INTERLUDE I....THE ASHES OF MEMORY;
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Tuzanor, Minbar; Mid July, 2315.
The light panels in the Grand Corridor were dim this late at night, but the summons had been a direct one and to the point, and as such, Walken could not ignore it. He was only 18 years old, one of the youngest human Anla'shok in recent memory to have gone through the Ceremony, though not, of course, the youngest. That record had been established many years before, and had not, as yet, ever been broken. He smiled slightly; he knew enough of the histories that went before him to understand how special THAT Ranger had been, and all she had done in the first years of her service was remembered, even now.
Before HER Ceremony, and after.
Not that any Ranger presently serving could ignore those facts, either.
In due course, he arrived at his destination, and with respectful step, entered the room. It, too, was dimmed to near darkness; the only source of light in the area was a triad of candles burning on a nearby mantle...and the figure sitting in the corner was only a dim shadow; Walken did not know who it was, that information had not been given to him, as such, but come he did.
He bowed, in the darkness. "As I have been directed, by She who leads us above all, so I have come. My name is Andreas Walken, Anla'shok, and historian."
A chuckle answered him. "So polite, like the other; come, Andreas Walken, sit, here, in the Shadows that are. We have a GREAT deal to talk about, you and I, although, I fear, I will, as your predecessor discovered, be doing most of the talking..." The figure briefly leant forward into the candlelight, and Walken instinctively restrained himself from gasping out loud.
"Do not say it, I know who I am, and what I do...but Gallian was sufficiently disturbed by the closure of the last portion of the Tale that he decided not to hear any more. Apparently, it bothered him to know that the histories laid down by Sheridan and Mollari were, how shall I say it, a trifle incomplete."
"With all due respect, YOU were there!!...for all of it!! The more viewpoints we have on that terrible time, the better...it is already more then fifty years past the end of the War, and you are one of the few now alive who remember exactly what happened."
"Yes, that's true, isn't it?...though sometimes I wish it hadn't been. So many years it has been, so much hope, so much sadness, so much loss, and far, FAR too much War. You would have thought we would have learned, by defeating the Shadows and the Vorlons, that we should leave War behind us.
But Valen forgive me, I stride ahead of myself once again; it is a weakness that I inflicted upon Gallian, as well..the poor boy had a lot of trouble keeping track of all my jumping back and forth. In any case, the story I tell has a beginning, and a middle, and a end...just like Mollari's...just like Sheridan's. And I had just reached the middle of the story, just to the point where things were beginning to get quite interesting, when Gallian decided he had heard too much.
Do you have the courage to take his place, Andreas Walken? If you do not, then you may walk away, now, and I will not hold it against you, for doing so."
He gritted his teeth, and took a seat nearby. "I will not walk away; I have read the records Gallian left behind him, and it is clear, all too, clear, that the story is incomplete... the note you left it on made it clear the story WOULD continue."
"Ah, yes...so where, precisely, would you like me to start??"
"Before you continue, I believe it would be prudent to review what has been said already...in brief, of course, and to the point."
Another chuckle emerged from beyond the candlelight. "A primer for the Tale of the Rimstalker? In Valen's Name, I did not think this would be necessary at the beginnning, but that is that, and this is now. Very well, we shall go back to the beginning...and while I was not there for the start of this incredibly tangled mess, Val'na Tri'no'kal Westcastle's mother WAS...and she and I had a bond stronger then words.
It began, I suppose, in the Earth Year 2258; so long ago, a different age it was...an ending, and a beginning. It began with William Westcastle, then an operations officer on a Earthforce dreadnought. But this did not last...soon enough, the Shadows noticed him, and acted to draw him towards their own ends.
But the Vorlons were paying attention, too, and through fate and the action of one of their own agents, he first met his future wife, Jennifer Clifford, upon the world known as Nighthawk. Events were not kind to them, or to those assigned to that world, and soon enough, the Shadows threatened them both once again...a threat that ended with the help of a Narn named G'kael, a resignation from Earthforce for he, and a disappearance for her; and a reunion, later on, at the Io Transfer Point, just in time to see President Santiago die."
"Brief, indeed...but that was only the beginning, was it not?? An introduction, so to speak."
"Precisely, my boy...precisely. 2259 began with them both on Babylon 5, along with Walther Gideon..such a problem he ended up being, as you know. There was a time when they grew distracted, but G'kael returned to put them on the right track once more. Along the way, they met Brianna Tolmanes, a telepath victimized by the Shadows and their agents...and rescued her from a fate worse then death. All three of them then went to Minbar, to become what we are now; but those were the early days of the Rangers that are, the days of Jeffrey Sinclair..the time when the Shadows were stretching out their dark hand once again."
"A time of danger, that was; they were nearly killed on a number of occasions..."
"Yes, that damnable Z'nip'c was a difficult problem to solve, but they did, of course, and along the way, saw what the Centauri were doing to the Narn...a terrible business, that was, but understandable."
"Futile, given what happened to them EVENTUALLY."
"That is NOT a story for now, Anla'shok Walken...perhaps later??" Not a request; an order. Walken held his breath for a moment, and quickly nodded.
"Now, as you know, those three, and those who came to follow them, were threatened for the remainder of that year by the Shadow Agent that Gideon had become...as well as his accomplices and comrades. But Westcastle and Clifford defeated them using various means and allies...and in due course, were called upon to test flight the first White Star prototype. Then they were, of course, witness to the Miracle of the Garden, at the end of 2259."
He sighed, and shook his head sadly. "A miracle?? Hard to believe, given what the Vorlons later did."
"Yes; but Kosh was, perhaps, not quite like the rest." For a moment, he saw light flash off two silver and jade sigils, in the darkness, and then, her voice spoke on. "2260 arrived in what seemed to be a pause, a distinctive pause in events, or so it seemed.
But this did not last; soon enough, Westcastle, now called the Rimstalker by a great number of his followers, attained the Rank of Sha'vei, the first human to ever do so, and along the way, he established alliances with a mysterious race of First Ones in Hyperspace, a race that called themselves the Cha'hal'zhamon. This was an important alliance, though one that was never used to the fullest, due to its secrecy...for if the Cha'hal'zhamon had been fully revealed, it surely would have meant their complete destruction.
Enough of them died as it was, as you know, from reading the histories Gallian recorded. But at this point, the history I chose to tell diverged slightly, to reveal the strain imposed upon General William Hague's primary deep space rebel commander, a woman who survived the Battle of the Line because she possessed that most wonderful gift: a daughter who would later become something she never could have envisioned..."
He resolutely refused to open his mouth at that point, despite the temptation..
"This woman was named Bethany Tikopai, and in the process of the descent into Darkness that was the tyranny of President Clark's brief reign over the Earth Alliance, much pain would be visited on her, the pain of command, the pain of betrayal and accused treason, and above all, the pain of watching those she commanded die in her name, on her order. But they survived...despite ambushes, despite many close calls, they survived, and escaped...and it is good that they did, as you will see, Andreas, very good indeed.
Around the same time, the first few White Stars were completed, and the Rimstalker, called upon to serve beyond the call of duty once again, took the second of that class into space, even as Babylon 5 fought for its very existence and freedom, a battle that she who Was the First Observer took part in as well.
Using the resources available to him, and warned so by his companion Brianna Tolmanes, Westcastle acted to save a very special addition to his command, an addition who would later do things thought impossible...a mere slip of a girl, but brilliant, a flame against the night, it would later seem.
And then, once Babylon 5 stood free, the Entil'zha recalled them all to Minbar...for the time was coming, soon enough, when the White Star Fleet would be complete..and it was necessary, ABSOLUTELY necessary, for them to train, and practice, and practice yet again...a task that Westcastle took upon himself with all the ferocity he was known for. Time passed, and even as the Shadows made their presence known in the galaxy, and the Younger Races looked on with fear, the time soon came, at last, for the White Star Fleet to take action.
And so, they did; Westcastle gathered his squadrons together, and they followed Sheridan into the terrible fire of the Battle of Sector 83...a battle that many of his Rangers did not return from. But in doing so, the Rimstalker made what was nearly his most terrible mistake...he left behind She who stood at his Right Hand, and in that doing, laid open the oppurtunity the Shadows could not ignore.
Walther Gideon, that damned man, that man who had dogged their footsteps from the beginning, and one of the Shadows' greatest assets, used stolen technology to invade the heart of the resistance, and kidnapped Jennifer Clifford. Their destination was the heart of all darkness. The world named...
Z'ha'dum.
Westcastle could not ignore this direct challenge, and with the aid of those allies he had established, left Minbar and his command behind to travel to Z'ha'dum, to face Gideon and rescue his lost love. That he did this without his Entil'zha's permission was something he did not consider important at the time..but before he departed, he asked of his dearest Minbari companions, Tashann and Dreann, to help keep the secret, and so they did...at the time; but worse awaited, and this secret would not keep forever.
Upon reaching Z'ha'dum, Westcastle was intercepted by Gideon, and was made an offer by Justin, the intermediary between the Shadow agents and their masters...an offer that Westcastle summarily rejected. This did not please Gideon, and as such, he ordered Westcastle taken to his death beneath the dread Beams of Zha'vul...to die with his love, at the end. But this was a fate he would not accept, and through means both devious and prophetic, arranged for Jennifer to regain possession of her lost warrior pike, for one last struggle with the Foe.
And so, did the Observer and Gideon's dark lover meet in battle on the edge of the abyss...a battle that the Observer won, but only after paying the price of losing the use of her fighting left hand. Gideon, upon seeing this, became so distracted that Westcastle was able to pass beneath his guard, and defeat him, as well. Both of them were then prepared for death, for they knew quite WELL that the Shadows would not take the deaths of their agents lightly.
But at that same moment, a moment in history well recorded, Captain John Sheridan commanded the First White Star, loaded with two rather LARGE thermonuclear devices, to crash through the great roof above the City of Z'ha'dum, and self-destruct. He did not know that Westcastle and Clifford were there, not that it would have mattered...he was there for reasons both different and the same, and jumped into the pit to save himself, passing into history and legend, for you know what happened after."
"Of course!!" he replied. "The Eldest, Lorien, intervened..."
"Yes, yes, I see that you know that story...but do not waste my time, boy! The reason you are here is MORE then that tale. Up until now, what happened AFTER the impact of the White Star at Z'ha'dum has only been revealed through the hands of Mollari, Sheridan and a few select others.
Now, it is time for you to know what the REST saw, those who served beneath and behind those shining stars, those named Sheridan, and Delenn, and all who served with them. For if Sheridan was saved from his fate on Z'ha'dum by the being called Lorien, how, then, did the Rimstalker and the Observer survive that same fate??"
He shook his head, confused and uncertain. "I..do not know."
"Of course you don't, but I DO! Settle yourself in, and we will talk for a while, until I grow tired...and then, tomorrow night, we will continue, and the night after that, for as long as it takes to tell the story to its, ah, spectacular conclusion. For until you, and the others, know and understand the REST OF THE STORY, what is already known is but a single set of colours on the palette of history.
Do you understand me?"
After a time, he nodded, and gazed serenely into the glow of the burning candles. "I do."
"Very well, then." The hidden figure leaned forward, to reveal her all too familiar, slightly lined face beneath its long, raven and silver hair. "Then I will speak to you of what happened next; what happened to the Rimstalke and the Observer, upon the world named Z'ha'dum. What became of all their companions, their friends, and those enemies who still lived. What became of the Narn named G'kael, before and after Narn was liberated. And, at the end, what became of the resolute, desperate rebel Captain Bethany Tikopai, who would, and did, do everything in her power to see her world freed.
But enough of what you do know, Andreas Walken...it is time for the worlds to know what they do NOT! And so, we begin, in the moment when that doomed Phoenix, the White Star One, crashed through the Great Roof above the Shadow City..."
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Next: THE RIDERS ON THE STORM begins, between the moments, on the world named Z'ha'dum...