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| Volume 2: The Death of Flesh, the Death of Dreams | Part I: The Cost of Alliances |
"SO, I believe you were saying that this is all a part of your plan, Minister Mollari?"
"Not as such, no...."
Londo Mollari was not exactly a stranger to his current situation, although even his most recent experience had been quite some years ago, back when he was much younger and much less mature.
"And.... do you have a plan for us to get out of this.... place?"
"Not as such, no...."
There had been a group of them in the Cora Predo - the Proud Knives, the duelling society Londo had belonged to in his dim and distant youth - who had made a habit of the time-honoured pleasures of drinking, gambling, whoring and brawling. It was a sort of phase.... And of course, with all these activities - especially brawling - came the inevitable risk of arrest. Londo had been quicker and sharper than most of his companions and so had not been arrested as often as others, but even so, he had ended up in a cell for the night on numerous occasions.
Admittedly, Centauri cells were considerably lighter, cleaner and more pleasant than Drazi ones, and it was highly unlikely his father was going to arrive to bail him out of this one, so perhaps it was not exactly like his youth after all.
"Minister Mollari?"
"Hmm?" Londo turned to his companion, Shaal Lennier. A brilliant poet - if you liked that sort of thing - and not bad with gambling and fighting, but he lacked a certain something when it came to just letting go and having fun.
"I asked if we could fight our way out."
"Against those mammoth Bulloxians? Doubtful, Mr. Lennier. I suppose I could get in contact with the head of the Centauri Trading Guild here, but...."
"But you are supposed to be dead, and that would ruin your masquerade," Lennier finished. "While it is unlikely any of my people will be here."
"Doubtful." Minbari did not tend to go in for the sort of pleasures associated with most of the traders who used Kazomi 7 as a crossroads.
"So.... what will happen?"
"I am not sure. We may be arraigned on charges and possibly bailed, or we may just be left to rot. We are not traders, after all, and we have no identification that will get us far. Perhaps G'Kar has agents in the area. Or maybe Delenn can find help.... if...."
If she was still alive. Delenn's health was not good at present. As G'Kar had put it once - she was 'living on borrowed time'. And she had disappeared from the bar during their brawl. It was not hard for Londo to imagine his companion dying on the bar-room floor.
Lennier said nothing. By Minbari law he was not permitted to name Delenn, or in fact speak to her, touch her, or look at her. Recently he had been bending these rules slightly, but Londo could see that he did not like it.
Londo started thinking about the Bulloxians. Perhaps they could be bribed, although he doubted it. Maybe the Drazi would recover before long. Kazomi 7 was officially a Drazi-run colony, although they did tend to delegate at awkward times - such as during their current leadership contest. The Bulloxians would doubtless be very well paid by the Drazi for keeping matters at their major trading centre under control.
"Have faith, Mr. Lennier. I am sure that we will not remain here forever."
"Who are you trying to convince, Minister Mollari? Me - or yourself?"
Triple-damned Minbari! Always too smart for their own good. Always.... Londo started, feeling an eerie sensation creep across his forehead. Looking around the cell, he found little of note. It was dark, and all he could see were the twin bunks and Mr. Lennier.... but he felt something.... Something.
Then he laughed. "Please stop that!" he said out loud. "I am afraid I am not as awed by your power as some."
The room was suddenly filled with light and Londo blinked irritably. He could see Lennier cock his head in relief. Minbari had very poor vision in darkness.
Standing at the other side of the room was a figure dressed in a long black robe. A Hyach, looking as self-important and sanctimonious as Hyach always did. Londo wondered if being so genetically close to the now-dead Markab had resulted in the Hyach inheriting some of their cousins' annoying moral purity as well.
This was not just any Hyach however. This was a technomage.
"Greetings," the technomage said, her voice heavily accented. Londo did not know enough about the Hyach to be certain, but he believed the figure before him came from their ruling theocracy. "I am called Zicree, and I have orders to take the two of you before my companions. How did you know of my presence here, Centauri?"
"I have met your kind before, mage. A long while ago, yes, but some things are unforgettable. Technomages project a.... kind of aura that is difficult to miss once you have seen it."
"Ah." Zicree said. She did not smile. "We are.... glad to know that. Follow me."
Londo looked at the wall beyond Zicree and blinked. There was a door there. "Surely that was not there before," he said.
"Minister Mollari, do you have faith?" asked the technomage.
A reply ran through Londo's mind. Yes, in about fifty Gods whose names I can curse, in the firm belief that each and every one of them is out to make my life miserable. What he said was, "Yes."
"And what do you have faith in?"
"That.... door?"
"Good. Follow me. You also, Shaal Lennier. We will want to talk with you both."
"Wait," Lennier said. "We had a companion. She is...."
"Known to us. Come."
Londo looked at Lennier and shrugged. He didn't remember technomages being this rude or abrupt, but still.... this was a long way from Centauri Prime. What else could you expect among barbarians and aliens?
* * * * * * *
Bleeding.... I'm bleeding.... Blood....
