**Many historians have considered that meeting to be a defining moment in the course of the Great War hostilities. The Rangers finally possessed leaders below their Entil'zha, both Minbari and Human, who possessed enough courage and skill to want to take the battle to the foe, and, at the same time, displayed enough charisma and leadership to make their followers believe that it could be done. By the early summer of 2260, the job was already half done; in the six months to come, those leaders would forge the disparate talents of their followers into a weapon forged of necessity...a weapon later known as the White Star Fleet.
...an interesting conumdrum to ponder is that it was clear, later on, exactly how much firepower and ship strength the Shadows actually DID possess. It is unknown, on many fronts, why they simply did not strike with all the strength they had, when they could have; those that might know, including President John Sheridan and William Westcastle, have been unusually reluctant to discuss the matter in our presence. We must in the end, however, respect their wishes; we have revealed the history in this work, they were the ones who had to live it."**
From "Holding The Line, a History of the Army of Light"
* * *
The Second Context of the Follower, the Age of Reason, the Questions of Deception..
Once again, I find there is cause to comment; the story has moved forward, sometimes with the ease of a cloud, mostly with the force of a hammerblow, to a point of turning, to one of the first places where everything changed. You might think, at this point, that we should immediately launch ourselves into following William in his adventures of beginning to put together the White Star Fleet with his allies and comrades, yes?
And you would be wrong.
Once again, I must remind you, that was not the whole story; perhaps the entire point of this endeavour has been to show the story from all sides, to reveal the ways that each side, whatever side that might be, saw as the Truth. Now, we turn to something you think initially trivial, but the truth shows itself in the end, and this was key to who I was at the time, and therefore, to the telling of the story that is.
And so, we go, as some would say, into the heart of Darkness, into the heart of a man who knew doubt at what his Masters did; who Observed, and saw the pattern, who allowed his talents to be abused, and tried, too late, to atone for that crime.
But if we cannot atone for our sins, is there, any longer, a reason to live?
I will not answer that question, each of you must determine the answer, yourselves. I Observe; I am not infallible and all knowing, in spite of what some think.
I never was.
* * *
My name is Alkanion Verah.
In the hope that someday, one will find these writings, and understand, know who I am, what I am, and what made me. My family originally came from the continent on Earth called Africa, surviving the age of Death before mankind was contacted by the Centauri. Afterwards, the Verahs left their homeworld behind for the unknown stars, hoping, I believe, for a better life, for any life was better then the one they had. We have always been explorers, but not all of us have been honourable; in fact, at least one of my world-hopping ancestors was put to death, that I do know, although the circumstances have been hidden in the decades since then. That, then, is what created me, what I am, I created myself, sharing both of the past and my own sins.
For that, I will eventually pay, I am sure.
I digress, however; since the beginning, I have been a student of what was; a writer of important events, a chronicler of the Changed...Observers, I now understand we are called, and that we are rare. I have been told that among those who oppose my masters, only two such exist, a woman, and a child; including I, three such disciples of the Truth exist; but how we define truth is debatable. My masters and their servants tracked me down, and brought me to this place, against my will, to record their way of life, their mission, their beliefs. I have known fear, and I have known disgust at what I have seen and recorded, but there is almost a sad glory to it, as well..secrets within secrets, hidden behind a veil of chaos and hate.
This place I find myself in is a monument to grandeur; proof of power used only for the sake of power, and not for anything else. They have imprisoned me in a chamber on the edge of the abyss, a room with a view, this is true, but a view of terror and majesty shared equally. Above my writing table, beyond my bed, the nebular fires around Z'ha'dum cast their lurid glow, but enough...know what I know.
Those who are my masters have fought an endless series of wars over the centuries with those called VORLONS (some of my Masters speak of them with Venom; this animosity has been long-lived, it seems) but after each war, they have returned to Z'ha'dum; the answer for that is, as yet, unknown.
Z'ha'dum is riddled with vast caverns; and greatest of all the caverns is this one, between Hell and Heaven, barred from space by a vast crystal portal, and surrounding an enormous shaft, the bottom of which I cannot see; it might be bottomless, for all I know. Millions of lights illuminate the dark city in this place, and chief among the lights is a vast set of rotating beacons that the humans here call *Zha'vul* or, also, the beams of ZHA'VUL.
What, then, do these words mean, and in what language are they spoken? Zha'vul...Z'ha'dum, these words share an important syllable...ZHA. I think, this means 'dark', or, perhaps, if I were to become overly complicated, 'hidden from the light'. I am sure I'm not translating that entirely accurately..but they are almost prideful of their nature, and affect all around them in a similar fashion. Their human agents are drawn in shades of gray, their servants look at me with shimmering sound and red glowing eyes, and they, themselves, are ancient mythical dark arachnids twice my size, who hide or reveal themselves as they please.
My conscience also requires me to report on the nature of their starcraft, though my mind shirks from the duty even as I write. THESE are more nightmarish then anything else I have seen; if my masters are spiders, then their ships are what spiders would be in the worst nightmare imaginable, a creation of the ancient Dreaming, a dark flood come to destroy us all. They come and go from Z'ha'dum without utilizing the nearby jump gate, its extreme age shown in its shape, three tines instead of four, but worse is yet to come.
There have been, in recent days, more and more of these ships visible from my prison, first in their dozens, and now, hundreds, thousands if you count the tiny, hard to see smaller vessels that swarm around the larger. The humans tell me that the time is coming soon when chaos will reign supreme over the galaxy again, and no one, except, perhaps, the Vorlons will be able to stand against them.
We shall see; my masters have been defeated before, and perhaps, will be again, but as long as I live here, I will record what is, and guess at what will be.
I am an Observer. What other choice do I have??
* * *
Deep within Z'ha'dum, in a place forgotten by most, and revered by the Shadows, but for the wrong reasons, normal space shimmered, and quietly shunted itself aside. A whispery thing of energy and reason appeared, and was immediately accosted by the object of its search..
**If they knew you were here, they would not rest until they had destroyed you** the Elder commented, his irony plain. **Since you are defiling their place of power**
**I have grown in wisdom since the Rest perished, and now, as you understand, I find myself unable to ignore the matters around us, now matter how much I might wish to. Until these matters are dealt with, and Chaos and Order have been tamed, our tasks are not complete**
**Yes; perhaps you are right; something is happening that has not before, but...we have yet to determine whether or not the defining moment will come, or who will be responsible for forcing the matter**
**I have my suspicions**
**Indeed??**
**There is a race of primitives that has recently arisen, a race that calls itself MAN. These creatures are barely evolved enough to understand anything about the universe around them, and yet..and yet, they appear to be pivotal to the present incarnation of the war between Chaos and Order. In particular, recently, I have seen Order paying particular attention to certain of these creatures; theare is almost, shall we say, a sense of purpose around them**
**Ah** The Elder's interest was now piqued. **Do you perceive any that might be called...Nexi?? The last nexus was a blink of time ago, when Chaos was last defeated with the prime assistance of those called Minbari. Perhaps, there is another among this race called MAN that can go farther then the one named Valen, did?**
**Or TWO**
**Explain**
A brief discussion followed, and finally, the Elder's doubts were satisfied. **So; your reasons are valid; what, now, do you intend?**
**There are, among these creatures, Three who will be responsible for recording this time for the Age to come, two primary, and the one above, who may assist the others. If the pattern is to be completed, this one must have our help**
**Very well; but be prudent. I require your services as my agent in the Universe outside a while longer yet. Do not let Chaos capture you, or you shall meet the fate of your foolish cousins, who have now passed rather permanantly beyond the Veil**
The Younger shimmered in amusement. **It shall be as you say**
* * *
Narhlak System, June 4th, 2260.
"It is..." Na'kal pointed out, his face a lesson in tedium, "Now more then four days past the point when your contacts suggested that the Earthers would arrive, Spymaster. Perhaps they have been captured by forces loyal to their President, perhaps they have been waylaid by forces worse then that. How much longer do you intend the 'G'tok' and the 'V'tek' to stand on watch for an Earther fleet that may never arrive?"
"As long as is necessary, Na'kal.." G'kael replied, his one eye glinting ominously at the Warleader. "Both us and the Earthers are refugees from a nightmare that cannot be defeated, alone. They need our help, and, believe it you may not, we need theirs, as well."
"They do not share our cause."
G'kael rose. "But they DO, Na'kal!!..don't you see?? Tyrants have reached out to touch both Narn and Earth, and if they help us now, perhaps, in a little while, once this is all over, we will find it a reasonable request should they ask us for aid."
"There!!" G'kael proclaimed, his grin slightly mocking. "They have arrived."
"They are late."
"The Universe isn't perfect, Na'kal...now is it?"
The Narn Warleader refrained from replying.
* * *
The surface; conference chamber...seven hours later.
"The situation you face seems to be distressingly simple.." G'kael announced, as across from him, Bethany solemnly listened, the other Captains and executive officers in her command sitting nearby. "And the outcome, equally clear. Your resources are less then plentiful, and while the recent raids you have conducted on the human outer range colonies have been successful, sooner or later your President's forces may catch you, and all hope your people possess will be lost. This place, Narhlak, is distant enough both from Centauri Prime and Earth, that those threatening us from those locations will be unlikely to find us here; and thus, I am willing to put forward, if not a gesture of friendship, then a gesture of alliance against the darkness threatening us both.
Sooner, rather then later, we will be forced to leave this place and act; but that time is not yet, Captain. For now, we must, persay, regroup and rearm, mine what must be mined, grow what must be grown, and utilize our resources to the utmost...together, if you so wish it. In cooperation, we may survive several more of your years, and if we can arrange trade with the younger worlds, longer still."
Bethany took a deep breath. "Your comments are noted, Spymaster G'kael, and the forces under my command have authorized me to negotiate on their behalf, so what I think, they think...to a point. My contacts among the Rangers suggested that Narhlak would afford us a place to take stock of our resources, find room to breathe...and your response on our arrival was more then we could possibly have expected; thank you!!"
"Thanks are not required, Captain...but work, is!! The matter I have just outlined will not be a simple task, and we cannot afford to attract military attention until we have returned all of our vessels to full operating capacity. But the time will come, I am sure, when that will be so."
"We understand...and agree."
At that, G'kael's expression grew stern. "Then by G'Quan, it is agreed!! And now that this agreement has been made, there are a number of matters that we must discuss, matters that will affect your thoughts on the situation we both face."
"Forgive me if I appear doubtful, Spymaster, but mysteries do not.."
"I must, by need, be short with you, Captain..there is very little time to explain. There are races in this galaxy millions of years older then our own.."
"The Vorlons?? What do the Vorlons have to do with this situation?"
"No..not the Vorlons. They are among the OLDEST races, but not the oldest. For that, we must turn to a race of chaos, a race that would like nothing better then to destroy us if they knew of our current location. The forces that have conquered both Narn and Earth are allied with this race, and their ships, if seen, inspire nothing more then terror; and the desire never to see them again, among the very few who have survived such an encounter.."
This couldn't be true..or could it?? The Narn seemed absolutely serious in his story, and after all, it was true..in the past three years, war had spread across the stars she knew. It was almost as if something was manipulating them all, in the darkness...
"This race you describe, Spymaster; they are called WHAT?"
"The Shadows, Captain."
"The..Shadows??"
"A name given to them by the Minbari; I doubt very much we would able to pronounce or even understand the name they give themselves. A thousand years ago, the Shadows fought a Great War against the Minbari; they have very long memories for such matters, and now, they have returned to their places of power, on the Rim. In contention to this darkness, the Rangers, commanded in part by a human we both know well, are readying themselves to stand against the Shadows, but it will be hard..."
"Will we be..required..to assist in this matter?"
"I doubt that seriously, Captain; your cruisers and destroyers would be as nothing to the Shadows, and my forces would fare hardly better, as was proved in the recent war with the Centauri. It is our task to stay out of the way, until the Minbari, the Humans, and others, along with, we hope, the Vorlons, can find the courage to stand against this dark tide."
"You must understand...your story is dramatic, G'kael, but we require proof that these creatures exist!"
G'kael nodded grimly. "It shall be as you wish, Captain; observe." The Narn activated the nearby screen. Though small and primitive by the standards she was used to, the nightmarish images thus displayed were direct enough, and the ships, familiar from the snip of ISN footage shown months before. She was able to restrain herself from responding, but some of the other officers in the group were not.
