"Reports from the military indicate that all Vyron ships along the front lines are withdrawing from their positions," the ISN reporter was saying, "Military installations are being abandoned and their is some early indications of fighting between Drakh and Vyron fleets. Alliance officials have been closed liped as to why the Vyron are retreating but the breakdown of of the Drakh-Vyron Alliance is being theorized at this point."
"ISN off," Fisher said,
He could hardly believe the Vyron were actually leaving. Reports were coming in from all over the ISA, Vyron forces quickly pulling out of strategic positions even pounding on an Drakh force that got in their way. ISN didn't even know half of what was going on, but one thing was clear to all, the ISA had won.
Fisher pulled himself up out of his chair and looked into a nearby mirror. He had a few things to take care of before he would finally begin to relax. Fisher fixed his hair and grabbed his uniform jacket and began to head for the bridge.
Fisher walked slowly as troubling thoughts passed through his mind. Why had General Raindeck betrayed him and the taskforce that he commanded? How could such a respected officer send the crews of so many ships into such a terrible trap.
Fisher stepped onto the bridge of his warship.
"Captain we will be arriving at Earth shortly," Cone reported.
"Very good Commander," Fisher replied as he took his seat on the bridge.
"Are you all right sir?" Cone asked with great concern in his voice."
"Just searching for some answers Alan," Fisher told him.
"And are they forthcoming?"
"Not in the slightest, Commander," Fisher said, "Jump us out of Hyperspace."
"Aye sir," Cone replied turning to face the helm station, "Open jump point."
The Vortex opened before the Damocles which quickly moved through it.
"We have arrived in the Earth System," the helm reported.
Fisher only nodded in reply.

The Emperor of the Centauri Republic sat quietly in his thrown room contemplating. It was the end of the Earth year 2283 fitting then that at the beginning of this new year the Galaxy could begin again. Much bitterness remained in the hearts of the Centuari people, many still hated the Alliance for the bombings that had occurred twenty years before most did not understand the ISA's place in the renewed freedom of the Republic.
Many of his people were going to be very angry come the morning when they discovered that their Emperor had completed his negotiations with the ISA. The Centauri Republic would be permitted to return to the ISA as a full member.
The Centuari seat would not be on the executive council as it had been when Londo had sat on the council but merely as a member, sitting beside the ambassadors that had once made up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. The Centuari would have to learn to swallow their pride if they were going to survive. Vir realized this, soon the people would too.
Vir leaned back in his thrown as he thought of all the terrible things he has seen and done in the last thirty years and shuddered. It was time to rebuild he thought before he could become to depressed.
Emperor Cotto decided to go to bed for what was sure to be a lousy nights sleep.

Colav knew there time to leave Minbar had come. The Vyron had returned to their own territory and would leave the ISA alone. Colav also knew the ISA would not desire to continue the conflict against the Vyron as long as the Vyron left them alone.
They could not blame them, in fact they completely understood. They were no longer being directly threatened and the cost of mounting an invasion against a foe that was so far away would not be justified in their minds. Already Colav could feel the attitude toward shifting away from favoring an alliance between the Seekers and the ISA.
The various beings that made up the ISA seemed to avoid Colav at every turn, not wanting to see what they were about to abandon.
It was inevitable, Colav understood that, the ISA would not chose to carry this war any further.
A tap at the door distracted Colav from his musing. Three head turned as one to face the open door and three faces became wide-eyed with surprise as they say who stood at their door.
"May I come in," President Delenn asked quietly.
"Of course madam President," the lead Colav said after regaining some composure.
Delenn entered the room she was wearing a simple white dress and her long black hair hung over her left shoulder in a simple braid.
"I'm sure you are wondering why I am here," Delenn started, "You have no doubt already noticed that you are not being treated in the same fashion as when you first arrived. I feel I owe you an explanation and a debt of gratitude."
"We have done little to help you Delenn," Colav told her, "Your people won this war without the help of our people."
"No, without you we would never of gained the insight needed to end this war," Delenn told him emphatically, "Unfortunately we cannot risk sending a force to assist you in your own fight against the Vyron. We can however provide silent support. I have already ordered that our full knowledge of anti-Vyron weapons and tactics be given to you. A ship has been assigned to bring you back to your own space and you will have with you some of the best technical advisors the Alliance can spare in order to help you adapt your technology.
"The Vyron have not ended the state of war that exists between us, at best this seems to be a cease fire. The battles may have ended but the Vyron are still an enemy of the Alliance and that makes you our friend."
"Delenn, we thank you," Colav said.
"No thanks are required," Delenn said, "Your ship is waiting."
Delenn held out her hand in the traditional Minbari gesture and and all three Colav's in turn approached Delenn and responded in kind.
"Good-bye Delenn," Colav said.
Delenn smiled and bowed, "Good-bye," she said and with gentle grace left the room.

"General Raindeck will see you now Captain," the secretary said with polite indifference. Fisher only acknowledgment was to get up and enter the office of General Raindeck.
All was as it normally was except for the General sitting stock still at his desk.
"General, I demand to know why you ordered my task force into a trap," Fisher said forcefully. Raindeck didn't even flinch not a move but Fisher could see a tight expression around his eyes.
Then without warning Raindeck jumped from his chair and pulled out his PPG pointing it at the Captain. "All is not as it appears Captain," Raindeck said.
"They always watch you, always. You can never except them not even for a moment. They weren't as easy on me as they were on some of the others, they never gave me any time for myself," Raindeck blubbered out. "I didn't want to, but they made me, they threatened to destroy the outer colonies and when that didn't work they threatened my family. I had no other choice."
"What are you talking about?" Fisher asked with incredulity, "Who did this to you?"
"They call it a Keeper," Raindeck told him still holding the weapon out at Fisher, "It is a truly descriptive name. It doesn't usually control your actions but it makes sure you do their will. But you can do small things, things they wont notice, that is how I got the Starfire assigned to you."
"Who are they?" Fisher demanded.
"The Drakh," Raindeck replied simply.
"They want me to kill you now," Raindeck told him after a brief pause, "they say you have been a thorn in their side to long now. They say my usefulness to them is at an end and that your death is the lad thing they require of me."
"General," Fisher said, "The Drakh are beaten, we won. They can't hurt us anymore."
"I wish that were true," the General said, "but I feel them, they are still there. They have just gone back to scheming again, they will be back. It is only a matter of time."
"Fight them General," Fisher said, "You can win."
"I'm afraid I have no fight left in me David. Good-bye"
Fisher turned so as not to see the deadly blast. The PPG fired unkind Fisher found himself disappointed not to find himself not dead and lying on the floor. The disappoint passed quickly and Fisher turned back to face Raindeck lying on the floor with a massive PPG trauma to the head. For the first time Fisher was able to see the Keeper as it appeared over the fallen Generals left shoulder. It single eye focused on him and slowly closed in death.
Earthforce security officers burst into the room pushing past Fisher to see the dead General.
"I'd like to talk to the President," was all Fisher could say as the soldiers turned to him for an explanation.

Earth Alliance President Si Ming Sio entered the small conferance room. Fisher stood at attention as the President walked around the table to greet him.
"Captain Fisher," the President said, "I am glad to finally meet you."
"Thank you sir," was all Fisher could say.
"We are all deeply saddened by the death of General Raindeck and the circumstances that surrounded it," the President told him sincerely, "He was a fine officer how had done much for Earth, and for the time I knew him he was a good friend."
"Yes sir," Fisher replied.
"We have analyzed the creature that had attached itself to Raindeck. He had little free will and almost no control over his actions. Raindeck was a puppet to this 'Keeper' he was forced to do everything the Drakh wanted him to do through that little creature."
"Not everything sir," Fisher told him, "The Drakh wanted him to kill me, but he fought them and killed himself. His last act was one of defiance. In many ways he died free of them."
"The General will be interned with full military honors Captain, and you and your crew will be receiving the highest commendations for your work over the last few months," President Sio told him.
"Thank you sir."
"You have done well Captain Fisher, you and your crew should be proud," Sio told him, "That is why Delenn has asked for you to attend the ceremonies on Minbar."
"What ceremonies would those be?" Fisher asked.
"The victory celebrations and the reinstatement of the Centuari Republic to the Alliance, Captain."
"Of course sir, we will leave right away."
"Very good Captain, safe journey to you and your crew."
"Thank you very much sir.

Later, as he sat alone in his quarters brooding silently over a long cold meal of some unidentifiable substance, Fisher began to stare out into nothing. His thoughts turned to the last few pleasant moments he had spent with his wife near Orion only a few months before. He missed her terribly but had not spoken to her in so long he feared she would not recognize him.
Quietly he grabbed the picture from of the nearby stand.
"Open a channel to the Macedon, I'd like to speak to Captain Fluentes immediately. Highest priority."

"I remember the day the Interstellar Alliance was founded," Emperor Vir Cotto said as he addressed the ISA council. "I remember the sense of history being made and the happiness on the faces of so many people back on Babylon 5. I remember people taking about peace and security and about how the Galaxy would finally be safe for all people.
I also remember the day the that the war with the Alliance began and the destruction left behind by the combined forces of the ISA on my world in the same way I remember the devastation we left on Narn. I remember the day I discovered the Drakh were using my people and manipulating the Alliance and I remember the day the Drakh were exposed on Centuari Prime."
Vir paused for a moment as if to gather strength but quickly continued his address," I will remember this day, as will all of our histories, as the day when the Centuari Republic returned to the Interstellar Alliance and the road to peace was reopened.
For to long our people have been suspicious of each other, for that is the way our enemy desired it. This day will mark the beginning of the end for that time of suspicion and war. Our peoples will stand as one and face the pervasive darkness that still haunts our galaxy. We will not always agree but we will move as one or not at all."
"I remember the day I first arrived on Babylon 5, it was so large and so full of possibilities, I not sure I even appreciated the half of it. I'm not sure I ever will, but I embraced those possibilities when possible as so many of us have.
The Interstellar Alliance was born with the Centuari as a part of it and our absence as been a great hole in its very being. You were not complete without us as we were incomplete without you. It is very good to be home."

Fisher sat and watched as the Centuari Emperor gave his speech to the the council of the ISA. There was much passion in the words and a great deal of hope. There was very good reason to feel hope, the Vyron had withdrawn and were, from all reports, attacking the Drakh. The Drakh were for the most part trying to escape the hammer blows of the powerful Vyron fleets and doing their very best to hide in the shadows from which the came.
The Alliance was once again at peace, the Centuari had returned to fill their seat. The future was looking bright.
The ceremonies would be over soon and he would be awarded his second ISA Star of Valour medal. All Fisher really wanted was to return home, to Earth and spend time with his wife while taking the longest vacation of their lives.

Tork'ala was not a happy Drakh despite his quick rise to power. Dorack had left a vacuum of power after his death which had allowed for Tork'ala to assume his new position as Warleader of the Drakh. Unfortunately Dorack was to preoccupied with gaining revenge for the death of his even more foolish son Kor'Van. Had he focused of the true objective of the war the ISA would have been easily beaten.
Now the Drakh would have to go back into hiding to avoid the many fleets of ships that would gladly destroy all of the Drakh if given the opportunity.
What the Alliance did not yet realize was the the Drakh were far from defeated, the war was not yet over and possibly never would be.