Captain John Sheridan tried to shake off the fog descending over his mind. He was an Earthforce captain, damn it! And he should at least act like one.
The sound of his blood hitting the soft dirt of Ellaenn was almost hypnotising him, each droplet which fell sounding like an asteroid hitting the planet from space.
Bleeding....
He had bled earlier today - during one of the complicated Tuchanq Rituals of Welcoming. Elder Stateswoman nuViel Roon had said it had something to do with joining his Song to the Land. Looking at the ruins of Tuchanq, Sheridan had not been sure that he wanted his 'song' joined to it, but he was still enough of a diplomat to acquiesce.
This was no ritual.
The Tuchanq - his guide - his supposed guide - lunged forward again and Sheridan managed to back up, stumbling away, silently disgusted with himself that all his instincts seemed to be failing him. Less than a month ago he'd defeated a trained Minbari warrior while armed with a Minbari weapon, and today he couldn't beat a Tuchanq who had only a knife?
He could hardly feel his left arm now, but he thought the wound was not severe. With his right hand he scrambled around for his PPG and awkwardly wrenched it from the holster.
The Tuchanq's next strike knocked it from his hand.
Think! What was it? He had faced worse than this - so why was he so sluggish? Why...?
This planet.... it was ruined, destroyed from above: billions had died, cities had been reduced to heaps of glass and bodies, the skies had rained fire....
That must have been what the fall of Earth had been like.
And this destruction had been orchestrated by the one who had sent Sheridan here. Was that why G'Kar had done this? Hoping to grant him some form of closure - some final sense of forgiveness?
The Tuchanq glided in closer, her knife raised again. She looked so graceful. Grace meant little. Minbari ships were graceful. Those shimmering, jet-black ships that had slaughtered the Minbari at Proxima.... they were graceful.... Delenn.... she was graceful.
Delenn! He wanted that thought out of his head. He didn't want to think about her. He didn't....
Sheridan brought his right arm up, deflecting the path of the Tuchanq's knife. Sweeping his leg around he knocked his adversary off her feet. Old instincts afire, he dived for his PPG and scooped it up. After an almost subliminal check that it was set for stun, he spun and fired as the Tuchanq leapt at him.
She fell, and was still when she hit the ground.
He winced as he fingered his arm. Ko'Dath was going to have him butchered when she heard about this. She had understood the wisdom in not bringing members of her Narn security force down to the surface, but she evidently felt that humans were incapable of looking after themselves.
She'd nearly been proved right.
Sheridan activated his link to call for aid. His last thought before doing so was simple, but only half-serious.
I'm going to get you for this, G'Kar.
* * * * * * *
"Why did you come here?"
Sinoval of the Wind Swords clan, Shai Alyt during the jihad against the Earthers, Satai of the Grey Council following the Battle of Mars, Entil'zha of the Rangers, Holy One and therefore still nominally the leader of all Minbari and one of the most powerful people in the galaxy.... felt like a child again.
Minbari society was flawlessly and meticulously ordered. Each knew his or her caste, clan, status, duties and who was ranked above or below. Duty to the people came first. Always.
In theory, only Sinoval's parents could outrank him, and both were dead. In practice, there was one other who had always been able to, and he was not dead.
In fact, Sinoval found himself thinking, Sech Durhan looked more alive than he had for a very long time.
"Why did you come here?"
"To find Valen, Sech Durhan." This could easily have been a scene from Sinoval's training under Durhan, many years before. It was not. They were not on Minbar, but at a shrine on a nameless planet where Valen had once won a skirmish against the Enemy a thousand years ago. They were not master and student now, but something far deeper.
"You have responsibilities, Holy One...." Sinoval looked up, a hint of anger flashing in his dark eyes. Durhan had gone to the sea of stars a few years after the end of the jihad. Sinoval had not asked where he had been planning to go and Durhan had not told him. Still.... he was surprised by how much Durhan knew. He had intimated that he had known Sinoval would come here.
"Yes, Sinoval.... I have kept.... as knowledgeable of doings at home as I can. I came here for a reason, after all. Because I knew you would come here. What I wish to know.... is why."
"To find Valen. He fought here. He bled in these rocks. He raised light here to destroy the Darkness. His soul is imbued in this place. If he is anywhere other than in the Dreaming, it will be here."
"He is not. I know, Sinoval...." Durhan's voice became suddenly soft, almost as it had been when he had told Sinoval, Tryfan and Neroon of his decision to go to the sea. "I know because I have called to him during the years I have been here. I have received only silence. He is not here."
Sinoval rose to his feet. "Then I will look elsewhere. I will find him, Sech Durhan."
"Why have you abandoned your responsibilities, Holy One?" Durhan shouted. "You were chosen to lead the Grey Council and follow in the footsteps of Valen.... so why are you not in the place set aside for you? Why come you here? Do Valen's people not need you?"
