“I’ll be up on the bridge in a minute, David. Sheridan out.” He turned to Susan. “Five. Out of the whole planet. What happened to them all?” He was beginning to dress hurriedly when his link beeped again. It was Dr. Kyle.
“Captain, someone’s just tried to kill your Minbari guest.”
* * * * * * *
“It was Maya Hernandez,” Dr. Kyle said. “She was trying to corrupt the blood we were giving her with Metazine. It’s a painkiller and soporific for humans, but it can be deadly to Minbari, especially in large doses.”
“Mind telling me why you never mentioned this little biological weakness before, Doctor?”
Kyle shot Sheridan an angry look. “I heal, Captain. I do not kill. Besides, Metazine is only effective in the bloodstream. Not a very useful weapon really.”
“Aw hell. I know, I know. I’m sorry, Doctor. Things have been a little… weird lately. Where is Dr. Hernandez now?”
“No idea. She fled as soon as I caught her.”
“Any idea why she did it?”
“Her husband and son died on Earth. Maybe she’s just seen too much of this war.”
“We all have.” Sheridan turned to Corwin. “Have her found and locked up.”
“Yes, sir.” Corwin had looked uncomfortable ever since he had linked his message to Sheridan. “Will you want this done before or after I come back from the planet?”
“You won’t be going to the planet, Mr. Corwin. I’ll need you to run things here. I’ll be going.”
“Captain! Have you forgotten what happened the last time you went down there?”
“No, and I’m not likely to. Trust me, Mr. Corwin.”
“But you can’t go alone.”
“I don’t think five life-signs are going to be much of a threat. Besides, I won’t be going alone. She’s coming with me.” He pointed to Delenn, sitting impassively on a chair at the end of her bed. Her hands were manacled together, but her face was expressionless and calm. “I’m not letting her out of my sight. She has too much information to let her die, and no, Mr. Corwin, she is not going to run off anywhere. I’ll take a full Security team down to the planet with me if you insist, but that will be all. Good day, Mr. Corwin. You,” he looked at Delenn. “Come with me.”
Silently, her face as calm as ever, she rose and followed him, looking as tranquil in her dignity as she did proud in her chains.
* * * * * * *
Minbari… damned Minbari… destroyed Earth… finished Earth… ruined it… killed everyone…
Killed…
Katherine, come on Katherine! Wake up, Katherine… You can’t die on me. Joseph’s dead. You can’t die too. Please, Katherine.
Please.
Minbari… Katherine… Joseph dead… Earth dead… Earth gone… Everyone gone… but me… I’m here… I’m always here… Katherine… I… I love you, Katherine… I love you, Katherine… you can’t die…
Everyone around him was dead, and so was the man called Marcus Cole. But his death was not the death of flesh, but the death of spirit, the death of futile dreams and ambitions and hopes.
For Marcus Cole, something new and terrible was being born.
* * * * * * *
“What do you think happened here?” Delenn remained silent, staring straight ahead. Sheridan looked at her calm demeanour and wished he possessed the same. He could not look at the burnt buildings, the rubble, the devastation, the nightmare that had once been Vega 7, and maintain anything other than a slow, simmering anger. So like Earth. This was so like Earth.
Landing the shuttle had been difficult, with so little flat space. But land it they had, and now they were walking through rubble and devastation, stepping over crushed and burned bodies, heading for the SOS signal Corwin had identified. Vega 7 was rubble, and Sheridan could not help but wonder if this had happened in spite of his actions, or because of them.
There was a sound to his left and he spun, holding his PPG ready. One of the security guards had done the same. Sheridan gestured for him to lower his weapon and he moved forward, the other slowly following him. This place had once been a home. One body lay half-buried under what had been a wall. Sheridan could see dried blood everywhere. There was another body not far away, a woman, her skull crushed. And kneeling over her, whispering something over and over again, was a man, tears of pain and agony running down his cheeks into his short black beard. He looked up, and for a brief instant Sheridan saw himself reflected in those eyes. Himself as he had been.
“My name’s John Sheridan,” he said, slowly lowering his PPG. One out of five.
“The Starkiller,” the man whispered. “She’s dead. They’re all dead.”
“Who was it? What happened here?”
“Minbari. Must have been. Didn’t see them, but who else could it have been? Minbari… Minbari… I’m Marcus… Marcus Cole.”
“Do you have anywhere we can take you to? Family, perhaps, on another world?”
“All dead. All gone except me.” He had a slightly strange accent, and Sheridan realised it was English. He hadn’t heard an English accent in years. “Everyone’s gone except me. And you. Help me, Starkiller. Help me to kill them all.”
Hatred. Such a cycle. It never ended, did it? Sheridan had said similar words after the death of his daughter. Could anyone ever find the courage to break free of the old ways, the old cycles, the old vendettas? Could Sheridan himself? Perhaps he didn’t want to.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said simply. “You’ll be welcome aboard the Babylon, Mr. Cole.”
“Thank you.”
“We can… arrange to have these bodies buried, if you’d like.”
“Leave them. Just shells. Nothing more. Can I help you at all?”
“Do you know the way to the main bureaucratic centre here? I need to know if anyone survived there.”
