**"...though it take a Thousand years, we will be *free*."
- Comment made by Ambassador G'kar to Ambassador Londo Mollari at end of the Narn-Centauri Conflict, Late Autumn, 2259
* * *
Minbar. August, 2315.
Again, the candles burned, and again, Andreas had come, to listen. The histories given to him, so far, had been nothing but surprising; the accounts that Sheridan, Mollari and others had passed on had been almost completely lacking in Ranger histories for the period between the end of the Shadow War and the dawn of the Interstellar Alliance. But now, courtesy of *her* submissions, the gaps were slowly being filled in.
But the task was not finished yet, and as such, he would come, to listen, until the end, whenever and *wherever* that might occur.
He bowed. "What then, will you tell to me tonight?"
A smile answered, deep in the glow of the candles. "Unfortunately, although I know your enthusiasm for the continued histories of William Westcastle, tonight, Andreas, we shall stray onto a slightly different avenue, for a time; to tell the story as it was told for me, long ago. But don't put on such a long face, for you never do know what else will come out, in the process..."
* * *
What I was is no longer as important as it used to be; what I am now, is another story.
My name is G'kael, and I have, for some years now, been a prominent member of the Commitee of Executors. I make this record for the benefit of friends and comrades that aided me for longer then I deserved; even now, long after the birth of that thing which, in the end, helped to save us all, I feel that I will never be able to repay them for what they did in those years.
The 'thing' I refer to, of course, is the Interstellar Alliance; but Jennifer and Julia insisted that I not deal with that matter *just* yet, but instead, review the state my world was in a short time after my return, and try to explain for them and you, their followers, what my survival had meant, to *me*, what legacy awaited us, the Narn, in the aftermath of the war, and most importantly, how I, G'kael, found myself both surprised and given new determination; the reason for both of these, you will soon discover.
By the human calendar, it was the end of March, 2261, and the tasks ahead of us were enormous and varied; but the Narns have long been a resourceful people, and even as I returned from my exile at Narhlak, it was to learn that teams had already proceeded, using ships the Centauri had left behind them in their, shall we say, frantic retreat from Narn (which was, of course, instigated with the aid of my good friend G'kar, who had, at that time, just become the Ambassador to Babylon 5, once again) proceeded to repair our primary jumpgate, and begin similar taskings on the few orbital facilities that remained to us.
But by far the most *critical* of all problems was the conditions on the surface of Homeworld; things were, indeed, quite dire when I arrived. Together with the other members of the Committee, I looked upon the task with no small trepidation; for while the Centauri had exerted their tyranny over the Narn, little could be done, for the Centauri were not interested in seeing my people regain much, if any of their pre-war industrial capablility.
Even after a full passage of seasons, the survivors of that tyranny had done little more then finish the process of burying and burning the millions killed in the mass-driver strikes, and had also begun the enormous task of rebuilding their homes and places of work. What had happened before, had happened *again*, but my people had not forgotten the lessons of the last time this had happened, and beneath that which the Centauri saw, the planning began again; no matter how long it took, my people decided, they would drive the Centauri away; and *this time* it would be for the last time.
But then, to their astonishment, they found themselves once again *free* of this oppression. Many will never know the true story of what happened that day, when G'kar was brought before their mad emperor, Cartagia, and many should *never* know that truth, for it would both hurt and disapoint them, and they would not, in any case, understand. But the truth they *knew* was startling; Cartagia had, it seemed, suffered a fatal heart attack during his visit to Narn in the closing days of the war, and their Prime Minister, Londo Mollari, had ordered a full retreat from our space; a retreat that did not end until their fleet and their soldiers were all gone, recalled to protect Centauri Prime, which at that point was facing the dire reality of attack by the Vorlons themselves.
And we all *know* what happened after that; but that is another story, for another time.
As for I, in the weeks after my return, and especially after my visit to G'kar at Babylon 5, I approached my tasks with steadiness and continued beliefs in the teachings of G'quan, whose tome had, in some small part, helped to bring about the final exile of the Great Enemy themselves. But steadiness and belief did not make up for the loss I believed I had suffered, a loss I would have to live with for the remainder of my days.
