AN: This is truly been a journey. Much thanks to all who have enjoyed the story over the years. Life has a way of getting in the way of the best of intentions to finish. As always, I do not own Babylon 5, J.M.S. is the one who created such an enduring series.

Epilogue Part 3

Deterrence Fleet
Hyperspace near Epsilon Eridani

Apart from the fleet buildup just prior to the Dilgar War, the collection of Terran Hegemony ships gathering in hyperspace was the largest known in quite some time. The abilities of the Provider system to create anything (literally anything for those units without a built-in limiter) of a military nature made the creation of numerous types of different warships very possible. Such was the variation that the Deterrence Fleet stopped trying to classify the various designs. The only criterion given was the minimum number of weapons in order for a ship to join the fleet, but no maximum was given as the maximum possible was only limited by the pilot's imagination.

The vast majority of Deterrence Fleet ships were the "one man" models already used to good effect against the Centauri's Royal Navy in a number of skirmishes and lightning raids. Other larger ships, those ships that used multiple "one man" models to create a larger vessel, were starting to form as eight or more smaller ships combined into larger ships. With more than three thousand ships, numerous larger ships could be formed or left in their "one man" forms. These "cruisers" and "dreadnoughts" started to form as the Deterrence Fleet gathered more and more ships. They were armed with some of the deadliest weaponry ever seen in the hands of the Hegemony (or any other power) and they were readying them for use against the Royal Navy. The first series of raids used missiles and several other "lighter" weaponry to lull the Royal Navy into a sense of complacency.

When the message from John Sheridan was received, the Deterrence Fleet increased readiness. Once John Sheridan's squadron joined them, they would make the transition to Epsilon Eridani and heaven help the Centauri. The large dreadnought-sized amalgamations of smaller warships and the "escort" cruisers were coming together nicely and would be a surprise for the Royal Navy. Even though the larger ships decreased the number of warships, more than one thousand would be on hand when the Deterrence Fleet would drive the Centauri from Hegemony space and all of the surviving ships would keep on pursuing them until the war ended.

The large dreadnought type ships were those that combined sixteen or more of the smaller ships into one larger vessel. These ships were dreaded over all others, especially as the ship captains were known to mount triple Hyperplasma Cutters on several of the main weapon modules. Each component ship would mount a single Cutter and a trio would combine their fire together to equal the firepower of the Triad's Triumviron. Since each ship had at least sixteen modules, the resulting dreadnought could carry multiple trios of Cutters. These large ships would be the most feared of the Hegemony's fleet when they jumped into Epsilon Eridani's space to take the war to the Centauri.

Word reached the Deterrence Fleet of the Vorlon artifact that had been destroyed in realspace by John Sheridan's fleet and their late arrival didn't impact their battleplan at all. Each ship chose to use their "usual" method of phase shifting from hyperspace into realspace. All of the ships that they had captured were left in gravitic eddies that were set aside as anchorages for them. Each had been disabled when the war started and had been left to fend for themselves. The same Neutron Burst weapon was now not to be found on any of the Deterrence Fleet ships. They were loaded for warfare, bloody warfare.

*-EH-*

Kantor's Hammer
Centauri Royal Navy Flagship
Epsilon Eridani

For the past few hours, the transmission from homeworld had repeated ad nauseum. The strength of the broadcast had been frightening and the message even more so for the Royal Navy. Their position had become extremely untenable here in the Hegemony's territory. Already every attempt to leave their perimeter, other than to retreat to their space, had ended in disaster. The Hegemony had kept up a constant series of attacks and feints that kept his people bottled up in the system. Now to make matters worse, the Jump Gate was inoperable. His people had checked out the beacon system and they were functioning correctly, but the Jump Gate was completely shut down. The deadline was in a few scant hours and he was forced to use the jump drives on their larger ships to hold open jump points for those ships unable to enter hyperspace to leave the system.

'Why oh why did I have to listen to my uncle?' was the thought going through the Royal Navy's commander as he contemplated going back to homeworld in defeat. He had planned the execution of the plan to invade the Hegemony's space and he would have to deal with the consequences of his actions, if he survived that is. He didn't expect to survive the Hegemony's return assault. He knew of the attack on his homeworld and who the attackers more than likely were. It wasn't impossible for him to imagine that he would be killed by the Hegemony when they showed up in their home system.

Even though Epsilon Eridani had been part of the Republic, it had not been habitable and was of little strategic importance. It had been part of the territory ceded to the Hegemony following the signing of the Treaty of Vega and the Hegemony had been the owners of the territory for the past century and a half. It wasn't beyond any possibility that they had learned all they could about the system and knew the best locations to enter it from hyperspace. In fact he wasn't surprised that they were probably there in hyperspace right now and just waiting on the deadline to approach.

Already the few stations that could be moved were in the process of moving into hyperspace. They would stay there in hyperspace until the fleet could join them and the Admiral hoped that the Hegemony would not attack them there in hyperspace. 'Only a fool would attack someone in hyperspace.'

