Peter David - Out of the Darkness

“Plus, we still don’t completely know what theirinfluence over Londo is. There are too many pieces we don’t have, too many things that aren’t ready.”

“We’re ready for freedom!” Renegar asserted.

“But we’re not ready for suicide,” Adi said.

“Coward!”

“I’m no coward.” Adi wasn’t so easily riled as to react to insults. “I’m just not an idiot, either.”

“He’s right,” Finian said, “as is Vir. You still don’t have enough raw power backing you up, and you dare not confront the Drakh directly without it. You will have only one chance to do so, and if you are not fully prepared, they will annihilate you.”

“So what do we do?” Renegar demanded.

“We do,” Vir told him, “exactly what we’ve been doing. We prepare things slowly, methodically.”

“And get killed?” Renegar replied. “The way Rem did?”

There was dead silence at that. The loss of Rem Lanas was still a gaping wound.

“Maybe,” Vir finally said. “Or maybe we’re ready when the time is right.”

“The more time passes, the more ships Durla gets into place, the more the odds skew in his favor,” Renegar said.

“Not necessarily,” Finian said. “Your attacks on the construction efforts slow them… while you continue to convert individuals or groups over to your cause. At the very least, you sow seeds of suspicion, so that when the full Drakh influence is revealed, the people will come flocking to your cause.”

“Also, the Drakh will become overconfident,” Gwynn said. “The closer the fleet comes to completion, the more sure they will be in their conduct. You see… they have no glory of their own. They bask purely in the evil of the Shadows. The Shadows were far greater than their servants, but if the Drakh believe they are attaining the Shadows’ purpose, they will assume an air of invincibility.”

“And that will be a mistake,” Vir said. “Besides… we need their resources.”

“What resources?” Adi asked.

“Don’t you see?” Vir smiled in grim amusement. “The Drakh on this world… they aren’t the—only ones. The entire foul race has contaminated everything good and noble there ever was about Centauri Prime. We don’t just want to stop them. We want to obliterate them. We want them to pay for Rem Lanas… for corrupting every office and every official of importance in our world, up to and including the emperor.

“They, through puppets such as Durla, are constructing engines of destruction. We impede the creation of those engines because we need time to build up our own assets. But ultimately, the fleet will be completed. It’s inevitable… but it’s also desirable…”

“Of course,” Adi said, understanding. “Because once it’s completed, we can use it against the Drakh themselves.”

“Yes,” said Dunseny. “They think that the fleet will go up against the Alliance… when in fact they’re aiding in the creation of the very fleet that’s going to be used to assault the Drakh.”

“Exactly.” There wasn’t much light in the cavern, but what there was danced with almost hellish glee in Vir’s eyes. “If we are patient… and thorough… and build up our forces… we will be triumphant. It is possible to take the long view. Once I met a servant of the Shadows. I told him that I longed to see his head on a pole and that, if it happened, I would wave to him like this.” And he demonstrated, waggling his fingers in a manner that almost seemed comical. “It took several years… but that was exactly what happened.”

“But how long can we sustain this?” Renegar asked. “Because if we are not careful, it’ll be our heads up on poles, just as happened with poor Lanas.”

“We will sustain it as long as is necessary,” Vir told him firmly. “Remember, there are more, many more in our little movement. And we will get the job done. We have our connections. We will continue to get information, and use it well. But if we rush into anything, we’ll be carried along in the tidalwave of events… and get swamped. We have to ride the crest of it and, in that way, stay above it.”

“But we have technomages on our side,” Renegar pointed out. “The two of you have stayed mostly in the background. Your disposing of this,” and he nudged a toe into the body of the Drakh, “is something of a departure. Either you stay away or, when you do show up, you utter a few cryptic comments. But otherwise, for the most part, you keep to yourselves.”

“That is because you are not our pawns,” Finian told them. “You do as you wish, when and where you wish. We are, however, not averse to watching your backs every now and again.” He indicated the fallen Drakh. “Case in point.”

“Do not presume that we always will, though,” Gwynn warned. “Your boundless enthusiasm is a disincentive. Plus, we have our own affairs to consider. So I suggest you do not try our patience…”

“For you are subtle and quick to anger?” Vir asked. When Gwynn nodded, looking a bit surprised, Vir explained, “Londo once told me that a technomage said that to him, many years ago.”

“It has not changed,” Finian said.

Clearly deciding that the conversation needed to head off in another direction, Vir said firmly, “All right… here’s what we’ll do, then. All of you know people at different levels in the Houses. Talk to them. Feel them out. Get eyes and ears into any of the Houses where we don’t have contacts. Durla is going to come down on them even more harshly than he has before. He’s going to feel the need to either beat them down or eliminate them completely. We have to let them know that there is an alternative. That they do not simply have to roll over.

“In addition, our strikes at key construction points will continue. Siphoning the materials through deliveries at Babylon 5 has been an exercise in caution, but I’ve been using the station as a clearinghouse for the individual components of the explosives, so no one has beenassociating it with the completed devices.”

The conversation went on for some time, Vir laying out the groundwork for how their resistance movement was going to continue to survive. The technomages stopped talking, simply listening and—remarkably—even nodding on occasion. Finally Vir said, “All right… are there any questions?”

“Yes. I have a question,” Renegar said.

Vir looked at him expectantly.

“Are we going to win?” he asked. Without a moment’s hesitation, Vir replied, “Yes. And not only are we going to win… but the Drakh are going to lose. You’ve seen the face of the enemy,” and he pointed at the fallen creature. “It’s nothing unbeatable. They can be hurt. They can die. And if that’s the case, then we can injure them and we can kill them. And we will. However many it takes in order to rid Centauri Prime of this… this cancer that’s eating away our soul. That’s what we’ll do with our underground movement.”

“Considering where we’re meeting,” Adi said, looking around, “I’d say ‘underground’ is definitely the right word for it.”

This resulted in something very unusual for one of their clandestine meetings: a roar of laughter. For just one moment, they had a feeling of what it would be like to meet, not as coconspirators or desperate freedom fighters, but simply as men enjoying each other’s company. Renegar wondered whether they ever would have that opportunity, to live relatively normal and unassuming lives. And he said as much.

Vir looked at Renegar skeptically and responded. “Renegar… if you had a normal and unassuming life… you wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

Renegar thought about that, then nodded. “You are very likely correct. But…” he added, “would it not be nice… to have the opportunity to find out?”