That this is an account I have not, as yet, ever dictated is reason enough to tell it now, but to you alone; if the account is to be passed on, as you decide, it must be with *good reason*.
The grim tale stood at this turn; during my service as shipleader and, later, Spymaster of the Intelligence forces, the work I performed made it near impossible to contact any of my relatives on Homeworld; and then, cursed destiny awaited me, for even as I was, by necessity, forced to retreat before the Centauri advance, or be destroyed along with the rest of the Government, opportunity for any warning to be passed on to those relatives was denied me. And after my return, I stood on the edge of the devastation surrounding the ash-filled crater at the center of what had once been the city of K'rah'nimon, and nodded sadly; the others saw my display of guilt and anger, and were quick to point out that I could not have predicted what would have happened to the city of my birth.
I cared not for predictions, I replied to them; like so many others, I found myself to be the last of my line; for it seemed fairly clear that all of my family had been in K'rah'nimon that dreadful day.
That was my belief; however, no more then five cycles later, I found, to my astonisment, that I was wrong. The day was a bright one, with strong winds blowing from the deserts, as I stood outside our parliament, just now beginning to be surrounded with scaffolding, together with the rest of the Committee. As I recall, we were, yet again, deeply involved in a conversation about the Reconstruction, when out of the corner of my eye, I observed a small group approach; a group that walked proud, and surrounded one who had, to go by his scars, taken injury, not as great as mine, but it seemed that he wore those injuries as badges of honor. I turned to take a closer look, for as yet, I had not had my lost eye replaced, and could not, at first, credit that which I saw as the truth.
He who stood at the center of that group was someone I had thought dead since my return!...that Narn was no other then my first cousin, G'vek! In the times now lost, G'vek had been a prosperous member of the Ministry of Trade, and had served our family well in that respect (a path I did not choose to follow, to my father's ultimate anger and regret) But as the Centauri had advanced on our world, ties to the stars beyond had snapped, one by one, and when last I heard, my cousin's lot in life had become grim, for how can a trading official live his life if there is nothing to be traded?
Words did not need to be spoken; each of us were able, at first glance, to determine and then pass on what we had originally intended to say to one another, and so, we stayed silent, but moved aside, and into the building where Cartagia had once held court, and where he had died. Now that all the trappings of Centauri excess had been ripped away, the original style of the building was once again visible; above us, great rents in the roof had only just begun to be repaired, while around us, traces of the rubble created by the Great Bombardment still remained; but all the workers then present saw us enter, and quietly left us to our own thoughts.
They *understood*, it seemed.
And then, the moment arrived.
"Cousin..." G'vek began, and then, he shook his head, and laughed grimly. "So much has changed since last we spoke; so much pain has been endured, and far, *far* too many haved died. But you know this already, I am sure, and we are not here to review our past guilts."
It is difficult for me to see this as you do, I replied. You must understand, I told him, that the government and the military did, through a lack of conscience and repeated denials, due to the lack of available channels, they said, cause me to lose contact with you and the rest; and then, Narn fell, and I was called into a task beyond my status, beyond anything I could have imagined.
"And if you *had* made contact, what would have happened, then?" G'vek queried me, his expression sardonic. "Our fathers would have discounted your message, G'kael; as you know, they did, for the duration of your career in the Service, see you as the rebellious one of us two; your father did not want you to go to the stars; he, and mine, wanted us to work together, to carry on with the business as they had done before us.
But you decided that this was not to be so; ah!...but this is past! What I am trying to say, my cousin, is that until it actually happened, our fathers, and the rest of our cousins in the business, did not *want* to believe that Narn could fall so easily, that our prosperous Military machine could be decimated, so. There are, indeed, elements of this matter that I do not as yet fully understand; but I have heard...tales, G'kael, tales of how you suffered your injuries, at the hands of those we called Greatest Enemy; tales of what you did, in the darkness, and what brought you to your present position; are the tales true?"
