powers that be in Main Dome preferred 301 this way. It was much easier to handle.
He suddenly stopped dead. Someone else was here. The basement level was dark, but there was just enough light from the cracks in the walls to make out shapes. He didn't want to waste the energy cells in his torch until he got to the sub-basement level.
He couldn't see anyone, and he couldn't hear anything, but he somehow knew that someone was here. Could it be a kid? It was possible they still came to places like this. Was it a school-day today? He then cursed that thought. As if it would matter whether it was a school-day or not. That had never stopped him.
'Who's there?' he asked softly. More than likely it was a kid, or some vagrant sleeping rough. 'I'm not going to hurt you.'
There was a brief surge of pain at the back of his skull, and he trembled slightly. A telepath. That ruled out most of the alternatives, and all of the nice ones.
He had a feeling he knew who this was.
Closing his eyes — more for the symbolic reassurance it gave him than anything else — he sought the void again. He had no idea what he was actually doing, it just came to him in certain situations. A residual legacy of his mother's telepathy perhaps, although she had never been very powerful.
There! He moved forward slowly. Something brushed past his arm, and he lunged out and grabbed at whoever it was. Something rolled beneath his feet and he fell, but he brought his companion down as well.
'I'm not going to hurt you,' he said again. 'It's you, isn't it? Dammit, speak to me!'
There was a flash of light, and he looked up to see who was with him. She was holding a torch that illuminated both their faces. He looked into her eyes, and had the slight satisfaction of being right.
'So,' said Talia Stoner, or Winters, or whatever name she was using. 'What are you doing here?'
Emperor Londo Mollari stirred from his private vigil of contemplation only when told by one of the many people running around on this ship that they were about to come out of hyperspace. He supposed he should have gone to his personal quarters on the Barge to prepare his luggage and his aides, but he was quite happy standing here, looking at the formless, shifting nothing that was hyperspace.
So, back to Kazomi 7. He wondered just how changed the place was from the war-torn, broken ruin he had left. He wondered just how changed Delenn was.
'Almost there,' he said, partly to himself, partly to Lennier. The Minbari did not reply. He had not really been expecting him to.
'Is G'Kar there already, I wonder?' The Narn had left Centauri Prime some days before Londo. He did not have the disadvantage of having to prepare all that packing and the ceremonial guard and all the other decorative bits that came with being Head of State.
On the other hand, he did have the disadvantage of having to sneak out.
'Not yet,' said Lennier in his usual quiet tone. Londo had to strain to hear most of what he was saying. 'He should be there by tomorrow, assuming there are no problems at Greater Krindar.'
'How do you know that?' he asked, and then muttered angrily to himself. He would either not get an answer, or he would get a reply that was so vague it told him nothing. Greater Krindar.... He knew that name. Ah yes, a prominent supply station, fairly deep in non-aligned space, and on several important borders. Most of the trade to the Alliance was being filtered through there, he seemed to recall.
'G'Kar told me his plans and his itinerary,' came the reply. Londo was surprised. Actual information. He was very impressed. 'He wanted someone to know, so that if anything untoward happened to him we would know where to begin back-tracking.'
'Ah. Very.... efficient.' He wondered if G'Kar had noticed that Lennier was no longer wearing his Ranger badge.
There was a slight jolt, and Londo started, spilling his drink on the front of his tunic. He looked up, and saw hyperspace folding slightly. Somewhere towards the front of the ship, then, a jump point would be forming.
He declined to look at this wonder of light and colour and technology, and, turning away from the observation windows, he began fumbling for a cloth to wipe the stain from his tunic.
'They will insist on my wearing white, won't they? Ceremonial and traditional. Bah! Impossible to get stains out of as well. And I am sure they will all be having multiple heart attacks at the thought of the Emperor making first contact with the United Alliance in a brivare-stained tunic! Nothing gets brivare out of silk. Not a single thing. Why couldn't it be black, or at least a deep, rich purple. I always look good in purple. I....'
He suddenly became aware of a soft gasp from wherever it was in the shadows Lennier was hiding. He looked up and saw the Minbari come into view, walking towards the window. He turned, and noticed two things.
First, that they had completed the jump to normal space. Kazomi 7 was clearly in sight.
Secondly, that there was one other ship present in orbit. Well, actually there were a great many ships, but they were little things. Drazi Sunhawks, Brakiri merchant vessels. Little shuttles.
This was bigger than that. Considerably so. It was bigger than the Imperial Barge. It was bigger than the
Londo stopped that train of thought, and mentally classified the thing as 'huge'. It wasn't an entirely accurate description, but it would have to do.
It was like no ship he had ever seen before, and resembled not so much a ship as a flying castle. There were turrets and towers. There was something which looked like a giant gateway. There were brief pinpricks of a luminous, golden light coming from various points on the thing.
Londo had never seen anything like it, but he had heard things.
'Valen's Name,' Lennier breathed.
'Let me guess,' said the Emperor, feeling thoroughly awed. 'That would be Cathedral, yes?'
Four, five, six....
Delenn had not been expecting luxurious accommodation, and so she was not overly disappointed. She had been expecting a room that was more of a prison cell than a hotel suite, and so she was not surprised there either. These two unpleasant non-surprises did not in any way match up to the shock of Neroon's presence here.
Did the Vorlons know that? Had they sent her here specifically because they knew Neroon was here? How could they know that? She shook her head and walked around, trying to ease her tension. She was counting, and wishing she could remember Vejar's exact words when he had given her the device.
She had gone to him before leaving Kazomi 7, and had told him what she had to do. The others — Lyta, Lethke and John — she had left messages for. They would try to stop her if they knew, but Vejar.... He knew of the greater destiny, and he had the power to create the type of device she was looking for.
He had done so within minutes, and had handed it to her. A small globe, easily concealed within her clothing. To activate it, all she had to do was whisper a small incantation, and then, on the count of one hundred, it would explode, destroying everything in this room, this building, and most of the city.
She did not know if this was what the Vorlons had had in mind when they had ordered her to come here. All she knew was that they wanted her to die. And so, if she must die, she would at least make sure her death would achieve something. Then.... her soul would ascend to the next life, and she would wait for John to join her. She prayed for that more than anything else.
She hoped he had got her message. If he had, then he would understand.
She had told him of the sacrifice she had made for him, that he was better suited to lead in these times than she was, that she hoped they would meet again in the place where no shadows fall, and ultimately that she would always love him. It had been the hardest thing she had ever had to do.
The message to Lyta had been a little easier, the one to Lethke easier still, and Sinoval.... He would understand better than any of them. He did not love her. He did not love anyone. She doubted that he could.
But he was a perfect product of this age, of this time. He would be needed. He would pursue the war, he would help to win it, and then, if he survived and there was peace, he would fall back into the shadows, to walk only in nightmares and dreams, and die alone. People such as him were designed for war, and not peace.
She looked at the globe. It was on the table before her. It seemed to be glowing.
Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four....