"Orders to go out immediately to all fleet ships: they are to make their way into hyperspace as soon as possible. Any ship unable to make the jump is to be abandoned. I want us out of here sooner rather than later as I suspect the Hegemony will be here soon enough."

No sooner had his words left his mouth did several sensor operators call out that numerous ships had just appeared within the Epsilon Eridani star system.

"Great Maker! Get an ID on those ships as soon as you are able to do so. Prepare defensive positions and have all gun batteries armed."

Seeing the young ratings still gaping at the displays made the Admiral angry.

"Get to it! We don't have much time. Power up the jump drive and get us out of here!"

*-EH-*

Chaos abounded as the numerous Hegemony ships all appeared in the star system. They were motionless following their unusual arrival method and it unnerved the Centauri fleet crews. They tried to get their ships into hyperspace, but too many of them were afraid of the glowing luminescent numbers that appeared on all of their displays. It was a countdown timer and it was slowly ticking down to 00:00.

00:45

Ships were turning aside as they tried to maneuver to bring their jump drives away from any gravity sources. Their ships did not have the more advanced jump drives as Terran ships and they couldn't jump so closely to the various planetoids and planets in the system. Little did they know that the Hegemony fleet had used a number of Lagrange points in the system to arrange their fleet and it only appeared as though they had preternatural positioning abilities.

00:31

The first Centauri ships were able to jump and they soon joined their brethren in hyperspace. All ships took to station keeping as they waited for their fellow crews to make their own jumps. There were no actual formations, but rather they were scattered haphazardly as different ships opened up jump points.

00:10

With so little time remaining, several ships reported that they were having some problems. The larger ships, dreadnoughts all, had the most problems. Of course they had the problems due to the Gremlins secreted across the ships. The Great Machine's control center had activated all of them and used their sub-routines to disable the larger ships. The smaller ships and freighters all had Gremlins as well and they were set to detonate as soon as they came close enough to the other ships in hyperspace. As the Centauri ships began to maneuver closer, explosions began to detonate within the ships. Cargo began to spill out into hyperspace and several munitions carrying ships spilled out numerous examples that started a chain reaction of explosions interdicting hyperspace.

As word reached the Admiral, he swore mightily as his ships experienced damage in hyperspace from some malady. He didn't know if it was the Terrans who were causing the problem or if it were something else. He knew that the First Ones had left, but didn't know that for certain. He had heard numerous rumors of their combat capabilities in hyperspace and he prayed to the whole Centauri pantheon that he wouldn't have to face off with First Ones. The god's have a cruel sense of humor as he was dealing with the ones who gained the most from the First Ones.

00:00

As the countdown clock counted down to the fateful deadline of the Terran ultimatum to exit the Epsilon Eridani system, the numerous Terran warships began to maneuver. The largest dreadnoughts began to align their heaviest weapons and the Royal Navy ships could only watch in impotent disbelief as the energy signatures of the Terran ships climbed past any known warship and continued to climb. The usual ECM gear that prevented knowledge of Terran power levels had been turned off to make a point for the Centauri. The Hyperplasma Cutters were the first weapons to open fire and soon enough other large cannons began to join them.

The Centauri attempted to maneuver to bring their own weaponry to bear, but too many of the ships were out of position as they tried and failed to leave the system with their jump drives. One after another ship erupted in explosions as their jump drives were detonated with full power loads. This added to the extreme confusion of the situation and the various Centauri dreadnoughts all began to take heavy hits that sliced through them. Return fire was desultory and ineffectual. Reinforcing the Terran dreadnoughts were the larger cruiser-analogues and the smaller one man craft. Heavy weapons fired and fired as numerous ships were hit and Gremlins detonated against the hulls of multiple ships.

Hyperspace was no better as the Gremlins did their grisly task of disrupting the Centauri fleet as they tried to flee. Only those ships that were newly arrived in the Epsilon Eridani system lacked the Gremlins on their hull and those ships that had been there the longest had the most. Each of the starbases that had been "saved" and brought into hyperspace detonated with massive fury as the Gremlins burrowed deeply into each station. With their backs broken and their ships scattered by the explosions, the starbases littered hyperspace in all directions. Navigation into and out of hyperspace became extremely problematic for the Royal Navy and only half of the ships that left the Epsilon Eridani system managed to escape. The Royal Navy could only flee directly to Beta 3 "across" the border and many ships tried to push on to Gorash, even though that particular jump route was dangerous to travel.

Those ships trapped at Epsilon Eridani attempted to surrender and to their surprise, the surrender was accepted. They had been afraid of losing their lives in this gods-forsaken place and couldn't contemplate the exact reason why the Hegemony seemed so generous to them. They knew that had the tables been turned they would not have been so generous. Heaving a sigh of relief, they powered down their ships and waited for instructions from their captors. Told to hold position, several smaller Terran ships began to move to surround them in a three dimensional holding area. To their surprise, the ships that had ventured out began to appear in this area as well. They had been brought from the dimensional area in hyperspace where they had been trapped by the Terran ships using their dimensional jump drives to move the ships.