I gestured him to sit, then; and I began to talk, and all that I told was the truth. I told of the Shadows, and the trap they had laid; I told of the adventures that I had undertaken with the human Ranger, William Westcastle, at the start of his career among the stars; I told of the desperate last outpost at Narhlak, and how, beyond all expectatations, the rebels among the humans had gathered there, as well. And I told him of what had happened to end it; how John Sheridan, the commander of that destined place named Babylon 5, had, with the Minbari Delenn, changed everything! And all this G'vek heard, and took in. And then, when at last I stopped the missive, he replied...
"Astonishing; and yet, I have never known you to tell a lie, my cousin. It would appear you have fallen in with legends; I find it astonishing that you are on such close terms with the great G'kar, but perhaps this is not that much of a surprise, after all. You have been many places, and done a great many things, in the service of this thing called Light; and yet, I now find that I must tell you something of my story, as well, to make the bargain complete."
And so it was agreed; we retired from the ruined parliament chamber, and moved to a place more suited to the tale. A meal was assembled, and once satisfied, my cousin began to talk.
* * *
That morning, so long ago now, was a morning of brilliance and lost fire; our fathers sat together, discussing the matters of the business as they always did, when I decided that I would retire for a time to dwell among the hills above the city. While you have long walked among the stars, my cousin, I walked upon the land; and it was a good thing that I decided to do so on this day, as you can no doubt surmise. Soon enough, my long stride left the edge of the city behind, and between the hiss of the wind and the brilliant reddish rays of the sun, I once more found myself nearer at peace with myself, and with the teachings of the great G'quan.
And then, I realized that something was *happening*...something dreadful. Great flaming *objects* were falling through the atmosphere, and at great speed. Distant thunder rang, and then, it was the turn of the people of Kha'ra'nimon to come under the guns of the Centauri Republic. I threw myself to the ground as the fire descended, but saw what happened, regardless. A great fireball arose from the heart of the city, and the airshock spread out, knocking everything flat. Fires burned everywhere, and smoke and soot filled the air. Even as far away as I, fragments of white-hot rock fell; I was unlucky enough to be showered with such...the burns you see on my skin, I suffered that day.
As I later learned, the Centauri had, using forbidden mass driver technology (though the Centauri apparently decided to ignore *that* convention) dropped a rather large kinetic missile on our Home city. All across Homeworld, this was repeated in the days to come, for any city the Centauri saw, they bombed, acting on their hate of our people; but is that such a great surprise?...for we had hated them in turn, and so it has gone, from father to son, in both races, for far too long.
During the Bombardment, a great many died; but as it continued, the people hid themselves, for conditions were dire. Choking dust filled the air, and soon enough, the temperature began to drop. As you see, we have barely begun to escape from the Long Winter the Centauri imposed upon us.
At last, it ended, and when I returned into the ruins, it was to find our great dwelling a splintered, burnt out remnant; as you surmised, my cousin, there had been no survivors. Our family, once so great, had been extinguished in an instant, destroyed by a simple small fragment of rock thrown out from the impact; but this fragment was more then sufficient to destroy all that I knew. And as far as I could understand, I was the last survivor of our family, for the rumour had come down that all the ships of our great Navy had been destroyed!
For a time, then, I lost hope; I watched as the Centauri soldiers descended upon us as they had before; their faces smug with the knowledge of what they had done to us, and full of the belief that it had been *right* for them to do what they had done. Their Republic was expanding again, you see!...and they equated that with might, and treated us accordingly.
The humans have a saying, and how true it may be, in this case; 'pride goeth before a fall.' The humans learned this the hard way; and sooner or later, the Centauri will do the same. They will pay the price for what they have done here; I do not know how, only that it *will* happen.
But I drift from my tale, my cousin. As time passed, and it appeared to many that there was nothing we could do, for now, to drive the Centauri away; the devastation had been immense. For the first third or so of the Occupation, we were busy enough just burying the dead, and finding enough food to survive the bitter weather...but then, the old patterns began to reveal themselves again, and we learned that the Centauri overlords had begun to send out parties to systematically murder any of us they felt to be a threat to their Rule. Needless to say, at that point, the pride that had nearly been erased in the Great Bombardment began to reassert itself, and there was those among us who began to plan a return to the days of old.