Sinoval took an instinctive step back before the fury in Durhan's voice. Then he straightened. "Valen came to me years before, in the Dreaming, at the death of Varmain." Sinoval remembered the scene clearly - it had been the most significant moment of his life. He remembered the great warrior-diplomat slowly closing her eyes, and the voice of Valen calling to him.
"Valen told me that I would have a destiny, that I would save Minbar, that I would lead our people in the fulfilment of their destiny."
"I know of this," Durhan said. "I have known for years."
"And so I worked," Sinoval continued, as if Durhan had not spoken. "I studied and I trained and I rose. Alyt.... Shai Alyt.... Satai.... None of it was sufficient. I knew that I was blessed to lead our people. I sacrificed so much to make my way there.... You of all people know what I lost in my journey to the Grey Council...."
"Deeron.... Your parents.... Your sister.... Yes, I know."
"And then came the assault on Proxima." Sinoval closed his eyes and saw again the sight of his mighty fleet being cut to shreds, torn apart on the Earthers' madness. "The Grey Council was shattered, betrayed by one whom I failed to deal with adequately. It was my pride that left the Dilgar among us.... The blame was mine....
"And so I went in search of Valen. I need to know, Sech Durhan. Was I truly the one he meant to lead his people? I have left Minbar, and our people, behind, for this I must do alone. If I am the one destined to save us all.... if it was Valen who spoke to me.... then it matters not what is happening in my absence, for I will be able to solve anything, with just the knowledge that I am right.
"And if I am wrong.... then better by far for me to be away from there and leave another to clear up my mistake."
Durhan was silent, his stern features unreadable. "'One shall fall, and one shall die, and one shall save them all'," he quoted softly. "Tryfan and Neroon had the same vision as you, you know. The first time they entered the Dreaming. They told no one, not even each other."
Sinoval could only stare. "Then it may not have been me.... Then I...."
"Perhaps. You have not yet found Valen to ask him, have you? Where are Tryfan and Neroon now?"
"Tryfan.... died fighting the Enemy.... at Proxima. Neroon.... I do not know. He left. We did not speak much after the war."
"No. Well, maybe you are the one spoken of, Sinoval."
"And maybe I am not!"
"No, maybe you are not." Durhan fell silent. "Prophecy is at best a poor guide to the future, Sinoval. You should have stayed on Minbar, but what is done is done and cannot be undone. Come with me. I have some knowledge that might be of service."
Sinoval did not hear his mentor. He turned and looked around at the barren rocks and wasteland that made up this planet. Valen's blood had stained his land.... his spirit was here. Sinoval knew it.
And yet....
"VALEN! ANSWER ME!"
There were not even echoes in reply.
* * * * * * *
Delenn was cold.
She didn't know why. Certainly this planet was colder than many of the places she had stayed in recently - colder than the planet she had called home up until a month or so ago. But that was not it.
Delenn was used to power. She had not liked wielding power and she had not asked to wield power, but for over sixteen cycles it had been a fact of her life. Even after her capture by John, she had held power. Even after her exile from Minbari society, she had held power. She knew things, knowledge that no one else in G'Kar's Army of Light had. That knowledge gave her power. She did not like it, and she did not ask for it, but it had been there all the same.
Now, she was truly discovering for the first time just how it felt to be completely powerless - an insect in the company of giants. It scared her, and she was cold.
The technomages had said little to her since they had suddenly come upon her. Their leader - Elric - had made some strange, oracular pronouncement about her destiny. Delenn - who had made similar pronouncements herself in the past - had not liked to hear it. Since then, she had been taken to a building - a place that was always and never, one and the same; darkness and light, strength and weakness, beauty and squalor.
They had said little to her and her attempts at conversation - always difficult recently due to the pain when she breathed - had been ignored. They did not speak even to each other. Delenn had the feeling that they were waiting for something.
Aside from the cold, she found she was feeling slightly better. Her eyesight was more focussed and her limbs did not seem quite so leaden. She still could not speak, however. Her breath still felt like fire in her chest.
She closed her eyes and thought of home.
"Ah." Delenn opened her eyes. It was Elric who had spoken. He seemed.... happy. As if whatever he had been waiting for had arrived.
A moment later, Delenn discovered what it was.
A door appeared where there had not been a door. It was that simple. One moment there had not been a door there. The next heartbeat, there was. Another technomage stepped through it - a Hyach - and behind her came a stumbling and ashen-faced Londo and a curious, silent Lennier.
"We are never, ever travelling anywhere like that again," Londo was saying. "I would sooner rot first. I would sooner get married again first, yes. I would...."
"Mercifully for you, none of those things will be necessary, Minister Mollari," spoke up Elric. "Welcome to our home. Eat, drink and share with us some of the happiness you bring. To you also, Shaal Lennier. Strange has been the road that has brought the three of you here to us, and I fear it will grow stranger still."
"You have been.... expecting us?" Lennier asked. Then he abruptly realised something. "Three?" He suddenly noticed Delenn. His eyes lingered on her for a moment and then he looked away sharply.