Crews began to talk over short range communications and they were allowed to do so, but they quickly found that any attempt to go further was blocked by heavy jamming. Waiting for anything else to happen, the Royal Navy crews took a moment for quiet contemplation of what the situation was like on homeworld and just how badly the conspirators had "screwed the pooch."

*-EH-*

Centaurum Chambers
Centauri Prime

The Centaurum Chamber had changed from times past. No longer was there a space for the Emperor to sit, but rather a multitude of small chairs grouped together in its place. The co-conspirators all sat according to their perceived ranks and sat in place of the Emperor. Emperor Mollari had finally passed just before the Hegemony had put forward their ultimatum and even with the madness going on in orbit, the conspirators chose that moment to put forward their plans. They had taken over the Centaurum and their word would now be law. Already they had been forced to bar the way from those who were their opponents and others who chose to remain neutral. Only those who supported them were allowed to enter the Centaurum Chambers as they began their plans to change Centauri society into their own mold.

Gone would be the disastrous policies of House Mollari and in their place would be their own Houses as the measure of a true Centauri House. The only problem to arise was that each House thought that they were correct and their fellow conspirators were in the wrong. Their arguments lasted for hours and very little were done. Even the guards over the doorways had gone home in boredom and they were left there for hours alone. As they first started to notice this state, they quickly found that the doors to the chamber had been locked as well. With the situation being unknown to them, they didn't understand the situation until the first energy weapon strike shattered part of the Centaurum Chamber.

Ion shots began to rain down on them and they found out why they had been left behind. Their insurrection was at an end and the other Houses were trying to end the rebellion. The chambers could be rebuilt, but the Republic was eternal. The conspirators ran about in horror as more and more of the historic chamber was destroyed by the remains of the Royal Navy. All other ships were forced away and could only watch in horror as Centauri Prime was pummeled from orbit. Little did they know that the Hegemony was watching the actions courtesy of Gremlins attached to several of the hulls present there.

As the Gremlins sent their transmissions on to Hegemony ships, those same ships were travelling toward Centauri Prime as fast as their marvelous jump drives could carry them. They wanted to be there to end this farce of a war one way or another. Racing forward the first elements of the Terran fleet made their jump into Centauri Prime's system. They used the "traditional" method to open their jump points so that the Centauri would know that someone was coming for them. That they made the trip in less than a day was of a frightening prospect for the Centauri, especially since the Royal Navy was still enroute (those ships that managed to escape the massacre at Epsilon Eridani).

As the last of the Royal Navy fired down on the former Centaurum Chambers, the Terran ships began to arrive around the Centauri homeworld. Frantic communications were launched in an attempt to ascertain why the Terran ships were there and their intentions. Silence greeted all attempts at communications. More and more Terran ships continued to arrive and they brought with them larger and larger ships (all of a type not seen before by the Centauri). As the final ship of the Terran fleet made its way in-system, the rest of the Terran Deterrence Fleet moved along with it. Finally, communications were received that went out to everyone across the galaxy.

"We are here now to end this war. You have attacked us and we have answered you. You see here our mighty power and we give you this one and only chance to surrender. We know about the conspirators and are heartened that you have taken the first step to rid yourselves of the cancer they represented. What say you?"

That set those few surviving Centaurum members scrambling to find a communications circuit to use to contact the Hegemony force coming their way. Such was the scramble that by the time the Hegemony fleet had traveled only half way to Centauri Prime, they had been contacted by no less than ten members of the Centaurum all of whom were asking about terms for the war to end. It would have been comical had it not been so pathetic. All such communications were ignored and the few Royal Navy ships in orbit began to move to defensive positions against the oncoming fleet.

The Terran fleet stopped just outside the outer reaches of the defensive collection of OSATs and Starbases just outside the surface of the planet. They slowly began to spread out releasing a number of smaller fighter-sized ships that slowly began to cover the whole world in ships. The surviving Royal Navy ships had to move more and more into the atmosphere of the planet as they shied away from the Terran ships. On the planet, the population could only watch in horror (another after the capital city had been rocked by weapons fire from their own ships) as ships began to encircle their world. Angry mobs began to form as members of the Centaurum tried to hide from their people.

Those ten Centaurum members realized, almost too late, that they would have to work together in order to appease the Terrans. Slowly they began to hash out who would speak for the group and finally Gerald Jaddo was selected as his House already had a cordial relationship with the Terrans. They had heard of the mobs and were holed up in a private home that was used mostly for liaisons between junior members of House Jaddo and their paramours.

"Terran fleet, we surrender to you completely. Hold off on your attack."

Silence greeted the proclamation before he was answered.

"Do you speak with the authority of the Republic or are you one of the conspirators?"

Shocked that the Terrans had known about their ill-advised Civil War, Gerald Jaddo fell silent for a moment before answering them back.

"I do, we have come to a consensus, those of us who remain. We are only ten of those who once sat on the Centaurum. The conspirators had us removed and others as well and sat over their own counsel. The surviving Royal Navy units here decided to end the revolution and had the Centaurum Chambers destroyed and with it the war is over."

