think she could have borne fighting them. The face of her father ever before her, she pressed onwards.
On board the
Taan Churok and his Drazi companions rained devastating blows on the
From the surface of Epsilon 3, terrifying weapons of mass destruction soared into space.
She slept without dreams, for the first time she could remember since Kalain and the Council. No dreams of pain, of him mocking her and her caste. No dreams of Sinoval, or Kozorr, the two truest friends she had ever had in her life.
No dreams at all.
Until she was awoken.
Sonovar strode past the cringing wounded as if they were not there. To him they truly were not. Workers, mostly, priestlings, some…. a warrior here and there. Not a true warrior, but an aspirant to that title. He was somehow disappointed, but then he remembered that Tarolin 2 had survived the war more or less intact, a survival brought about by cowardice, deception and weakness. They had joined Sinoval for the same reason.
Unfortunately that meant that most of those here were guilty only of cowardice, not treason. Still, when fate took him to Owari and the other worlds Sinoval claimed, the situation would be very different. True warriors at last.
Someone stepped forward to meet him, a man wearing the brown smock of a worker. He actually dared to meet Sonovar's eyes, and although he was obviously afraid, he stood and spoke anyway. Sonovar found himself liking this man.
'We are a hospital here. We care for the wounded only. We mean you no harm. We mean harm to no one.'
'You build, yes? We fight, and they pray, and you build. Tell me, worker, which path is strongest, do you think?'
The worker cringed, but Sonovar had to admit he would look frightening to such a man. As well as two of Kalain's former Grey Council beside him, there were three Tak'cha, glaring around angrily at those they saw as having denied Valen's will. They probably
'We mean you no harm, lord,' the worker said hesitantly. 'There is no reason for you to…. harm us in return.'
'The way of the river, hmm? You flow through life, passively accepting what is thrown at you, what lands on you, accepting it all into your soul. You bring life to the land, and harm no one and nothing.' Sonovar smiled. 'Does it surprise you that I know worker philosophy? I have read the works of your poets, your dreamers…. I know your caste as well as any. You see, I am a student of all aspects of our race…. which makes me fit to lead you.
'Now, where is Kats, of your caste, a traitor to our race? I…. discovered that she was brought here. Where is she?'
She awoke at the sound of her name, uttered in a voice she took to be Kalain's. Disorientation and surprise took her and she stirred, looking around at her surroundings.
'We…. we have no one of that name here, lord. Perhaps…. perhaps…. somewhere…. else?'
Sonovar's eyes darkened. 'I like you, little man, but never forget that you are a little man. I, on the other hand, dare to consider myself a great man, and do you know one of the symptoms of a great man?' The worker shook his head. 'Neither do I. No one can. But…. to refer to a mark of a great leader, then I refer to you the words of Valen himself.'
A quick gesture and his warriors picked out a wounded patient at random. Sonovar turned to look at the figure as she was brought forward. A priestling, her leg broken. Her eyes were glazed, the evidence of some drug in her. Sonovar supposed it was better that she was drugged. It added to the power of what he was about to do.
'A great general….' He raised his fighting pike and extended it, enjoying the worker's dawning horror. 'A great general will never give an order to his men that he will not carry out himself.'
A blur of movement, and the priestling woman fell, her skull crushed. There were cries of shock from those conscious enough to witness the act. He felt no satisfaction in them.
'We mean you no harm,' the worker cried. 'Please, lord…. there is no need….'
'Kats. Where is she? Tell me, or another will die, and then another. The dying stops when I find her. I mean you no harm, little man, but I will not be stopped in this. Another mark of a great general…. doing whatever is necessary to finish the task.'
Kats heard the cries of shock, and tried to rise. She heard her name spoken again, and Sonovar's threat.
'Very well, then. Another, if you please.' Another was brought forward, a warrior this time. She glared at him with a fierce anger that made him smile with pride. 'If the Lady Kats does not appear for me now, then this one will die.'
He waited, and Kats began to scramble forward. She tried to speak, but the words would not emerge. She could sense Kalain before her, laughing again. Visions of Sonovar mocking her at his side plagued her, but she kept moving.
Sonovar raised his pike.
Her wounds were burning, and blood still stained her robe. She felt so heavy, her body so cumbersome.
Sonovar paused to look into the eyes of the warrior he was about to kill.
'Stop!' Kats cried at last. She stood before him. 'I am here.'
A brilliant burst of light, and thousands of tiny, unheard screams marked the end of the
Michael Garibaldi knew that something was very very wrong, and he knew that the Boss was involved in it. What he did not know was how he would explain this to Lianna, how he would tell his son, how he could look at his friends knowing that he had been a part of this.
Donne now looked awful. Her black Psi Corps uniform was soaked in her blood. Scarlet tears were dripping down her face, blood was spilling from her mouth.
'What is it doing?' she cried out, crimson spittle flying from her lips. 'What is it…?'
'It is rejecting you,' whispered G'Kar hoarsely. 'It is….'
'I'm going to burn everything you ever cared for, you smug Narn bastard! Tu'Pari, kill the other one. Cut his throat out. Soak the bastards in his blood. Do….' She coughed, and her body trembled. 'What is it doing?'
Tu'Pari raised his knife, and turned the prone Ta'Lon over. The Ranger's face was a mass of bleeding tissue, especially his left eye. Now that Garibaldi could see what had been done to it, he felt like retching. He didn't. He had to remain clear-headed. What was being done here was wrong. Very wrong, and it was coming to an end. If he didn't do something now….
Tu'Pari placed his knife on Ta'Lon's throat.
Garibaldi started forward, charging at the two Narns. He had no weapon, but he had to do what he could.
A solid wall of nothingness appeared before him. He ran into it and fell sprawling, only partly conscious. 'Naughty, naughty,' whispered Donne. 'I can read your mind, remember. You're working for Al, so I suppose I shouldn't kill you…. but maybe I will….' She coughed again, her body shaking.
The ground beneath them shook, and everything happened at once.
Tu'Pari plunged his dagger downwards. Ta'Lon's hand shot upwards and wrenched the blade from his hands.
Susan Ivanova staggered to her feet, voices crying out in her mind.
Something burst at the back of Donne's brain. The Machine rejected her physical body as it had long ago rejected her soul, and she fell from it, dead before she hit the ground.
