Book excerpt: The Drakh have assaulted Earth with deadly Shadow technology -- but the worst is yet to come in this stunning continuation of the Babylon 5 epic adventure... Centauri Prime has been infiltrated by malevolent allies of the Shadows, creatures known as the Drakh. While Centauri citizens continue to rebuild their war-torn planet, their secret masters work feverishly toward one ultimate goal: to crush the Interstellar Alliance once and for all. As the Drakh carry out their horrific plans, Emperor Londo Mollari languishes on his throne, a puppet of the Drakh-bred keeper, an insidious creature that monitors his every thought, word, and action. While the emperor broods, the power-obsessed Lord Durla -- an unwitting Drakh pawn -- follows his own agenda. But Drakh control is not absolute. Vir Cotto -- a most unlikely hero -- has begun a resistance movement, and Alliance President John Sheridan has sent his most trusted troubleshooter, Michael Garibaldi, to investigate. Yet this move may prove costly, and though the Centauri continue to build a new military machine, the Alliance avoids any overt confrontation, hoping the problem will go away. They're about to discover how wrong they are...