Dark ships, the shape of horrifying spiders in the night, destroying ships of obvious, if tiny, Narn construction. It was the basis behind G'kael's story..and the proof she had so demanded.
"Now do you see??" G'kael exclaimed. "They exist, they are chaos inherent, Captain...and a great many Narns died to give us those images. If they find us, as we are, do not presume hope for our survival.
Good day, Captain."
* * *
"Your opinion, Commander?"
"If this is true..if President Clark has allied himself with these things.."
"Then it's just one more reason to remove him from power, Commander."
"But how do we do that?? If we even think of trying to pull off what the General planned, the Presidnet could call upon these Shadow things to destroy us in the blink of an eye!"
"All true; we must be patient, Commander; to lay low, to be invisible to THEIR eyes, is now our only option. Sooner or later, someone, or something, perhaps these Rangers that William Westcastle and my daughter so believe in, will pull together the races to fight these things, to find a way to defeat them, once again. Perhaps the Vorlons will help, as well...but we can’t do anything until that happens..except what was agreed."
"So be it; it frightens me, Captain...but you're right."
Bethany Tikopai looked at the screen on her wall, and the deceptive night of space beyond, and nodded. "We will do what we must, Commander..but until the Darkness is banished, we will know fear...
And safety will be denied us."
* * *
I am Alkanion Verah, and my story, as such, continues.
A great thing, a terrible thing of majesty and surprise, has just occurred. The Watchers had just departed on their business when a thing of strange light entered my chamber...and resolved into a form clearly humanoid, if not human.
This creature called itself TAALDON, and described itself as a middle party, now loyal to nobody save the One it served, for the present, and that is was doing me a favour.
A favour, you say?? I do not call opening up the floor and yanking me bodily into hyperspace a favour!...say, rather, that it nearly stopped my heart. Rather quickly, a form of purpose appeared, an eight armed starfish of light and energy, and with determination, this creature called Taaldon drew me into it.
Through walls of light we passed, and finally, I found myself in a room with no view, but with the presence of this being all around. Why have you done this thing, I asked?? And Taaldon replied...
'There are forces in this universe beyond even my understanding, Alkanion Verah, but know this; you are one of only three Observers I know of, and you are important. As you have determined, you were wasted, trapped in your prison on Z'ha'dum, and thus, the One I now serve commanded me to retrieve you, and depart to a place of relative safety. This, I will do, this I have done, but I do not endanger myself. In a short time, we will part ways with one another, and once more, you will be alone.'
What hope is there, I asked, then? If my masters reclaim me, what will be the point of this venture?
"Your masters will be denied your insight." Taaldon told me, "By a force they have tried to control, and failed. Through a means they do not understand, but will, in due course, for it will affect them, and, if they are not careful, destroy them, as well. You will understand my comments in due course, but for now, enjoy your safety, and eat."
Food appeared, and I did eat, as I had rarely eaten before. Z'ha'dum was behind me, the unknown in front. I did not know what was yet to come, but perhaps...perhaps there was cause for hope, after all.
Perhaps, I would yet find a way to be free...
* * *
"Damn and blast it, Gideon! How could this have been allowed to happen??"
Gideon shook his irritably. "I don't know the answer to that, Justin; I only know tha we could not have acted more quickly to stop Verah from escaping. The force our associates worship...it is MOVING, and sooner or later, we will all suffer for its presence here!"
"Bah! The Oldest has done nothing but sit in its damn pit for thousands of years...it will not move for the sake of one man!"
"But it might have, you see, Justin...it might have, already. In any case, we must, by means, move to reclaim Verah for our purposes. I propose that we request the use of a small taskforce from our associates for this purpose."
A grunt. "They will soon be very busy, Walther, but this is important...yes, I think it can be done. Do you intend to go alone, boy?...your successes have been many, but your failures equally spectacular."
"It was Morden's suggestion that I work with a partner from now on." A gesture, and a woman, dark of eye and spirit, entered the room. "Justin. This is Amilia Croyt; a recent, shall we say, *acquisition* of our associates."
"Hmph; very well, I know of this matter. Carry on, then, Gideon!...catch that Observer, bring him back...and if you succeed, your place among the Circle will be guarenteed, from now until the End."
Walther nodded, and turned away. No more needed to be said..for there was work to be done...