This then, was the game we played with the Centauri among the ruins; surviving as best we could, while striking back at them wherever possible. Some of us were captured, and some of us were executed; but we had learned the lessons of the last time, and as long as we could the Centauri unbalanced and off guard, we could hurt them; and as long as they stayed, we would continue to hurt them! And to my surprise, I found myself becoming somewhat of a leader in the Resistance; but then again, now that I see what you accomplished, my cousin, should I have been surprised?
Time passed; and to our astonishment, once in a while, we observed a human walk among the broken stones, a human dressed all in black. In time, we learned that these were Rangers, or, as they sometimes preferred to be called, Anla'shok. They hid their movements from the Centauri remarkably well, and when they could, they tried to aid us...but mostly, it seemed that they were merely there to observe. Even they had to concentrate on their true calling...
And rumours came; rumours of a Great War in the heavens, above; of a desperate struggle waged against the Great Enemy described in the Book of G'quan. Rumours of a center in the struggle, the human place named Babylon 5; every Ranger that visited us mentioned this place with a near reverence we found confusing, at first. But then again, the final liberation of Homeworld found its start on Babylon 5, didn't it? So, yet again, I will refrain from being judgmental on that matter.
Finally, those among the Resistance learned that the Centauri Emperor himself, the young but mad Cartagia, was coming to Narn. We also learned, to our dismay, that the great G'kar had been captured, and was to be tried, here, on our soil. We decided, then and there, that we would try to free him, before he was killed.
However, history moved to pass us by; and in the ending of the War, do we reach the present. That is my tale in brief; now, together, we must move on, towards the future. There may come a time when I feel I need to tell you more; but for now, I am sure that there are elements of the things we have done that should remain ours to know, and ours alone.
* * *
So many differences, and yet again, so many similarities, were revealed that day. When faced with the defeat we faced, many of my people decided that there was no hope, that the great Future they had seemed to have after the First Liberation was a falsehood. But we showed them they were wrong, did we not? Both G'vek and I did what we had to, when we had to, and the rest *saw* this, and their hope returned, first slowly, and then...
And then, through an act of fate and an act of sacrifice, we were freed. And if the legacy of our survival is that we must drag our people out of their hateful past and into a, I hope, better tomorrow, for as long as we now shall live, then I can think of no better fate.
* * *
Babylon 5; April 15th, 2261...evening; Julia's quarters.
She was *so* tired; but she would not give up, Julia told herself grimly, as she knelt before the filled candlestand that Larieken had purchased for her, several weeks before. She had fulfilled the terms of Shival's 'punishment', and had gone on beyond that; but at the end of the day, it just seemed that sometimes the tiredness never went away, and most times, the loneliness got worse.
While Larieken was, as always, close at hand, that didn’t make up for the missing companionship of those she called friends, and mentors. William, Brianna and the rest had been out on the Rim with the White Star Fleet for weeks and weeks now; most of the time, they were so far out of range that even communication through hyperspace wasn't possible! Mother, of course, had had to leave far too quickly, and who *knew* when and where, she and her fleet would pop out, next. While Jennifer, her former Mistress, had, at the instigation of the Entil'zha, gone to Tuzanor to pass on to the next generation of Rangers some of her skills with the warrior pike.
Which left her *here*, training, practicing, and sometimes, being completely bored out of her skull by the whole thing! After all the adventures she had taken part in during the Shadow War, sometimes it just didn't seem fair, that the universe should subject her to this!
Which was when the room behind her filled with a strange, out of place, orangey glow... and she jumped to her feet, and whirled, ready to attack...to then halt, in confusion, as she saw a tall but stout Minbari male look about him, as if in some sort of satisfaction...
"Um...I don't mean to be rude, or anything, but...WHO are you, and how did you get in?"