"Very well. A negotiator will be sent in shortly to deal with you. When your Royal Navy arrives here, they are to disarm completely or face being destroyed. We have others of your Navy who have been captured and will be repatriated once an accord is reached with you."

With a sigh, Gerald Jaddo released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. It would be tough to see what would happen to the people of Centauri Prime and the Republic as well. Their own actions and hands were not clean and the situation was not good. His hope was that the Terran negotiator was not the same as they used in terrorist situations. The historical dramas showed a negotiator being sent in who executed the speaker and it was asked where the individual had learned such negotiation skills. That it had been an alien who had been executed and a Terran who had done it still filled him with terror.

Time would tell and the hope was that the Terrans would be generous…

*-EH-*

The times had changed truly for the galaxy as the war between the Terran Hegemony and the Centauri Republic came to an end. It had been short in duration, a length that surprised many, and not at all bloody with few killed on either side. The large number of ships returned to the Centauri surprised them most of all. Their crews had not been killed and their stories of what had happened in hyperspace caused so many others around the galaxy to begin to fear the capabilities of the Terrans. They had showed a mastery of hyperspace and gravity that surpassed the First Ones in some ways.

The Minbari also received several of their ships back and told not to mess with situations that were not in their knowledge base. The Rangers were frightened of what happened and without the Shadows around to go to war with had reduced the Minbari to little more than a minion race without their masters to control them. This same state had so many others showing a great deal of fear towards the Terrans. The irony of the situation was that the once mighty "Lion of the Galaxy" had been reduced to less than a kitten and so many others cowered before the Terrans.

The large number of explorers going around the galaxy and finding locations of archaeological significance made the Terrans who were doing the exploring sought after by many of the races. Even though no technology was ever given to these races, they did gain the territory (after paying out some finder fees) and their appreciation of the Terran Hegemony went up considerably. Stories were told of ships that appeared when they were most needed to end a famine or to rescue a ship lost in hyperspace.

All through it, the peace accord with the Centauri remained the one piece of history that would result in the most unlikely of all events. The peace with the Centauri solidified the borders for all time and the Centauri were barred from entry into the Hegemony for the period of a century. The joint ventures between several Terran groups and the Centauri Royal Houses were all turned over to the Centauri and the worlds were actually moved directly to Centauri space. Being able to move an entire world and place it where it could be best used showed the Centauri the power of the Hegemony in a grand manner. Other races began to clamor for more and more to be done by the Hegemony for them. This situation became intolerable for so many in the Hegemony and something would have to be done to resolve the situation.

The solution as it came to be known was elegant in its simplicity. The Hegemony had a piece of technology that they used from time to time in their employ: extra-dimensional jump drives. The Hegemony would find a new galaxy to inhabit through use of their dimensional jump drives. All of their worlds and Inside out worlds would be moved to a new galaxy. A vote would be put forward to all of the inhabitants of the Hegemony. Each person above the age of sixteen would get a vote for the plan to move to another galaxy. The only alien species who would be told of this situation were the Narn, Markab, and Dilgar. Of the three, two were already members of the Hegemony (though the Dilgar were more of a protectorate) and the Markab were closely linked to the Hegemony after the drafa plague had been cured by the Hegemony's scientists.

One of the stranger moments came when both Bureau 13 and the HRAD (Hegemony Research and Development) were questioned about why they were not opposing the move. It was later revealed that both organizations had already thought of this same idea and had been moving some of their facilities away from the Milky Way galaxy to both the Ida and Pegasus galaxies. Both galaxies had been scouted by the Walkers and their database had been updated by the Bureau's scouts. With so many of their facilities already moved, it was explained that they were waiting on everyone else to decide to join them. It was only the war with the Centauri that had kept them from moving everything else away and it was also why so few ships were available for the Deterrence Fleet.

The simple thought having to move away from everyone else because of their unreasonable demands caused many Hegemony citizens' moments of heartache. They had grown up here in this galaxy and to think that they would have to move away made them a bit angry at the inhabitants who were forcing them away. The arguments for both sides raged for weeks until the Senate and Council of Lords called for the vote. The plan that was set in motion, after getting a massive vote of 72% of the population over the age of sixteen, was to be called Operation Exodus. It called for the entirety of the planets and Inside out worlds to be moved fully to the Ida galaxy. HRAD facilities and Bureau 13 facilities would be moved to the Pegasus galaxy and with the extra-dimensional jump drives of Provider supplied ships, Terran citizens would still be able to travel to the Milky Way galaxy as needed.

The plans were carried out in complete secrecy with only the Babylon Stations remaining as the last bastions of Terran might. It was ironic that Aldeberan was vacated of all Terran citizens and the prisoners were left to their own devices. They had no way of leaving the planet behind and oh so unfortunately for them, they consisted of male prisoners only. There was no chance of them breeding and having their own families to make the world habitable for others. In some ways it was a far crueler punishment than killing them. All across the bounds of Terran Hegemony space (and other parts outside of it for the more secret installations), Terran planets were set to be moved. By the end of 2280 all of the planets would be moved directly to the Ida galaxy while the HRAD and Bureau 13 installations would be moved to the Pegasus galaxy.