"Ah, there you are!" bellowed Londo, his fears forgotten. "Just as I said. I knew you would be all right, did I not say as much, Mr. Lennier?"
"I am.... pleased you have such faith in me," Delenn whispered. No one else she knew did.
"Then, if you have been expecting us," Lennier said, turning his attention back to Elric, "you will know why we are here."
"We do," Elric said solemnly. "We will not lend our aid to your struggle. We are gathering here as a stage on our journey. We are leaving behind the concerns of this place. The struggle that is coming is not for us to take part in.... on any side. I explained as much to G'Kar when his emissaries contacted me earlier. It seems he did not listen."
"You cannot just abandon us!" Londo cried. "What about Delenn? You can cure her, can you not?"
Elric flicked Delenn a brief, contemptuous glance. She could practically see the power and anger surging behind his eyes. "We can. Whether we should is another matter entirely, but I am afraid to say that you were not listening either, Minister Mollari. I said, we would not lend aid to your struggle. I did not say we would not lend aid to you.
"We have been studying you - all three of you - from the moment we learned of your quest here. For each of you we have prepared a gift and a warning.
"There is.... however.... a question over your place here. Minbari always do things in threes, is that not so, Shaal Lennier? To you and Minister Mollari, I would present what we have discovered easily. To.... her.... there are other concerns."
Delenn could hardly believe what she was hearing. "What concerns?" she whispered, barely able to breathe.
"They involve your warning. I will confess however that this matter is not yet decided. Wait here. Food and drink will be brought to you. Rest, talk, ask us whatever questions you desire. When we have decided, then I shall return."
Londo's hair had metaphorically pricked up. "Did you say we can ask you questions?" he said eagerly.
"I said you could ask. I said nothing about them being answered."
"Ah."
Delenn raised her head with a great effort and looked up at Elric. He turned and met her gaze.
Then, slowly and exactly, he said; "Do not try the patience of wizards, Delenn of Mir, for we are subtle and quick to anger."
Then he fell silent again.
* * * * * * *
Ko'Dath was not happy. Not happy at all.
Finally having had enough of her tirade against Tuchanq safety, human security and idiotic captains going wandering off on their own with no guards, Sheridan had bluntly ordered her to shut up and leave him alone. She had looked startled, but had still done so.
Sheridan flexed his arm experimentally, and winced. The doctor had said that it would heal soon enough. The wound hadn't been Sheridan's first concern, nor had the Tuchanq who had attacked him. nuViel Roon had been most apologetic about that, he remembered. He didn't know what had been done with his assailant, and he didn't want to know.
All he had wanted to do was get away from that planet and back on board the Parmenion, and back to the mission at hand.
Sheridan was not all that bad a diplomat, but G'Kar had people much more skilled than he. No, he was here as a warrior and so a warrior he was going to be.
The probes he had ordered sent out had detected a Streib ship attacking a trading convoy making for this system. The Tuchanq had no colonies and precious little space travel, but they had managed to make arrangements with a few in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds for trade. That trade was the only thing keeping the Tuchanq alive, and he was not going to let any raiders strip them of it.
They had arrived too late, however, and the convoy had been destroyed. Tracking the Streibs had not been too difficult though, and he had sent out patrols of Starfuries. According to Ben Zayn, one patrol expecting an altercation could take on a Streib warship, and at least survive long enough for reinforcements to appear.
Sheridan hoped that was the case.
Because among others out on patrol was Commander Corwin.
And somewhere, out in the infinity of space, a Streib ship glided, shark-like and predatory, waiting patiently....
* * * * * * *
With great age, it was said, there came great wisdom. With great wisdom there was great power. And with great power there came great responsibility.
Ah, Elric thought as he walked in silent trepidation to the one before whom even he was in awe, responsibility to whom?
Elric and all his fellow technomages knew of the struggle that was coming. They knew of the Shadow Rising and the Light Returning, of the One and the Three Who Are One, of the Candle and the Star.
They did not know enough, however. Not nearly enough. An old saying came to his mind: 'If knowledge is power, then where is the one who has so much as to be eternally out of danger?'
Elric knew that one: no such person existed. The more powerful you were, the weaker you were.
There had not been a gateway here before, but now there was. The room Elric was about to enter had been little more than an office - a place to sort the goods passing through the warehouses that they had taken over. Without thinking about it, the technomages had given the office over to another, and by simple virtue of his presence, this ordinary door had become a gateway, and the unadorned office, a chamber.
Elric bowed as he entered. The One Above All was expecting him, but that did not make symbolism less important.
"Come," rasped out the voice from within. Elric was impressed. The One Above All was greeting him in his own voice. It would be simplicity itself for him to issue out booming commands, or hissing orders, but he did not. Elric had used such parlour tricks himself when he deemed it necessary, and he was gratified that the one being he recognised as his superior needed none with him.
"Lord." Elric stepped inside. He was not afraid - it would take a great deal to frighten him - but he was awed. With age came wisdom, and the One Above All was very old indeed. Some said that he was the first of the technomages, some said that he had created them, written their laws and codified their power. Elric knew that none of that was true, but he had no idea of just who the One Above All was, or of who he had been.
But then, knowledge had never been the forte of the technomages. They had wielded power, the others had commanded knowledge, and by working together they could create miracles. Take one away, and both will suffer. What little the technomages knew now was as nothing compared to the vast knowledge the others possessed.
"Lord." He was seated in shadows, in a chair that to anyone else would always be just a chair but with him was a throne. Elric bowed his head. "Lord," he repeated.
"They are here." A statement, not a question. "The three Questors."
"Yes, Lord."
"We cannot aid their struggle, Elric. You know this. We cannot take sides."
"I know, Lord." If Elric had ever harboured thoughts about choosing a side, neither of them mentioned it. "I have told them as much. But we can help them, as individuals."
"You know what she will do. You know as well as I."
"Yes, Lord. But I also know what she is capable of doing. The other two are as they appear. They serve the Light by circumstance only. Their true loyalties lie to their people. They are neither good nor evil. They simply are. I am inclined to give them what they ask."
"And the other? Will you give her what she asks?"
"I do not know, Lord. Her destiny places her irrevocably with the Light, yet she is touched by the Darkness, both in ways she knows and in ways she does not."
The voice of the One Above All grew faint and hollow. "I see her hand stretching out across the galaxy. I see countless billions crying her name. I see her face rising above the horizons of planets." He fell silent. "It may be simpler to let her die."
"It may be, Lord, but she is Minbari and they always work as three. If we do not help her, then we cannot help the others."
"We may be able to help her. Elric, there are two roads stretched out before her. Both will lead to the same ending, but the journey there will be different. She stands at the turning now, and coming events will decide her path. There is something she must see to determine her destiny.
"I know where the Vindrizi are."
Elric started. Ever since they had lost contact with the Vindrizi, they had all wondered if the One Above All had known. Surely not, they had reasoned, or he would have ordered someone to find them. Then why...?
"We were not the ones, Elric. The three Questors must find the Vindrizi. They must learn things for themselves. Tell her that they are to go to the world where light was brought to the Darkness. She will know what it means. They will find the Vindrizi there, and they are to bring one of them back to us here. Once that is done, they will be given what they ask. Each of the three will receive their gift and their warning."
"But why can we not send one of our own?"
"We are not meant to go ourselves, Elric. Our task is to rest here, gathering in more of our number. Our place in sanctuary will be ready for us soon, and when the storm has gone, we may be able to return.
"The former Satai will discover what she needs to upon her journey. The others will ensure that she makes it there and returns alive.
"Tell them to go only to the place I have indicated, Elric. Tell them to find the Vindrizi and to return here."
"Yes, Lord." The One Above All fell silent and Elric bowed again, solemnly. He left the chamber, and one stray thought came to mind. The One Above All was as far beyond technomage as technomage was above mortal, but it was said that he had once possessed a mortal name. Elric was unsure even of what race the One Above All had been - Elric certainly no longer regarded even himself as human.
Still, he wondered what the mortal named Jamis had been like before.
* * * * * * *
"They call themselves the Vindrizi. I am not one of them, but I suppose you could say that I am their leader. They have come here to wait, and rest, and remember.
"They are knowledge incarnate, and if you remember my teachings, then I am sure you will know that knowledge and power are but two sides of the same coin, Sinoval. They are here to prevent that knowledge from being abused."
Sinoval looked around at the gathering before him. He saw aliens, no more and no less. A Vree, two Centauri, a small handful of Brakiri, a Narn or two.... The only other of his own people here was the one who was talking to him.
"What are Vindrizi, Sech Durhan?" Sinoval asked, lapsing back easily into the familiar pattern of student and teacher. "And what is your involvement here?"
The towering Minbari smiled slightly, a warm expression. It was strange how tall Durhan still seemed to Sinoval. The height was a measure not of his physique, but of his inner being.
"I am their leader, their guardian if you will. I chanced upon them by accident shortly after I left Minbar to travel out to the sea. I have no doubt that the religious caste would call our meeting the work of Valen. Whether that is true or not, I do not know, but I would be more inclined to name a warrior's luck.
"The Vindrizi are a race of ancient aliens, far older than anything we can imagine, Sinoval. They survive through dwelling in the bodies of others. They are vast storehouses of knowledge, created to preserve that which would otherwise be lost in the Great War that Valen foretold. That war is here and they needed a place of sanctuary. I.... heard their story and I offered to create that place for them. I had my own reasons for coming here, and so here I brought them, crafting my defences, using every skill that made me what I was. We knew of your ship long before you landed, Sinoval."
"You knew I would come here. You knew I would seek Valen. In his name, was I always destined to fail so badly?"
"Perhaps." Durhan shrugged. "Who is to say what is failure? I knew that you, or Neroon or Tryfan would come here. I knew of the prophecy that referred to the three of you. And so I came here, and I waited, and I learned from this remarkable race. They have much to teach you, Sinoval."
Sinoval turned away and looked out across the barren, rocky landscape all around him. A thousand years ago Valen had survived here, fighting a war against a Darkness which would have overwhelmed him were it not for his courage. There was little to mark his presence here, nothing that Sinoval could fathom. There was little to mark that anyone had been here since Valen and Marrain a thousand years ago.
"I did not come here to learn, Sech Durhan," he spat.
"No, you came here to find Valen, to ascertain your own destiny. What is that, if not learning? Valen is not here, Sinoval. I know, because I have called out to him every day of every cycle since I have been here, and I have heard nothing. He is not here, or if he is, he will not reveal himself to either of us.
"The Vindrizi are here, sheltering from the storm, but that does not mean they will not help those who must brave it. Learn from them, Sinoval. Let them teach you."
Sinoval turned back to his master. And he bowed.
"As you say, Sech Durhan."
* * * * * * *
Commander David Corwin woke from a nightmare to discover that reality was worse than any nightmare.
He was trapped, sealed beneath a mass of bonds that writhed and probed, scanning him. He was bleeding, and his blood seeped into the material that held him. He remained lucid long enough to realise that he was being studied.
The ship had been so fast. It had appeared from nowhere, tearing into his patrol. Ben Zayn had forgotten to tell him how fast the Streibs were. Had he forgotten, or had he been ordered not to tell?
Corwin had sent off the signal, so at least the Captain knew where they had encountered the Streibs. How many times they had jumped since then, where they were now, whether they were still on board the ship or on the Streib homeworld or elsewhere.... he didn't know.
He wondered where the others were. Connally might have escaped - he didn't know that either. The rest were probably dead. He wondered if the Streibs recognised rank bars.
He opened his mouth to call out his name and rank, but passed out before he could do it.
* * * * * * *
"The Vindrizi? What in the name of the Great Maker are they?"
Elric looked at Londo with a gaze that would have melted stone. "They are knowledge given form, Minister Mollari. They are.... linked with us in a way you cannot comprehend. What they are is irrelevant. You will go and find them for us."
"I see.... and how are we to do this? Should we just look in the Encyclopaedia Xenobiologica under 'weird aliens'? Perhaps they left a forwarding address?" Londo caught Elric's stare and fell silent, several minutes after he should have done, but still, he thought, better late than never.
"We know where they are."
"Then why can you not go and find them yourselves?" asked Lennier, standing beside Elric. He seemed as puzzled by all this as Londo was. Only Delenn did not seem surprised, but she was so quiet and still that she might well not have heard a word the technomage was saying.
"We must stay here. We are gathering in those of us who have yet to reach this place. We may not walk abroad unless we must."
"Typical technomage gibberish," Londo pointed out to Lennier. "They might as well be Minbari."
"There are no Minbari among our number," Elric said. "Their view of the universe.... differs from ours."
"It is a matter of faith," Lennier said, gently but firmly.
"Faith is irrelevant. Power is."
"Power is nothing, without faith that you can use it properly."
"Yes yes," Londo muttered. "Personally I have faith in myself and hold that power is where you find it, but if we can return to the point ever so slightly, has it occurred to you that perhaps Delenn might not survive another journey? She is not exactly very fit. Unless you were planning to look after her while we find these.... Vindrizi?"
"She must go with you. You began this as three and you must end it as three."
"Ah, Minbari and their wonderful grasp of numerology. Why could we not have begun this with.... say, three thousand? Or perhaps an entire warship or two? But no.... it had to be just the three of us. And what if she dies? What happens to your numerology then?"
"Ensure she does not die, Minister Mollari."
"My life.... is in no one's.... hands...." Delenn coughed, hobbling forward, "but.... my own.... I will not die.... yet."
"We shall see," Elric said. "You will find the Vindrizi at the place where light was brought to the Darkness." Londo blinked and muttered a few choice words under his breath about mystical mumbo-jumbo. "You need only bring one of them back to us here. What one knows, all know, but.... it must return voluntarily. That is important."
"And that is it? That is all you will tell us?"
"That is all you need to know. We will provide you with provisions for your journey, and I am sure that procuring a vessel will be no problem for one of your.... abilities.
"Good fortune. If you return, then you will be rewarded." Elric inclined his head ever so slightly - not so much a bow as a parody of one. He then turned and disappeared into the darkness.
Londo looked around and discovered that there were no other technomages in sight. "How strange to think that I actually missed the halcyon days of my youth," he muttered. "I could be back home getting very drunk right about now, but no.... I had to try and come on an adventure...."
"We all serve in the ways we can, Minister Mollari."
"Why thank you, Mr. Lennier. That was so uplifting." Londo thought for a moment. "I wonder if he meant the Vinzini. Them I know about. We conquered their homeworld a century or two ago. I have known a few. Magnificently awful at cards, they were. Should we check out their homeworld?"
"No," spoke Delenn softly. "I know where to go. It is a small place, a long way from the major shipping lanes."
"Could we hire someone to take us there?" asked Lennier, speaking directly to Londo.