The Minbari sighed. "All alike, some of you are, hasty, and presumptous. Ah well, I suppose I cannot blame you for wondering, it was a little bit of an experiment, you see...but come, I jump ahead of myself! I, am DRAAL!..and as for how I got in, well, I'm not really here, you see..."
Draal, she thought to herself, names and places whirling through her infuriatingly ordered mind. Now where have I heard that name before?
Of *course*. Part of a conversation she had had with Entil'zha Sinclair came back to her, from the short time she had learned under him at Tuzanor. At one point, he had told her about the planet beneath Babylon 5, the Great Machine within it, and the wise Minbari who lived within that Machine...and then, having ferretted out a Ranger report about the few times Draal had visited the command staff, here on the station.
"I see that you now remember..." Draal added pointedly, but kindly. "I wondered, for a time, but perhaps that wasn't necessary! The Great Machine has shown me many things about the universe, as I'm sure you can understand, having remembered what *he* told you...and one of the things it has shown me is that there seems to be a great DEAL of interest revolving around such a youthling of a human. After all, it isn't many your age, in any race, that get the chance to rub shoulders, as you humans say, with the 'giants' on the playing field!"
"Wasn't my idea...that's just how things turned out!"
Draal snorted. "Indeed not! We all make choices in life, and regardless of what is set up for us to fall into, you *cannot* mean to tell me that everything you've done has been prearranged for you, surely?"
She thought about that, and then ruefully nodded, a small smile coming to her face. "I guess...you're right about that."
"She guesses?...well, I suppose that *is* a start. Now, as to the core of the matter of why I have visited you this evening, child; you have a problem that needs to be solved, and while all those who you count as dear friends and 'Mistresses' are elsewhere, I have, in my wanderings through the stars in the Great Machine, found someone who needs my help, again! And although the task may be difficult, not only does it seem you need someone to advise you wisely, from time to time, but sometimes, I do not doubt that you, young Julia Tikopai, would *also* appreciate simply having someone to talk to!"
Time to quick think. "That would be...nice."
"NICE?" Draal roared.
"Good?"
"You're getting *closer*."
"Welcome?"
Draal sighed. "I suppose that will *have* to do."
"Um; do you mind if I ask you, oh, a few things?"
"Isn't that WHY I'm here?"
"Uh...oh yeah, I guess it is!...sorry. Does anyone else know you're here?"
"Not this time; the first time I made my presence known to Sheridan and the rest, I asked the Machine to be, shall we say, a little *noisier* then it really had to be; I wanted to get their attention, you see...I succeeded, as you already know. But now, it seems rather prudent to keep our dialogues a little more discreet. It wouldn't DO to have the Captain and his colleagues running all over the place, trying to find out whether or not I had put in an appearance, and to who, now would it?"
She laughed.
"You see my point, then. Next question?"
"Do you think...that I might even get to, well, come down and see the Great Machine first hand?"
"Perhaps, hmm, perhaps, yes, in due course! But for now, it is getting late, as your kind measures things, and I'm sure that tomorrow is going to be just as long a day for you as today was, but now, you may feel secure in that anytime you wish to simply *talk* about matters, that I will hear you, and come...and we will talk. If other matters do not, shall we say, intrude."
She bowed. "I understand, Draal. And THANK you!"
Draal chuckled. "And with manners, too...very well, then! Perhaps there is a hope for the future, after all." And with that cryptic statement, Draal faded from sight.
Julia shook her head, hardly believing what had just happened. It seemed that she would be living with Kosh's legacy for a long time yet to come...she had attracted the attention of how many very important people, now? Oh well!...it seemed that the legacy of her surviving being shot in the side was still well on its way to maturity.
But what had Draal meant by that last statement?
Only time would tell.
* * *
To be continued...
Next time: It is the anniversary of a certain engagement, and you know what that means! However, a wedding day in the Babylon 5 universe means some things are guarenteed not to go smoothly!! "The Stars Burning Brightly" the 10th part of "The Riders On The Storm" coming in a day or two...