In order for the move to remain secret, all of the Babylon Stations would remain in place until each could be brought offline, ostensibly for "upgrades and repairs." That particular line would work well enough for the various aliens to keep them from knowing the truth of the matter. Slowly the Babylon Stations would be rendered down into their component parts by Providers for that particular purpose and only Babylon Station 3 would remain in the galaxy. By the New Year of 2281, the entirety of the Hegemony will have been moved to both Pegasus and Ida. Of course keeping all of that a secret was an immense problem as each of the various races out there wanted more and more attention, especially from the victors over the Centauri (this time without a treaty).

The Narn had been given the opportunity to travel with the Hegemony to one of the new locations, but instead chose to stay behind. They were a relatively young race and wanted to see more of their home galaxy. They were warned that if they stayed behind, they would remain that way for all time. They might see some of the galaxy explorers from time to time, but for the most part they would be alone in space. None of the more advanced systems would remain behind for them to use and they would have only the few pieces of advanced systems with which to defend their worlds. They were content to live out their existence in such a way.

The Dilgar were a special case and would remain so until offered a place in our Exodus. They were still pariahs on the galactic stage and were stuck on their sole holding of Mitoc. The League had tried and failed numerous times to exterminate them for their actions during the 2230's, but had failed each and every time (even with the assistance of the Drakh). When offered a chance to join the Exodus, the Dilgar eagerly chose to join with humanity in another galaxy. Even being told that they would not be joining the Hegemony in either the Ida or Pegasus galaxies dimmed their fervor. They were instead given the chance to colonize the Andromeda galaxy. They would be able to take Mitoc if they chose to, but the Dilgar decided against taking the world. They wanted the Milky Way as a whole to wonder about where they had gone and to keep looking over their collective shoulders for them as a "boogeyman."

The Markab were a special case as well but remained their own power. They had tried to expand outward when given better sensors and jump drives, but were unable to advance past their original worlds. Even with the drafa plague cured, there still remained a cultural taboo against those who were cured. These individuals had gladly decided to join with humanity on their quest to leave the Milky Way behind and Markab society fractured as some chose to remain while other chose to leave. It was a bittersweet moment for many of the Markab who chose to join with humanity. Those who remained behind were given access to Hegemony space to expand further, but were told that the Narn had an equal "say" as well to the territory left behind. They could never tell anyone of where humanity went once they agreed to the bargain. Reluctantly, the Markab as a whole agreed and split apart to either remain in the Milky Way or to join with humanity in the other galaxies.

*-EH-*

2281 dawned as any other year before, but changes were felt by all in unique ways. The lack of any notice surprised many when they found that all of the Babylon Stations had gone offline. The entry-ways into Hegemony space remained there in the systems that once held the Babylon Stations, but nothing of those Terran spacestations remained there. Each system was devoid of anything. Planets remained where they were, but nothing was found on them. Eventually the other races in the galaxy began to venture further into where the Hegemony once held sway. They came upon a single station at Proxima Centauri and found it nearly deserted. The once vibrant station held nothing at all of the grandeur it once held. The spaces set aside for other races to sell their wares remained, but nothing remained of the Terran shop keepers.

The station had been stripped entirely with only a few of the commercially available Vorlon-derived energy sources powering the station. All of the manufacturing complexes had been removed and wide expanses of the station were completely devoid of life. The weapon systems had been removed as well and the control room had been stripped to bare elements. A single holographic display showed the status of the Jump Gates under Terran control and the first person who walked through the station found a flashing light. Throwing caution to the wind, the Abbai Matriarch touched the flashing light on the display. Before her eyes she saw a video begin to play.

"If you are viewing this message it is our intent to let you know that humanity has left the galaxy. We are here no more to stay. It is because of you that we have left you behind. You won't be able to travel with us and any attempt to do so will be met with force."

The display changed to show the four Jump Gates in Terran space to be highlighted. Jump routes could be seen as well from those four gates to the rest of the gates in the galaxy. Beacons were highlighted as well on the display.

"The Jump Gates in our space will remain operational for as long as they are powered and remain untouched by entropy. We will do nothing to keep others from traveling through what was our space. We have gifted parts of our space to our friends and it is up to them to defend their new territories. We give warning that they will resist you fiercely if you choose to take our space. To make things equal, we have replaced those systems that have been changed by our gravitic mining and that now remains open for all to use."

The Matriarch watched as sensors began to show the gravitic eddies changing to where they were now navigable and a quick conversation with her explorer ship confirmed that as well. She hoped that they would be able to find something left behind by the Terrans, but didn't hold out hope for it. The display continued on while she was thinking and she had to scramble to find the controls and repeated the next section.

"… shops are available for as long as the station has power. We have removed everything from the station, aside from the power generation system. You are welcome to remove that as well, but the station will no longer work if you do so. You're welcome to live here so long as the biosphere generators keep operational and the atmosphere scrubbers work."