“Yes, it’s this way. Follow me.” Sheridan marvelled at Marcus’ stilted, precise delivery. Such control should be impossible after such loss, and sooner or later the grief must burst free again. Sheridan half expected it to happen when he saw Delenn, but he simply ignored her.
Marcus led them through rubble-strewn streets and over battered bodies. He must have known some of the dead, but he said nothing. It was as though the destruction of his home planet had destroyed his spirit as well. Sheridan looked at Delenn, but she was also silent. Had the Minbari done this? Could they have done this? This was just like Earth. So like Earth.
And there they were. Franklin and Connally, working over two slumped forms. One was Narn, the other…
“Oh my God,” Sheridan breathed. “How is he, Stephen?”
“Not good.” Sheridan made a gesture, and the doctor Kyle had insisted he bring rushed forward. He and Franklin began working over Keffer’s body. He was moaning, but softly this time. And then Sheridan saw the Narn. It was Na’Far.
“He hasn’t been saying much,” Connally said. “He’s dying as well. Whatever you want him to tell you, you’d better ask him now, Captain.”
Sheridan cast one last look at his crewman and scrambled towards the Narn who had betrayed him. His legs were crushed, and his face was burned and blistered. There was such loss and grief in his blood-red eyes. “G’Quan forgive me,” he whispered in a Narn dialect Sheridan understood. “G’Quan… protect me.”
“What happened here? Who did this?”
“The enemy… ancient and dark… The enemy… ah, G’Quan forgive me… should have listened… should have listened… Listen to… Minbari… they… know…” The words trailed off, and Sheridan looked up. He hadn’t heard the last two words, but what he had heard was enough.
“Damn!” he heard Franklin swear. Sheridan didn’t need to be told. Keffer was dead.
“We… were being kept underground,” Connally was saying. “I don’t know how we survived. But… Warren… he was slower than we were… that blow earlier hit him pretty hard. He couldn’t move fast enough, and when the wall came down…”
Sheridan turned awa
y, still and quiet. Everything else seemed irrelevant. He heard Marcus say something to Connally and Connally reply. Franklin and the doctor were talking softly, but the only words which reached his ears were from Delenn.
“Valen guard your souls.”
Sheridan spun to face her. Without thinking, without anger or hatred, with just a cold, solid finality, he struck her in the face. Her hands restrained, she fell backwards on to the rubble. Sheridan had drawn his PPG, again without thinking, and he was pointing it at her. There was a buzz as it charged. It was the long second again, an eternity of time where all that mattered was the look in her eyes. Like a startled child who has lost her innocence.
Disgusted, although whether with himself or with her he did not know, Sheridan replaced his PPG. “Death’s too easy for you,” he spat. “Come on. Bring Warren’s body back to the shuttle. He deserves a decent send-off at least.”
And they left Vega 7 behind them, a dead world filled with only the dead and the memories of the living.
* * * * * * *
Dr. Hernandez was running scared. She’d failed. Dr. Kyle had spotted her, and now they were looking for her. Security. Why? Didn’t they understand? The Minbari bitch shouldn’t be allowed to live. She should have been left to rot, just like everyone on Earth, just like Maya’s husband, just like her son.
But Dr. Hernandez had a friend, a friend who’d explained everything, who’d talked it over with her, who’d made her understand, who’d told her what she’d needed to do.
“Are you there?” Maya panted. This was where she’d been told she would be safe. This was where her friend had said she would meet her. Everything would be all right now. “Are you here?”
“I’m here,” said a soft voice.
“I… I got caught. Security’s looking for me. But why? She deserves to die, right? You told me that. She deserves to die. Why are they hunting me because I did what I had to?”
“You failed. I need that Minbari bitch dead. She knows who I am, what I am. You failed, and you’ll draw attention to me. I can’t allow that.”
“You… you’re scaring me.”
“Good.” A soft motion, a dull thud, and Dr. Maya Hernandez was dead before she’d had a chance to understand what was happening to her. Susan Ivanova compressed her Minbari fighting pike and stepped out of the shadows. So… one attempt had failed. It wasn’t the end of the world. She had time.
Time enough to see that Minbari whore dead.
* * * * * * *
“From the stars we came, and to the stars we shall return. From now until the end of time.”
Sheridan finished the ritual eulogy and stared at the blank viewscreen, blank because the external cameras weren’t working. They should have been in the Observation Dome, but it was still damaged. This was unfair. Keffer deserved a better send-off than this. Not even any time to give him a Starfury escort. This was not fair.
He looked away from the blank screen to the others on the bridge. Franklin was quiet, bitter anger in his eyes. Sometimes the man still thought like a doctor. Corwin looked uncomfortable. Connally was not around, probably drinking a toast to Keffer’s memory. And Delenn… were those genuine tears in her eyes, or simply a result of the bruise he had given her?
“How long until jump engines are back on line, Mr. Corwin?”
“A good half hour or so, I’m afraid. They’re shot to hell.”
