Sheridan looked at the "Delete" prompt, then at the "Broadcast" button. "Sometimes, Michael," he whispered, "the only way to build a future is to burn the past." He reached forward and pressed the key.
Garibaldi sat in his office, his feet up on the desk, staring at the flashing icon on his monitor. The file had been intercepted from a Centauri transport that hadn't officially cleared customs. It wasn't just data; it was a recording from the darkest days of the Shadow War.
Aboard the Earth Alliance station , the air in the Zocalo was thick with the scent of Pak'ma'ra delicacies and the low hum of a hundred different languages. Somewhere in the deep archives of the station's security grid, a single file— b5_085.mp4 —sat waiting to be decrypted. The Discovery b5_085.mp4
Maintaining a lie to keep the peace while the conspirators remained in the shadows.
The recording ended abruptly with the sound of a hull breach and the chilling screech of a Shadow vessel. Garibaldi realized that if this file went public, the fragile peace between Earth and the Interstellar Alliance would shatter before the day was out. The Choice Sheridan looked at the "Delete" prompt, then at
Commander Sheridan arrived moments later, his expression grim as he watched the loop. They had two options:
The footage showed a high-ranking EarthForce officer—someone long thought dead at the Battle of the Line—standing alongside a Shadow agent. They weren't captives; they were collaborating. The audio was distorted, but the words "Project Lazarus" and "Mars Colony" were unmistakable. The file had been intercepted from a Centauri
Fueling a new civil war on Earth but purging the corruption.
