For a long time, I've toyed with the idea of a B5 spinoff set in the first Shadow War and involving Babylon 4 and Valen. It would be tricky to work out all the exposition and ties to B5 while maintaining a smooth flow, but I think it could be done. I even wrote out a monologue for the first series to be voiced by Valen:
[show beauty shot of Babylon 4 surrounded by Earth ships
In the 23rd century, the Babylon Project was mankind's last, best hope for peace. But for the fourth Babylon station, fate had other plans.
show a Minbari fleet and command base being curbstomped by Shadow Battle Crabs
At the height of the Shadow war a thousand years earlier, all seemed lost. The Minbari Federation and its allies were outmatched, outgunned, and outnumbered. Nothing could stop the onslaught of the Shadows.
show scene of Valen, with some tie to the Earth Alliance: a Battle of the Line medal, an EA uniform badge, a split shot with Sinclair, whatever
But then, out of nowhere, came a new base of operations, and a great leader known as Valen. Little did the Minbari know, but these gifts came from the unlikeliest of places--a small, blue planet called Earth. They were brought from the future to save the past.
cut to logo scene from first three seasons of B5, modified to show a number 4 instead of 5
This is the story of the fourth Babylon station. The year is 1260. The name of the place...is Babylon 4.
The technology shown should be considerably behind that of B5 Minbari stuff. No Sharlin cruisers (those frigates seen in War without End will be used instead), with EA or Centauri style weaponry). I saw an excellent old Minbari fighter to replace the Nial in B4. The Babylon Project mod for FreeSpace 2 calls this ship the Tishat light fighter. It is slightly smaller than a Nial, and its lower wings are flat instead of sloped downward. It is armed with three pulsed fusion cannons (similar to the purple pulse weapons on the WhiteStar), that are much weaker than the Nial's neutron beams. And since a picture's worth a thousand words:
