By Elizabeth Ann Lewis

Prologue

And, most especially, to Perri and Chris, for being partners-in-crime, muses extraordinaire, and creating this little corner of the galaxy. Mingala and I thank you.

It was no hardship. She never resented the attention paid to her. To have done so would have been to reject everything she had worked towards for the past twelve years. To whine at this juncture about lack of privacy was akin to a painter complaining that all her works were being purchased away from her. Attention was the point. Attention was what she needed. Perhaps in fifty years she would crave privacy and silence. But not yet. Certainly not at her age.

They were already calling her the next Earth Alliance President. Which was wrong. She wouldn't be the next. The one after, she decided. Or even the one after that. But next was too soon, she was too young. The fact that she had publicly said she would not run, the fact that she had never held a political or military office didn't seem to stop the wagging tongues, though. Nothing did. She had done nothing but write a few books, make a few speeches, order into coherency and logic the opinions that her people held. But the woman renowned for her turn of phrase, her ability to annihilate an opponent with a well-chosen argument was, for many people on Earth, a respected figure of authority, no matter her age and lack of public position.

Her trip to Babylon 5 was the first careful step into the arena of politics. Ostensibly, she was coming to negotiate for a private Earth company. But everyone involved knew just how thin that reality was. If she accomplished what she wanted to, she would be the center of attention on Earth for as long as she wished.

And as ambitious and driven as she was, none of that meant as much as the knowledge that, if she accomplished her task, her world would once again belong to the human race, and her people would finally be safe from the enemies who would destroy them.