsal fin shatters and the hyperspace field ruptures in a cataclysmic explosion. Icespear perishes as the jump-point collapses around it. On the battle-bridge of the Claw of Hermat, the commander howls in triumph, his men cheering "Moruvor!".

    Keffer and Celebrian clang against the side of the ore lighter and inch along its surface to the airlock. Relieved they crawl inside and cycle it closed. When the inner doors open, a crowd of kotain faces are staring at them. A clutch of children and their mother are waiting, bristling with guns and knives. Keffer, a sick feeling in his stomach, raises his hands in surrender. Celebrian says nothing, her eyes desolate.
    

21. The day before the vote that Drakon has requested, Sheridan closets himself with the command staff. Both Sheridan and Ivanova are in an oddly good mood — and Franklin eyes them both with concern. Sheridan broaches the subject of the new vote, along with his feeling that the Earth Alliance should vote in favor of allowing the kotain a probationary seat on the Council. Franklin does not think that this is a very good idea — for one thing the blood and tissue samples that he has acquired from the kotain indicate a very high level of genetic manipulation. He is still working on the effects of this manipulation, but he urges Sheridan to abide by the letter of the directive from Earthdome — to withhold a vote in favor unless the rest of the Council was already in majority. Garibaldi also demurs — he is just basically suspicious and he sees the level of politicking going on between Drakon and Delenn with the League and the other ambassadors.

    After the meeting concludes; Franklin takes Sheridan aside and tells him that Valeria came by Medlab One the day before to request a full rack of medical tests. Sheridan OKs the tests, though he is not particularly concerned about them. Shaking his head, Franklin goes off to see about his business. At the same time Garibaldi catches up with Ivanova and quizzes her about why she is "so smiley." She protests that she is no different than the day before or last week. He is not convinced, particularly when they get to C&C and find a delicate bouquet of flowers waiting at her console. "Oh, what a lovely surprise!" she says. Garibaldi gives her a big eyebrow and slouches off to see to his security cameras.

    Valeria finishes her morning ablutions, checks all of her personal clothing and gear for tracers, bugs or other monitoring devices and leaves Sheridan’s quarters. After wandering aimlessly for a bit she reaches Downbelow and, after some shopping, she finds Security Chief Ign in a dark byway. In the darkness they exchange data-crystals containing station security codes and go their own ways. Valeria then wends her way to the storage lockers where the various gifts that had come with her are stored and begins loading a small cargo carrier.
    

22. Garibaldi hunches over his security camera logs, scanning through them for signs of the kotain delegation. He grumbles with annoyance to find that Valeria had spent the night in Sheridan’s quarters. He sees that Ivanova had spent another long evening with Drakon over dinner and then dancing. At least, he thinks, no one is cuddling up to Franklin… The movements of Shagat and Ign draw more attention — they are obviously circulating about the station, up to something.

    Delenn, meantime, receives a short report from Mimbari fleet command — causing her considerable distress — and an even shorter message from Lennier. This, however, causes her to cancel her afternoon appointments and, after having various cargo delivered to her personal ship, to leave the station in some haste. Ign, monitoring her quarters from a hidden remote, watches this with great concern. He comms Drakon, but is unable to reach him.

    Ivanova, having cleared Delenn off the station, checks on the status of Keffer’s luggage and finds that it is on its way home. The status of the CrystalWind accident remains unknown, though Keffer is now listed as missing rather than dead. Ivanova ponders this and decides not to inform the Captain that Keffer might be alive. With interest she handles the arrival of an Iron Tower kotain courier ship out of the Akkad jump-point. It makes haste to reach the station and unloads a single kotain with a sealed bag before requesting turnaround on departure. Ah, the life of a traffic control officer!

    Sheridan closes up shop late in his office and makes his way back to his quarters. Opening the door he stops in startled surprise. The rather drab furnishings are gone, replaced by a striking ensemble of hand-made couches, bookshelves and low tables. Paper screens now divide the main sitting area from the kitchen, low music plays — alien and strange to his ear. Puzzled, he allows the door to close behind him as he places his briefcase on a dark umber wood table. "Ah… hello?"

    Valeria steps out from behind one of the screens. It gets kind of hot in the room.

    Later, Franklin finishes up late at Medlab and shakes his head in amazement at the possibilities of the latest set of printouts. Well, he thinks, he’ll find out in the morning when the analysis is complete.

    Deep in the third watch, the traffic officer observes with interest the arrival of first one Mimbari scout, then another. Such comings and goings — like something was afoot. He makes a note in the night log; the Commander will want to know about it in the morning.
    