Sheridan nodded soberly and then Delenn spoke up. “Captain, please, you must listen to me. My people would never do something like this. It was another race, an older race. Your companion is a part of them. They are evil, dark and terrible. We call them…”
“Shut up! I don’t care what you call them, but Susan’s told me all about them. I know about your little vendetta. I don’t know why it started, and I don’t care. All I know is that for the first time in fourteen years, we aren’t alone any longer.”
“Captain, please, listen to me!”
“Do I have to gag you? You’re here because I want to keep you where I can see you, because I need you alive, but when the day comes when that doesn’t apply, I’ll volunteer to be the one who presses the button that sends you out into space.”
“I will face death, but not before I have spoken…”
Sheridan drew his PPG and pointed it directly at her. She met his eyes with cold indifference, but there was a dark pleading at their centre. He regretted his words the instant they left his mouth, but it would do no good now. “How you face death doesn’t concern me. Now shut up or I will have you gagged.”
“Captain!” Franklin spoke up suddenly. “Two jump points opening right on top of us!”
“Aw, hell! Minbari. Begin evasive manoeuvres, David. Launch Starfuries and get those jump engines back on line ASAP. How could they find us here? We’re behind a moon for God’s sake.”
“No idea, Captain,” Corwin said. “They’re hailing us.”
Sheridan gritted his teeth and looked at Delenn. She was staring at the floor. “On screen. Maybe we can talk our way out of this one.”
A Minbari face appeared on the viewscreen. She did not bother with introductions. “You have Satai Delenn. You will turn her over to us and surrender yourselves immediately.”
“Do the words ’not a hope in hell’ ring a bell? We’ve got the upper hand here. You can’t fire on us and risk killing your precious Satai Delenn, can you?” The viewscreen went blank. “Can they?”
“They are warrior caste, Captain,” Delenn said suddenly. “My death, especially where you could be blamed for it, would suit them only too well.”
“Politics. Great! David?”
“I’m doing what I can, sir. I… wait… another jump point opening.”
Sheridan leapt to his feet. “There must be something we can do.”
“I… oh my God,” Franklin whispered. “Both Minbari ships have been destroyed. I… there’s something out there, but… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“That’s impossible. Nothing’s that strong or that fast. Try to hail them.”
“Trying, sir. Trying and failing. They’ve gone.”
“Nothing’s that fast. They’d need to give their jump engines a chance to cool down a little first. Who the hell were they? Did the external cameras pick up anything?”
“Negative, sir,” David replied. “They’re all still off-line, and we didn’t have time to launch any Starfuries. Whatever that thing was, nobody saw it.”
Sheridan sat back down. “What could it have been?”
“One of my friends, Captain.” It was Susan, walking casually on to the bridge and smiling. “Our friends, I should say. I thought we might be in a little danger here, so I asked them to come in and help us out.”
“That was one of our friends? Two Minbari cruisers in ten seconds?”
“If need be. They’re on our side now, Captain. They can’t help often, but when they can, they will.”
Sheridan looked around at his bridge crew, seeing the awe on their faces. Awe and something he’d doubted he would ever see again.
Hope.
“It looks as if things are finally going our way. After fourteen years, things are finally going our way!” He let out a laugh, and then the whole bridge was laughing and smiling and cheering. One grain of hope in a decade of despair.
The whole bridge… except one.
“Well, Satai Delenn,” he said smugly. “It looks as if we aren’t alone any more. I don’t know who these allies are, but at least they’re willing to fight, which is more than the Narns will. What do you think about that, eh, Satai Delenn? What do you think about that?”
She looked at him, her face very pale. There was fear in her eyes. “I think that we are all doomed, Captain.” She lowered her head.
“Valen help us, I think that we are all doomed.”
Part II: Heeding the Warning
Chapter 1
It was the dawn of the third age of Mankind, a dawn it appeared we would not survive to see. For ten years we ha
d been an outcast race, our homeworld destroyed, our people scattered. For ten years, our only hope was one ship, and one man, our only hope was no hope at all, for we were weak, and the Minbari were strong.
And then came an elder race, powerful beyond our wildest dreams. At no cost they offered us their help, but we did not understand that the greatest cost is the one that seems the smallest, that the most open ally has the biggest secrets to hide.
And when the fate of humanity is in the balance, who can be sure who is friend, and who is enemy? Our greatest hope may become our greatest sorrow, and our greatest enemy, our greatest friend.
Commander David Corwin, personal diaries.
* * * * * * *
“G’Quan wrote that there is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.”
The Narn preacher looked around at his congregation, and felt a brief surge of gratitude that so many would come so far simply to hear him speak, to listen to his words. Here, he could make a difference. Here, he could begin the first step on the long road to the salvation of his people.
“For too long we have been obsessed by death. Obsessed until death has been all we can see, and death has been all we deserve. Our grief and loss drag behind us, like chains of our own making. The Centauri kept us in chains of iron, but we keep ourselves in chains of hatred. Until we can break those chains, break the cycle of hatred and anger and grief, we will remain obsessed by death, and death will be all we deserve, and death will be all we will achieve. It will not be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. But we must always hope for the moment, the one shining, singular, sacred moment of revelation that shows us the future for our people.
“The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain. G’Quan bless us.”
The Other Half of my Soul addm-1 Page 5
