Pardon me, but you aren't thinking that the Shadows are going to ARRIVE, are you? The universe is pretty much in chaos already, if you look through it, the only time it wasn't in chaos was for a span of about half a century near(ish) the beginning, and perhaps half a centure near(ish) the current stopping point. As I see it, if the Shadows aren't already here, then they don't exist.

Also remember that the Shadows have several joyful bits of nastiness in addition to 'fast ships'. Their ships are organic, alive, and breed. All they need is a mind to pilot and control their ships. In B5, telepaths were used. In this they COULD use Psi Corps people, and almost certainly are/will, but remember that many other races exist. Including races that emerge from biosculpt tanks.

Shadows have a few other neat abilities, including stealth technology and a method of accessing hyperspace that puts both classic hyperspace and this new metaspace to shame. They have hunter-killer races at their beck and call, and don't ever strike with their own ships except in the final blows of war. Final blows which do not currently need to be struck. There is no reason to assume that we will even -see- their black ships until they have grown obsolete and been replaced with newer ships, larger ships, to combat a larger enemy.

Assuming, of course, that Shadows will be here. There's still no proof of that, although the chances are extremely high.

-Craig

Remember, the WWWA is busier than ever... although the main characters live in peace, they live in the biggest, most well-defended military/government base ever created. And bad stuff -still- happens to them. It should be assumed that the rest of the universe is more chaotic, not less.