23. As is often the way, Drakon is woken at an impossibly early hour by Shagat. A secure transmission from Agarmat has verified the message brought by the courier of the previous evening. The Watching Eye clansmen that had been holding Celebrian had been first attacked by two Mimbari ships and then by a Pale Hand raider. Not only had the Claw of Hermat been first damaged and then destroyed, but Celebrian and the other prisoners had been taken in turn by the Pale Hand. Now, the Pale Hand demands concessions on Agarmat — heavy concessions. Drakon refuses to abide by the directive of the council to request a delay in the proceedings for at least a day. The time to seize the Council seat is now! He dresses, sees to the disposal of various items, sends Ivanova a short message and then leaves for the Council chambers.

    Sheridan wakes, more rested than he has been in some time, to the chime of his comm. It is Franklin, requesting a meeting before the day’s business begins. He dresses casual and goes out; Valeria, who has been living in the shower now that she has the option, does not mark his exit. On one of the high balconies that ring the transit tube over the Garden, Franklin is waiting. He has a bemused expression on his face. Sheridan leans on the railing — what’s the occasion? Franklin hands him a printout. Sheridan reads it, then reads it again, his face first clouded with anger, then clearing with puzzled delight.

    Valeria is pregnant. Then the strangeness of it strikes him. Franklin nods and explains some of the more interesting details of kotain physiology. Though the centuries of marginal existence that they have suffered, the kotain have engineered their females to control ovulation and to extract suitable DNA from even marginally compatible species. Too, the female can self-fertilize if necessary. Sheridan feels a little queasy at being used in such a way. Franklin is impressed at the survival instinct of the kotain, and pleased — in his own way — at the degree of independence that this gives the kotain female.
    

24. Garibaldi arrives, having spent the early hours of the morning putting more security around the Council chambers. He explains to Sheridan the extent of the kotain activities on the station. Obviously, they are making a play for the seat now — and are not above using all of the tools at their disposal to try and win those three or four votes. Sheridan is more than a little angry, but he sees no reason to not follow the guidelines sent by Earthdome. He departs to the Council chambers.

    Delenn has risen early as well. She summons Lennier and sends him to her ship to collect the packages she purchased at such a price. Wishing that she could link Susan for advice she struggles with arranging her hair in a new coiffure. She eyes a set of human makeup that she had previously acquired, grits her teeth and picks up a small pot of foundation. This is a trial she must bear. When she is done she, too, leaves her quarters and heads for the chambers.

    The League representatives file into the chamber, their voices a low murmur. Mollari and G’kar enter at the same time and immediately take seats at opposite ends of the council table. Sheridan enters, followed by Kosh and then the rest of the usual hangers on. Sheridan opens the proceedings. Drakon speaks, urging his case and calling for a vote of the Council. Both Mollari and G’kar attempt to initiate proceedings, then stop and glare at each other. Delenn, who has been quiet, speaks into the momentary silence and calls the vote herself — but not without further discussion. She invites Drakon to speak upon his people’s behalf. He declines, stating that he has already done so. She urges him again, again he declines. Now she rises and plays back a series of videos of Drakon speaking in the chamber in previous time — this is the truth of your race?, she asks. Yes, he replies, beginning to smell a trap of substantial proportions.
    

25. What of this, she asks, playing a video of the wreckage of the CrystalWind. Bloated bodies drift by the camera. Drakon steps back, but Shagat steadies him. She follows with the data-crystals that recovered from the CrystalWind’s command deck that hold pictures of the attacking Watching Eye ships. Now short, fragmented, scenes of the attack on Orodzune and the migratory nature of the kotain and their facilities. Drakon clears his head and steps forth again now that Delenn has stopped the holo-projector. Fabrications, he says, smiling broadly to the gallery — wishful thinking on the part of the Mimbari. The Mimbari are sly, he says, and well versed in the art of making interesting videos. Prove these false allegations, he replies, then we will have our vote.

    Delenn nods and opens a comm channel. Her niece Celebrian appears on the monitor, badly bruised and in a medical facility. She relates the tale of her capture and imprisonment. Now Delenn calls for a vote in turn, one expelling the kotain from Babylon Five and censuring them for this attack on Mimbari citizens. There is a flurry of muttering and politicking among the League representatives. Mollari stares at the ceiling with disinterest. G’kar looks smug. The vote is called. Delenn’s motion fails to pass, two ( League, Centauri ) to two ( Mimbar, Narn ), with two abstentions ( Vorlon, Earth Alliance ). Seeing that Sheridan has not voted with her, Delenn gives him the ‘eye’. He pretends to ignore it, while starting to sweat.