The Matriarch looked around in a bit of confusion and saw that the land masses that once dominated the station's biosphere had been left alone, but none of the flowering plants or fruit trees were still there. They would have to import their own food and other necessities if they wanted to use the station at all. She was more than a bit surprised to see a Terran walk past her without a care in the world. She raced forward to stop the man as he looked wistfully around at the state of the station.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The Terran stopped for a moment and looked at her oddly, though she couldn't quite be certain of that. A smile crossed his face as he turned toward her. His method of dress was odd even for someone from the Hegemony (in that he wore shorts and a brightly colored shirt) and a small globe floated over his left shoulder like an obedient pet. The youthful face regarded the Matriarch for a moment before answering her questions.

"I'm Samuel Ishida, I was the Governor General of Babylon Station 5 and I wanted to see what had been done to the old stations one last time."

The Matriarch started for a moment, she had heard of his name. He had indeed been in charge of that particular Babylon Station, but that was almost forty human years ago. He didn't look that old to her eyes. It must be a son or relative having some fun at her expense. It still didn't answer her questions and she turned to follow along as the Terran had started to walk forward after she had paused. She had to run as the Terran went toward the main docking bays on the side of the station. From what she remembered of the station's architecture, there were a number of secondary launch bays around the lower base of the habitation section. It appeared that Samuel was heading to those bays.

"What are you doing here Samuel? What happened to your people?"

The response to the questions chilled her to her core as Samuel turned to face her with eyes that seemed backlit. His lack of speaking spoke much to her as he picked up his pace and entered the docking bay.

"I wouldn't try to follow me. Of course, that's up to you."

That seemed to the Matriarch as if he were crazy as the bay ahead was open to space, but she could only gape in shock as the Terran entered the bay and closed the door behind him. Nothing happened to him! 'He's in a vacuum and isn't dead.' The globe over his shoulder came to life and before her very eyes a ship was created! Samuel entered the small ship and the small ship shot off into space. She hurried over to a row of windows that were part of the viewing gallery for the docking area and watched as the ship sped away quickly. Instead of opening a jump point the ship disappeared from her eyes. It was only later after examining the sensor logs of her ship did she see that the ship slipped into hyperspace with nary a ripple of space.

'What did we do to annoy them so much? Was it someone else who caused it or were we the cause of it?'

Those thoughts would be asked by many within the galaxy as they contemplated just where the Terrans had gone.

*-EH-*

The galaxy in the future had changed drastically, but so too could it be said about the Pegasus, Ida, and Andromeda galaxies as well. Life continued on in the Milky Way as races came to sentience and sapience and then went away as life usually does. The "normal" races that walked the galaxy passed away in the three hundred years that passed by without any undue influence from the Terrans and they quickly passed into folklore and myth. Much like the First Ones, the Terrans became the "boogeyman" to frighten children into acting properly and many others encountered them only rarely and briefly.

Seeing a Terran soon became much like Technomages of the past age, they heralded portents and special events and became sought after for their blessings on daily life. Others chose to see them as a harbinger of destruction as those few who saw them rarely lived to say much more about it. Over time little more was seen of them as humanity chose very rarely to leave their galaxies of habitation.

Humanity went through a number of cycles once they fully mapped out their new home galaxies. Both the Ida and Pegasus galaxies had no other sapient or sentient species to be found and no other species aside from a few plants were found. Their move to these new galaxies, undertaken for an entire year, saw the original worlds being moved from the Milky Way. They "replaced" the original worlds in the new systems in both Ida and Pegasus and allowed for the wide scale move of the entire human population of the Milky Way. The other unintended consequence of moving planets back and forth was that each planet could be swapped and it would leave the rest of the galaxy wondering if humanity ever existed. Of course the number of Inside out worlds compounded the issue, but they were moved around as well.

Life remained much the same as before for those transplanted to their new home galaxies. The use of the extra-dimensional jump drive made it all possible for them to return to the Milky Way as needed, but soon enough that need began to diminish for many people. Life began to turn inward for much of humanity as people began to question their current way of life. Many chose to form societies and fraternal orders that were built on the ideal of a pastoral way of life. Rather than completely giving up on technology, these orders and societies chose to use their Providers to create machinery and tools to live an agrarian lifestyle, but without the heavy sweat of the brow or the labor intensive methods of the past. They began little more than life re-creation groups who chose to move away from their current way of life.

On the other side of the spectrum were the various HRAD groups and the Bureau. They kept pushing the boundaries and decided to colonize more and more of their galaxies to the utmost with numerous science experiments. Their influence caused a number of worlds to be created where development was accelerated and science was furthered even more than in the past. This of course created problems with the more "traditionalist" minded members of humanity, but the "advancers" kept pushing the boundaries of science even further. Where the traditionalists chose to no longer travel to the Milky Way, the advancers were the ones who maintained a large number of science experiments there. Indeed, many of the sightings of Terrans were of the advancers visiting their once "home" galaxy.

