A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 4. A Future, Born in Pain

wish.

'Good day, Mr. Smith. Please do not take too long making up your mind. Events are bearing down heavily on us all, and we may not have much time.'

* * *

Sherann twitched, and a soft moan escaped her as she recovered from the shock of her telekinetic flight across the chamber. She opened her eyes, and then the realisation of her situation seemed to hit her.

Sinoval looked at her, and then up at the Vorlon. The illusion of its form was beginning to fade. It had not bothered to regrow its damaged wing, and it had dissolved the other. Its legs were ill-formed, and it now seemed to be floating on a cloud of glowing light. Its sword was still held tightly at Sherann's throat.

<Her life is nothing to us. Lay down your blade.>

Sinoval drew in a deep breath and clenched his grip on Stormbringer. His body was burning, the wounds in his shoulder and side eating away at him. He took a slow, faltering step forward, wincing at each breath. His grip on his pike tightened.

The Starfire Wheel was still open. He could feel the warmth of its radiation. The Vorlon was not within its radius, having fallen just outside it. There were minutes yet before it reached its full, deadly potential.

He looked at Sherann again. Her eyes were flat, expectant, unafraid.

'I can see her soul,' Sinoval whispered, looking up to the Vorlon. 'It is a beautiful thing, a creation of wonder and hope and love. I envy you, my lady.

'I can see her soul.... and I can see yours. I can taste your fear, Vorlon. I can feel your hatred, and I am not afraid of either. I would drown this world in blood if it meant destroying you and all your kind. There is nothing I would not do, no one I would not kill, nothing I would not forsake or betray or abandon....'

He grasped Stormbringer tightly. It seemed to tremble.

He looked at Sherann, and saw the faintest trace of an unshed tear in her eye. 'I am sorry, my lady,' he said, his voice thick. 'This world was never meant for one such as you.'

He moved forward, a motion he had practised and performed countless times. The Vorlon made no effort to stop him, it could not have done so even had it wanted to. The pike struck Sherann, her eyes filled with blood, and her dead body crumpled.

The Vorlon dropped her to the ground and said two simple words, a reminder of a warning Sinoval had been given, but had forgotten.

<Innocent blood.>

At last, he realised. He had doomed himself. He had shed the blood of an innocent on sanctified ground. There could be only one fate for him now.

And the Vorlon had known this. It had known how he would react. It had planned this all along. If it could not destroy him by force of arms or by physical strength or by skill or valour in combat, it would use guile. It would force Sinoval to destroy himself. It would make him kill one of his own.

With a roar filled with fury and passion and anger and hatred, Sinoval threw himself forward. Stormbringer crashed into the face of the Vorlon, knocking it back. A second blow thudded into the midriff of the angel, but it made no effort to block it.

The Vorlon was beginning to drop its image now. It had no need of one, and the illusion was evidently becoming too onerous to support. It was becoming a mass of light and energy, flailing tentacles reaching out.

Sinoval followed the Vorlon into the confines of the Starfire Wheel, and the Soul Hunters, acting on his instructions, not fully realising what had just happened, closed the force shield behind them. Neither of them could leave the Starfire Wheel now, not until the energies of the Wheel had been dissipated. Oh, the Vorlon could have broken down the barrier with enough force and effort, but it had no need to. Sinoval had doomed himself. He would die here. He would never leave the holy ground he had desecrated with the blood of an innocent.

Still, he paid no heed to that. The air around him was crackling with the radiation of the Wheel and the thrashing of the Vorlon. There was pain, but Sinoval did not care. He had felt pain before. He kept hammering Stormbringer into the form of the Vorlon, striking out at the mass of light.

Then the Vorlon seemed to turn, whipping round. It had no face any longer, but Sinoval could tell it was looking at him. One tentacle lashed out and smashed his body against the force shield. A second took his arm and pulled Stormbringer out of his grasp, hurling it away. The force wall parted as it flew into the shadows in the corner of the chamber.

The Starfire Wheel continued to slide open. Sinoval could feel himself beginning to burn. Another blow pounded into the side of his head and he slumped to his knees, blood pouring from his eyes and ears and mouth.

The Wheel slid open another notch.

* * *

The Marten was alone in space against a sizeable Dark Star fleet for all of a few minutes. In those few minutes, Captain Smith had hastily alerted the Beta Durani defence grid, which was still fairly new, and warned the civilian authorities.

The Starfury squadrons were launched, the weapons crews prepared, and the ship set in a defensive position, waiting.

They did not have to wait long.

--- Beta Durani, this is the Dark Star fleet, from the United Alliance of Kazomi Seven. You are to surrender to the Alliance, stand down all military forces, and submit to Alliance officials regarding preparations for a war crimes tribunal. If you fail to do this we will respond with deadly force. ---

'Cocky, aren't they?' muttered Walker to himself.

'There are a lot of them, sir,' said the tech. 'Much more than there are of us.'

'Not for long,' he said, smiling. 'Did the Governor get the message?'

'Yes, she's.... instructing you to hold them off for as long as possible.'

'I could have thought of that.'

--- Beta Durani, failure to reply within two minutes will be construed as a refusal. ---

Walker rolled his eyes. 'Any chance of them getting a move on?' The ships, the Dark Stars, were coming closer. He glanced at the specs the Shadowtech computers had been able to analyse. For some reason the computer was taking great exception to them, and a large amount of stuff was coming out really weird. What he could see did not fill him with confidence, though.

--- Beta Durani, you have one minute. ---

'Come on. Are the Starfuries launched?'

'Squadron Omega is launched, Squadron Lambda launching now. Squadron Gamma preparing to launch. Should we give the order to fire?'

'Nope. For the moment, we wait.... and hope our friends weren't exaggerating when they said how fast they can get here.'

--- Beta Durani, your time is up. ---

The Marten seemed to come alive, something twinkling in its instruments and surfaces. Walker smiled, as all around it Shadow battleships shimmered into view.

'A little more even, now. Give the order to fire.'

'Yes, sir.'

* * *

Somewhere in the shadows, an ancient being was watching the final stages of the fight play themselves out. He saw Sinoval's body strike the force shield, saw it slump and fall, saw the fire that had always burned so brightly begin to burn out.

The Primarch Majestus et Conclavus of the Order of the Soul Hunters stepped into the light. He flicked a glance at another of his order, who straightened at his gaze. 'You know what to do?'

The Fhedayar Primus Adjunct Secundus nodded. He was one of the finest hunters in the Order, but even the lowest neophyte could have performed this task. First One or child, the procedure was the same. The soul was the same, a burst of life, an animation of the prison of flesh and bone, a sentience that would otherwise be lost forever to the cold grasp of death.

The Primarch walked forward, feeling the weight of his untold millennia of life. He had known this moment would come. The Well of Souls had spoken to him. He had tried to warn Sinoval, but of course the warning had not