"With what exactly? All our funds were lost when that Drazi made violent objection to my card techniques. I suppose we could contact G'Kar. Perhaps he can arrange further transport for us?"
"No," Lennier said. "Ha'Cormar'ah G'Kar warned us not to try to contact him until we could be sure it would be safe to do so. We cannot risk any.... unfriendly parties overhearing us."
"Typical.... I suppose it is too much to hope that he will appear out of nowhere and magically transport us there." Londo stood back and made an exaggerated pose of staring at the wall before him. "No, not a thing. Well, My Lady Butterfly. Any ideas?"
Delenn weakly shook her head.
Londo shrugged and then looked up at the skies, muttering choice epithets in the names of all the Gods he knew. When he reached one particular God he stopped. "Leiber! Of course. God of Daring, patron of thieves. We sneak aboard a shuttle."
"That would not be...."
"Oh shut up, Mr. Lennier. This will be easy. This is a space port, after all, and security is not.... overly restrictive."
"Other than for common brawlers who cheat at cards and insult Drazi," Lennier pointed out. "And may I remind you that the Bulloxian security will probably by now be aware that we are not in those cells any longer."
"No one likes a spoilsport, Mr. Lennier. Come on. I think I know just how to do this...."
* * * * * * *
"Well, Minister Mollari. I will have to learn not to underestimate you again."
Londo wheezed heavily.
"That trick with the Drazi official was most impressive."
Londo leaned his head back against the seat and began to burble.
"Not to mention how you managed to avoid those Bulloxians who were chasing you."
"My hearts will never be the same again."
"And to think that you could devise such a creative use for.... um.... that certain part of your anatomy."
"Mr. Lennier, never, ever, tell anyone about that again, either!"
"Of course. I shall take a vow of silence on the matter."
"Good."
Londo's plan to sneak aboard a shuttle had gone very well, all things considered. After learning that their originally-planned means of departure from Kazomi 7 had been shut down by Drazi officials during a colour riot, they had been forced to use somewhat more unorthodox methods. After several minutes of thinking very quickly, Londo had managed to get all three of them hidden in the cargo hold of a small Bremmaer shuttle. After passing through the jump gate and tying up the pilot - a human of all things - they had managed to reprogramme the co-ordinates to the location Delenn had provided. It would be a journey of over a day at least.
"Are you sure she will be able to last that long?" Londo asked, looking at Delenn. She was resting in the corner of the hold.
"If Valen wills it," Lennier replied.
Then there was silence.
* * * * * * *
"I am sorry to hear of the loss of your crew members, Captain Sheridan," nuViel Roon said sincerely. "You came here to help us, after all."
"Yeah, well.... I suppose I shouldn't have trusted my own intelligence reports so much." nuViel Roon could see that Sheridan's neutral expression was nothing more than a mask hiding much more violent emotions. "But I'll deal with that later. We have the location where the Streib ship attacked my people, and we'll use there as a starting point. Perhaps we can follow ion trails or something. My technicians are looking at the Starfuries' flight recorders anyway. Maybe they'll pick up something."
"How.... many did you lose?"
"Four confirmed dead. Two missing. Commander Corwin and Flight-lieutenant Connally. All of our reports have said that the Streibs have been known to take prisoners, so it's not impossible that they're still alive. If they are, I'll get them back, and shut the Streibs down. Trust me."
"Of course, Captain Sheridan. You have my thanks for your efforts, and my apologies for your loss. And again.... I wish to...."
"Forget about it," he replied, although nuViel Roon noticed a slight wince in his arm. "Is the Tuchanq who attacked me okay?"
"Yes," came the reply. "She is in our custody now. You did not seriously injure her."
Captain Sheridan nodded. "Good. I am glad to hear that. I must go now, but I will return when this mission is concluded."
"Thank you, Captain." The commscreen went black and nuViel Roon stepped back, turning to the attendants behind her. "Have we found her?"
"No," one of them replied.
"I see." nuViel Roon felt a despair greater than she had known since the Narns had left her world. She had told a necessary lie to Captain Sheridan to conceal their problem. He was not to know the effect that unconsciousness would have on a Tuchanq. He probably thought that he was being kind in only stunning noMir Ru. He was not to know that in doing so, he had rendered her insane.
Better perhaps to have killed her.
Somewhere out on the streets of Ellaenn was a potential murderer, and perhaps capable of more than murder.
* * * * * * *
Come on, come on. Londo Mollari was recovering from his earlier exhaustion and was taking advantage of a momentary opportunity to set up a communication. Having waited until both Delenn and Lennier were asleep, he had foreseen a trouble-free conversation, but he had not anticipated the message taking so long to get through.
He had a feeling that this was something he did not want either of his companions finding out about.
"At last," he muttered, as Mr. Morden's face came up on the viewscreen. "Mr. Morden. You are rather difficult to get hold of sometimes. I thought you said that I could get through to your personal communicator at any time with a minimum of effort."