    Now Drakon, having cleared the floor of other motions, reminds the Council that a vote had been called as per the kotain application for Council membership. Now this vote is taken and Drakon holds his breath — will yesterdays agreements still hold today? The motion for an immediate seat also fails — Mimbar and Earth Alliance against and League and Centauri for, with the Vorlons and Narns abstaining. Curses, mutters Drakon, we’ll have to wait. Delenn speaks on the side with Lennier, seeing if there is sufficient support to try and override the previous vote giving the kotain a seat after the League visits. No, answers her aide. A stalemate then, but on this day, it is enough for her.
    

26. The Council members are preparing to leave when Mollari suddenly coughs and addresses them. He calls for a vote, in the interests of interstellar harmony, to decide whether the kotain should be admitted to the League and thus acquire a place upon the Council, "until such time as they should show their true greatness and obtain the seat that they so richly deserve." Both Drakon and Delenn are startled by this; the vote passes with the League, Centauri, Earth Alliance and Kosh for, Mimbar and Narn against. G’kar is disgusted that something proposed by Mollari should pass. Londo is quite pleased with his little effort.

    The Council convenes and Drakon makes his way slowly back to the Gâshad. Shagat and Ign shadow him, their hearts sick as well. Once aboard the ship, Drakon closets himself in his quarters. Ign, having drawn the shorter throwing dart, transmits a status report to Agarmat. Then Drakon gets himself a drink, no — two drinks. Damn the Pale Hand to the nethermost hells…

    Sheridan hides in his office for the rest of the day. Finally he has no more work to do and glumly goes to his quarters. The door slides open and he steps in, his face set. All of the kotain woodwork is gone. All of Valeria’s things are missing. His rooms are just as they were before. Shaking his head he sits himself down and has a shot of whiskey. What a day. The door chimes and Garibaldi lets himself in. He has an iced tea from the jug in the chiller.
    

27. Ivanova is on the C&C deck early the next day. Talia’s shuttle from Aldebaran is coming in during her watch and she has a mind to see that it gets priority routing through to the passenger bay. There is a great deal of diplomatic traffic on the outgoing silver channels, and she keeps half an ear cocked to it. The Gâshad logs a request for departure and she sighs — no more pretty flowers — still the time without Talia was interesting. A Mimbari medical transport arrives and she routes them to the number two dock.

    Garibaldi is waiting in the number two dock when the Mimbari transport debarks. Delenn and Lennier are also waiting. A muchly battered Lieutenant Keffer limps off, helped by two Mimbari nurses. Delenn stares at the human ( now dressed in traditional Mimbari farmer garb ) in surprise. "Where did you come from", she asks in amazement, "I was waiting to greet Kaifar Uaren, of the clan of Fingaes — he that saved my niece from Orodzune." Garibaldi, who has come up behind them with a cargo carrier with some very battered bags on it, taps her on the shoulder. "That’s him ma’am. I have the luggage to prove it." Garibaldi takes the Lieutenant under his wing and directs him off towards the bars in the Zocalo. Delenn stares after them for a long moment. Lennier shrugs "what do you expect, Ambassador, the souls have to migrate somewhere …"

    The Gâshad departs its orbit around the station — Drakon has received orders summoning him back to Agarmat to explain his failure. A slow anger burns in him and his countenance is dark. It gets darker when Shagat informs him that Valeria has remained behind on the station for unexplained reasons. The jumpgate swallows them up.
    

28. Sheridan leans against the railing in the observation dome, staring out at a great storm obscuring the face of Eridani III. Lightning flickers in the high reaches of the dust cloud. Though he has done his duty as directed by Earthdome, the affair of the kotain embassy leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. A hint of perfume draws him from his thoughts. Valeria stands beside him. They discuss how things stand between them. As Sheridan cannot leave his post on the station, she will undertake his duties on Agarmat as baron. He watches her leave to catch a Centauri transport that will take her back to kotain space, puzzled by his own feelings. He returns to his quarters to find Garibaldi loitering outside the door.
    
    Garibaldi informs him that Keffer has returned, somewhat worse for wear. "He needs a vacation." And that while in the eyes of kotain society Sheridan and Valeria are bonded, that law does not apply in Earth Alliance space ( or anywhere else for that matter ). So, no fuss no muss, right? Relieved, Sheridan shows Garibaldi out, barely catching the security chief’s parting comment "Good night ( pause ) Dad." If it isn’t one dammed thing after another.
    
    In his quarters, Mollari smiles and drinks from a narrow stemmed glass of wine. With a flourish, he stamps an exclusive trade agreement with the Pale Hand with his personal seal and slips it back into the courier case. Ah, the work of a true son of the Republic is never done…