he has, and he's certainly willing to try. Just how likely is he to stumble over our activities there?'
'You've met him. You tell me.'
Morden moaned. 'Is there anywhere we can count on? I have this vision of everything falling apart.'
'Well.... something's going according to plan anyway. We finished the construction here last month.'
'Ah.' Morden smiled. 'That is good news. Can I see it?'
'Certainly. Come right this way.'
'I come here.... in a spirit of alliance and co-operation. That is after all the meaning of this place, is it not? Different races allied together for mutual advantage, a shelter together from the raging storms that crash and wail in the galaxy outside us.
'But no matter how we try to hide from it, the storm will find us out in the end. No shelter can last forever, no wall can endure an onslaught indefinitely. The storm will come here.
'No doubt you will try to fight it. I will try to fight it. We might even do so together. What will it cost us to win? What has it cost us so far? Minbar? The Great Machine? Babylon Four?
'Delenn...?
'But what if we win? Victory is not impossible, not at all. We managed it a thousand years ago, and we can manage it now. So we win, and we return to our homes, to our shelters and our walls....
'And the greater Enemy arises. The storm that builds slowly within our walls, the storm that waits for the winds outside to die down before destroying everything within.'
'I assume you are speaking of the Vorlons, Primarch Sinoval?'
Sinoval turned his gaze to Minister Lethke, who had spoken. The Brakiri had a reputation for considerable shrewdness and political acumen. Sinoval had certainly seen that when they had met a few days ago. He had told Lethke a little more than he had told the others, although not as much as Mollari or G'Kar.
'I am indeed.'
'The Vorlons are our allies,' said Lethke. 'They have offered us their assistance against the Shadows.'
'For their own purposes. You, I.... everyone, we are caught in the middle of a conflict between Vorlon and Shadow. What does it matter if we defeat the one, only to be enslaved by the other?'
'You may well be right, Primarch,' spoke up a soft voice, and Sinoval looked at Ha'Cormar'ah G'Kar. He had been notably inconspicuous since he and Mollari had visited the Well of Souls. This was the first time they had been in the same room since.
'It is certainly possible the Vorlons are but using us in their war with the Shadows. Certainly, some of their behaviour has been.... erratic, not to mention questionable.' Sinoval knew what he was referring to. G'Kar knew the truth, as did he and Mollari and as the technomage. Delenn had gone to Z'ha'dum, not abducted by a Shadow agent as many chose to believe, but at the order of the Vorlons.
'However, we cannot win this war without their aid. We have tried, and we have done.... better than I dared dream. Our very presence here is proof enough that we have achieved some triumphs.
'But I have seen the fleets of the Enemy. I was a part of the Great Machine for over two years, and all its vast power was mine. The Machine could not hold against the forces of the Enemy. If all that ancient, wondrous technology fell.... then how can we be expected to win without the aid of the Vorlons?'
'We have Cathedral.'
'Soul Hunters,' said Taan Churok. 'You ask us to trust takers of souls over Vorlons? You ask us to believe in those who deny the warriors their paths to Droshalla's kingdom?'
'The Soul Hunters do not imprison anything or anyone. I have made a bargain with them, on terms both of us have agreed to. They mean you no harm, not now, not while I live, and not after I am gone.'
'Certain of that, are you?'
'It does not matter who can be trusted more,' spoke up G'Kar. 'I have.... thought greatly on what you said at our last meeting, Primarch Sinoval, and on what I saw.... We need the Vorlons. Without them we will all be dead, if not today then tomorrow. Surely their price is not.... not too high a price to pay for our lives.'
'And if it is?'
'If it is, then we will deal with that later.... when the time comes. But for this moment, for this instant, we need them.'
'I think the Primarch.... may have some wisdom,' spoke up Londo suddenly. Sinoval looked at the Centauri Emperor. His initial assessment had been proved wrong, and he had been forced to re-evaluate it. There was hidden strength within the man, and a greater wisdom than was readily apparent. However, he would always put the needs of his people first. A fine and laudable aim.... but it would end up crippling everything all of them fought for.
'I turned down an alliance with the Vorlons, because their.... representative did not offer as much as he seemed to. I was wary about becoming involved in this war, and I still am. Shadow and Vorlon, elder races all.... let them fight. Why can we not pull back and leave them to it, and say good riddance to both of them? Let us work together to create peace, not a furtherance of bloody war.'
'Centauri cowardice,' muttered Taan Churok under his breath.
'You know me,' replied Mollari angrily. 'I was here, on this planet. I saw the suffering the Drakh caused to the people here. I lived through it every bit as much as you did! Do not call me a coward.
'Yes, I have seen the evil of the Drakh, but they are gone now, their fleet destroyed, yes? So it was I heard. Why do we fight against their masters? We have built a peace from the Drakh invasion. Can we not be satisfied with that, and work on?'
'No,' said Sinoval. 'I wish we could, but neither Shadow nor Vorlon will leave us alone. They war, not with fleets or weapons or soldiers as we do, but through us. They toy with us, directing us to wars, manipulating us to conflicts, to alliances, to chains we cannot throw off until it is too late.
'We must be rid of them both.
'I have something to show you all.... Something to prove that I mean what I say.' He gently laid the holographic projector on the table in front of him. He did not want to do this. He did not want to relive Delenn's last message one more time, to look at the face of her compassion and her courage and her self-sacrifice.
But he had to.
'No!' said a voice. 'You mean nothing of what you say.'
It was Vizhak. He stormed into the room, his face in a black fury. 'I hear you come here. I hear you come here to talk of peace. I hear these things while on homeworld.
'And while on homeworld, I hear of Drazi ships attacked. Drazi merchant ships attacked. Carrying food and medicine for wounded Drazi soldiers.
'Drazi ships attacked by Minbari ships.'