As time went along, those who chose to remain on Terra or in their galaxies alone also chose to slowly give up more and more of their advanced technology. It was only by the centuries of geneering that allowed them to live for so long and in such primitive conditions. Those who chose to continue onward, pushing forward to advance humanity much like the First Ones did so in a far faster progression. Where it took thousands or even millions of years for the First Ones of the Milky Way to advance to a non-corporeal form, it took barely two hundred for the advancers. Instead of using encounter suits or other such nonsense, they chose to become "one" with their Providers and their Provider supplied ships. These ships could be found flitting across the gaps between galaxies and through the boundaries of hyperspace itself.

*-EH-*

Proxima Centauri
Milky Way Galaxy
October 2590

Life tried to go on in the Milky Way once it became known that the entire Terran species had left the galaxy behind. Others moved into their territory in an effort to strip it of anything of value, but they ran into difficulties when the Narn and Markab forcibly removed anyone from their space. Nothing of value was ever found that was high technology and the galaxy mourned their chance at quick ascension to technological freedom. Little was seen accomplished and for a time the galaxy was plunged into a Dark Age of technological decline and wars of little value.

Even the once mighty Babylon Station 3 at Proxima Centauri had fallen on bad times as the structure was inhabited by several collections of squatters. They had been attracted to the station by the prospect of "free" space and not wanting to work for it, they quickly took over the station. Only the old Vorlon-derived power supply kept the station operational. Without the nanoware self-repair however, the station soon became run down and ramshackle in appearance. The aliens who had set up shop in the former shopping district soon went away as they had to import even the most basic of supplies. Soon cost outweighed a "safe" place to do business and the station began to decline.

A small flash of light appeared in the system as several strange craft arrived there. The trio of ships began to maneuver around the station as if they were scanning it. Very few life forms were found on the station and all of them appeared to be in the main biosphere area. Two of the ships moved on to the rear of the station and the power generation area while the other ship moved on to the main docking bays.

"Such a waste to see this station left like this John."

"I agree Michael. What have you and Susan found so far?"

"Nothing much left in place. Micrometeoroids have done a number on some of the power generation systems and the general neglect has compounded the issue. Still, I'm impressed that the station has lasted this long."

"They were built to last, that much is true. I'm going to check out the squatter situation. You two see if you can get the power supplies in place to get the station into a kind of working order."

"Roger that John."

The sole ship moved almost lazily toward the port docking bay. The bay yawned open and the main struts were heavily pitted from micrometeoroids and what looked to be weapons fire. The super dense alloy had survived for quite some time, but even it had a breaking point as parts of the bay remained open to space.

'Good thing I don't need a spacesuit to walk over.'

As the ship came into the bay, it began to glow as the ship reformed into a person-sized figure. The still-glowing figure floated serenely through the ruined launch bay before passing through the main hatch into the station. John Sheridan wrinkled his nose at the atrocious smell of unwashed bodies (alien ones at that) and mold and decay in the station. So much had changed in the years since Samuel Ishida had last seen the place and the video of that event didn't quite do it justice to what John was now seeing.

As he moved out of the bay, several aliens approached him drawn as they were by the strange noise. They looked in fright at his glowing form and ran away as fast as they could run. Taking this all in stride, John's form began to shift into that of a humanoid figure wearing a long robe and holding a staff.

'The Technomage look, always priceless' was the wry thought that went through John's head as he began to walk at a sedate pace through the station on his way to the main control center. His implants were already showing him that Michael Garibaldi and Susan Ivanova, the two others in his team, were already in place in the power generation area of the station. Their duty was to get the station's massive gravitic drives online to begin moving the station away from where it sat by the old Jump Gate. The original plan had been for them to detonate the Vorlon power sources, but it was later decided to recycle the station into the newest form and move it back to Pegasus.

Demolishing the station would have been dramatic enough, but the new plan had a real flair for the dramatic instead of a flashy explosion. John's role was to limit the loss the life, more for his conscience than any great love for aliens. The station was still Terran property and they had come to take it back and away from the life of privation that it was currently under. As he got closer to the main control room, his sensors began to show more and more alien life signatures around him. His sensors were fine-tuned enough to pick up energy weapons being readied. Heaving a sigh past his lips, John brought his personal shielding up to full power and altered his form to that of a four armed figure. The top set of arms ended in paired cannon muzzles and the lower set of arms gripped bladed weapons.

As he stepped out in his new form, John had enough time to see a veritable host of aliens ahead of him. He saw some Brakiri (they must have left their prison behind by now), Abbai, Drazi, something that looked like a Yolu, and strangely enough some Minbari. A varied collection of energy weapons shot out toward him and impacted impotently against his energy field.

"My turn."

The salvo of weapons from the top pair of arms scythed through the crowd with both arms starting from the sides and meeting in the middle of the crowd. A line of burning holes and jagged slashes from horrific beam weaponry was all that could be seen. Those few who were smart among them dropped to the deck to escape the weapons fire directed at them. Those who did not were split in half by the beam weaponry or ripped to shreds by the pulses fired at them. A few of the Minbari had decided to duck down and they came up with their den'boks at the ready. Rushing forward the Minbari were dealing with bloodlust and didn't plan their attacks. Their minds were on their personal honor and each came at John's form with no plan or tactics.