"I apologise, Minister, but I'm afraid I've been a little busy over here, and my time is short, but I'm always happy to hear from you." Morden smiled. "What can I do for you?"
"What do you know about a race called the Vindrizi?"
Morden blinked, one of the first cracks in his façade Londo had ever seen. "The Vindrizi? I don't think.... Ah yes. One of my associates had an encounter with a race of that name quite some years ago. I had thought they were all dead by now."
"Well, they are not. I have been sent out to try to find them. Most strange, since the people who sent me to find them know exactly where they are, which leads me to believe that this may not be entirely what it appears. I do not like walking into any situation blind, Mr. Morden. So, what do you know about these.... Vindrizi?"
"Not a great deal, I'm afraid. They are very old, and they were created by some race or other for the purpose of storing information. Some sort of living recorder, I believe. They know a great deal. Beyond that...."
"I see. Thank you, Mr. Morden. One more thing, do you know of any place where light was once brought to the Darkness?"
Morden was thinking for a moment. "A Minbari legend, I think. They claim that one of their greatest leaders once fought an enemy on some nameless planet and created light to defeat his adversary."
"Legends again. I am convinced that my life consists entirely of legends. Why can we not remain in the present at all? No, it is always millennia in the past!" Londo paused. "Great Maker, I have just described my entire people."
Morden smiled. "Let's hope that you are the exception, Minister. Speaking of your people, have you had a chance to look at that data crystal I gave you yet?"
"Data.... Oh, Great Maker! Lady Morella's prophecy. I had completely forgotten. It.... ah, blast! I left it behind on the Valerius."
"Clumsy of you, Minister."
"Ah well. Carn will not let anyone into my quarters, so I am sure it is quite safe there. I will study it when I return."
"I wouldn't leave it too long, Minister. These are dangerous times, and it pays to have advance knowledge of events, no matter how obscure."
"Ah, perhaps you are right. Thank you, Mr. Morden."
"Always a pleasure, Minister. By the way, how is Delenn now? I understand she was not well."
"No, she is still very ill. In fact, I think she will lucky to last another day or two. Still, the Great Maker may yet surprise us all, no?"
"All things are possible. I will have to go now. Good luck, Minister."
"And to you, Mr. Morden." The viewscreen went blank and Londo sat back, feeling in an even worse mood than before.
Elsewhere, Morden folded up his personal communicator - made with technology beyond the comprehension of most of his people - and turned back to the person he had been talking to.
"I apologise for the delay, Ambassador, but that was one of my.... associates here and there. I've just uncovered a piece of information that I'm sure you'd like.
"Satai Delenn of the Grey Council is dying. She is heading for a planet whose co-ordinates I know, and she will in all likelihood die there. I will give you this information in exchange for a certain.... favour, and her soul will be yours. What do you say?"
The Soul Hunter nodded.
* * * * * * *
Commander Corwin staggered to his feet, head pounding. He felt weak, almost too weak to stand, but he was trying to remember the first rule of the soldier. Information is never the enemy.
His cell was small, with no discernible door. No discernible anything, in fact. There had to be something of value....
Think!
Whatever the Streibs had done to him, he was finding it increasingly difficult to remain awake.
Think! Evaluate! Where are we?
He slumped to his knees, ears pounding. He rubbed at his eyes and looked up just in time to see a Narn plunge a long sword directly at his head.
* * * * * * *
Elsewhere, Flight-lieutenant Neeoma Connally was having a similarly rude awakening. Her conditions were marginally better, but she was not to know that at the time.
A harsh hissing cut into her ear and she winced. Looking around, she saw two humanoid figures nearby. One looked like a cross between a Hyach and a Brakiri, while the other....
The other was somehow both stocky and skeletal. Connally's efforts to get a clear look at it kept failing because it was shimmering eerily, almost as if she was watching it over a stellarcast where the reception wasn't clear and kept crackling. For a moment she half wondered if it was a hologram of some kind, but then it moved and she was overcome by a stench of rotting decay. She retched, recoiling at the foulness of the odour. That was no hologram, she decided. The only thing about it that she was able to focus on was a small blue ball it held up. The ball flashed and hissed, and she supposed that it was some sort of translation device.
Whatever these things were, they definitely weren't part of the same race, so what did that make this? Some sort of allied council? A diplomatic meeting? A declaration of war? She pictured it as a mating ritual and almost giggled.
So why was she here? A number of unpleasant suggestions flashed through her mind, but she managed to repel them. No point worrying about what she couldn't change. Find out who these guys were and what they wanted with her. Then worry about escape.
Two minutes later, she found out.
A device made some horrible buzzing sound and the more solid of the aliens moved towards it, activating something. A light came on and a communications screen lit up.
"Ah, Ambassadors," came a voice that Connally heard very clearly. "A pleasure to talk with you." The voice was flat and lacking in emotion, but still urbanely polite. A veteran diplomat, obviously.
None of that mattered, however, as Connally missed most of it at the time. What mattered was that the voice was speaking in System English.
It was a human.