The lower set of arms began to spin the blades that they held as the upper set of arms retracted the muzzles back so that they would not be in the way, but still available should one of the Minbari be foolish enough to give him a free shot. Den'bok and blade clashed time and again. Battling two or three at a once, John was forced to give ground until he was backed against a wall. The two surviving Minbari were grinning ferally at him as they closed in to deliver the final death blow. At the last moment, John's form turned incorporeal and their den'boks passed through his now immaterial form. Shocked by the reversal, neither Minbari saw the blade that decapitated their bodies. Shaking his head at the slaughter around him, John slowly made his way to the control room.

"You two all set back there?"

"We are, but we heard one hell of a racket, what was going on?"

"I found some violent squatters and took care of them. The control room is now cleared out. Both of you get up here and we'll get this grand old station back home."

A pair of replies was all the answer that he needed as he turned his gaze upon the control interfaces that were hidden in the room. A pedestal rose up before him and John began to enter in a lengthy code. The subspace channel was opened and a set of commands gave the controls in the control room their new duties. With that accomplished, John released his form back to his "usual" one and released the quartet of Providers that he personally used. The quartets held by Michael and Susan soon joined his as they joined him in the control room. Not a word was spoken, but the data streams were expletive filled as they both passed the carnage outside the room.

The Providers began to move around the station following their programming changing the molecular structure at the quantum level. The bodies were used as "fuel" for the changes and the station's interior began to be changed completely. John, Michael, and Susan all shifted their own bodies into a phased state that let them watch as the last remnant of Terran society in the Milky Way was shifted into a new form. The long tubular station was shrunk down and remade into a new shape. A massive sphere at the center of the station measuring over forty kilometers in diameter was the first part to be remade. Intertwined with the structure of the sphere was a smaller series of spheres three kilometers in diameter that all were connected together to form a helical chain around the sphere and connected with two small spheres "above" and "below" the main sphere. The upper and lower spheres were each eight kilometers in diameter and the chains of smaller three kilometer spheres joined them to the larger center sphere.

As the station's form shifted, the trio phase shifted into the center of the massive sphere and watched as the complex biosphere formed. Flowering plants and fruit trees were planted and at the very center of the sphere, a plasma sphere that would provide light to the station came to life. The use of gravitics made it possible for the freshwater seas and land masses to remain in place without rotation. The upper and lower spheres were inspected as well and their specialist habitats were firmly in place as well. The final step was to move the newly made station on to the Pegasus galaxy. Calling their Providers back to their bodies, the trio began to change back into their ship form.

Engaging the extra-dimensional jump drive, the trio began to feed power into their jump drives to encompass the station. As they were doing this a trio of jump points opened that disgorged a small fleet of ships. They had come when powerful signals had been spotted in the system. Narn and Markab ships came out to see their friends off, but others had come to exact a measure of vengeance against the Terrans. All were surprised to see the massive station that had replaced the old Babylon Station and even more so the trio of small ships that were slowly drawing the new station out of this galaxy. Before either side could do anything, the trio of ships and the station disappeared from view as a massive doorway in space was opened between the Milky Way galaxy and far off Pegasus.

Humanity had left their home behind for good.

*-EH-*

The centuries continued to pass the quartet of galaxies by. Life continued on in the Milky Way, though wars remained the norm for so many. It appeared as though humanity was the control rods that kept warfare from springing forth for so long. Human societies in Pegasus and Ida continued on down their divergent paths. Even the Dilgar in Andromeda continued on, though their own society went through some upheavals as they reverted to old ways of life. Stranded as they were in Andromeda it mattered little for humanity what they did, though some scientists did keep an eye on some of their "investments" there.

Regardless of which side humanity came to embrace; be it traditionalist or advancer, both factions kept their disputes amicable. Indeed in the end, the two factions chose to inhabit their own galaxy, but kept the lines of communication open. With the traditionalists inhabiting the Ida galaxy and the advancers staying in the Pegasus galaxy the two sides had little in common other than their original roots as humanity. The one event that brought both sides together was when they traveled to the Sol system to witness the death of their star. It wasn't much to look at, but it was their star that had been home to their original solar system. Across three galaxies, events ground to a halt as a team of explorers went to the site where everything changed.

The Sol system had changed as the star had begun to expand into a Red Giant star. Already Mercury and Venus were engulfed by the expanding gases and Terra would be next. Watching from a vantage point near the Oort Cloud and with a bevy of specialist satellites that were hidden by phase shifting, the onlookers watched as the inner parts of the solar system was completely engulfed by the massive red Sol. A moment of silence was honored as all those alive remembered their past life in this galaxy and they reflected on what had passed them by. Just as quickly as they had been in their galaxy of birth, the observers returned to their lives. Humanity still lived on and was following their own path in the universe.

-Fin-

AN: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment and leave reviews for me. It has taken quite some time and was finished during a tough period of my life, but the story is now finished. I don't have any plans for Omakes or sequels, but if you would like to do so, please let me know to give you my blessing.