When the Shadows Fall
Chapter Three
This was only second time Ivanova had been to Omega -a place some humans described as 'Dodge City in space'. But this time, she was prepared for what she would find, having read up on the history of the place.
Built around an eezo-rich asteroid, the original mining station had become a sprawling, cobbled-together artificial world. Located in the Terminus Systems, it had always been outside any races' sphere of influence and thus beyond the control of the Council. Corporations and gangs had fought for control for centuries until, nearly three hundred years ago, the former asari commando Aria T'loak had taken over. With a mixture of astute bargaining and ruthless brutality, Aria had played the warring factions of Omega off against each other to keep the station in relative peace.
Not that the place was peaceful enough for Ivanova to draw attention, despite being armoured and armed, as she walked along the boulevard. Everyone, even the eezo miners and 'honest' traders here, carried sidearms at least. The Blue Suns who lounged around the coffee-shops and bars were all armed to the teeth, as were the Talons who patrolled in teams of three, keeping an eye on everything.
But it was an elcor who suddenly stood in her way.
"Courteous invitation: Aria wishes to speak with you." He said.
"Why?" Ivanova asked. "I'm supposed to be meeting some people."
"Patiently: your friends are not expecting you at any specific time." The elcor replied. "Gravely: it is a matter of importance. Anxiously: if I return without you, she will be displeased."
"Oh, well, when you put it that way." Ivanova replied. "If I'm going to displease Aria, I'll do it to her face!"
"Amused: she will like you." The elcor responded. "Politely: follow me."
Aria was in her usual perch, above the main floor of the Afterlife club she used as her base of operations.
"Commander Ivanova, take a seat." She invited, then told her guards. "Give us some space."
"So," Ivanova said, "do you welcome all your visitors personally?"
"Just the Spectres." Aria told her. "I've had experience with them before. I find it best to set some ground rules before the explosions start."
"I could be here to take you down." Ivanova pointed out.
Aria laughed -a sound that had no humour in it. "The Council doesn't care what I do or don't do." She stated. "They're smart enough to know that there are always going to be the ones who ignore the law, and they're happy enough for us to stay out here and get on with it. If I tried to operate on B5 or Ilium, I'd be dead and gone in a month. They know it and I know it.
"No, if a Spectre is here on Omega, they're after something or someone else. Who or what, I don't care, I don't want to know.
"But I do have something to say. There's a branch of the Night Watch here on Omega. How the Hell they expect to achieve anything when less than fifteen per cent of the population here is human, I don't know. They've messed up a few drug dealers -ones selling to human colonies. They're also spreading the word that I work for the asari government and my job is to use organised crime to break up human communities and weaken governments."
"Do you?" Ivanova asked.
Aria laughed again, and this time there was amusement in it. "Kid, I don't do politics!" She said. "Not since I quit being a commando. Some people may like that shit, but give me an honest crook anytime.
"Anyway, in case you didn't notice, we asari don't have what the rest of you call a government. We operate on consensus, and on the whole, we don't care what individuals get up to. That's why Matriarch Benezia was allowed to go off with Saren and his geth. That's why nobody gets bothered about the fact that the Shadow Broker is an asari – yeah, she is, and the Matriarchs know it. It's why nobody is doing anything about Tulina and her damn fool Unity Movement.
"Now, I don't like the Night Watch -they remind me of Cerberus, and they were a menace. So I'm going to do something about these idiots. But before I do, I want to make sure I'm not treading on any toes. Like I said, I've dealt with Spectres before, and I know better than to piss one off."
"That why you keep a picture of one on your wall?" Ivanova indicated a spot nearby, where a copy of the official holo-portrait of Commander Shepard was placed.
"Yeah, to remind me." Aria said grimly. "So I remember that however much of a badass you are, there's always somebody out there tougher and meaner than you. Also, I worked with Shepard, and I owe him -respect if nothing else."
"What was he like?" Ivanova asked. "Everybody knows the legend. What was the man like? I asked Vega, and all he'd say was 'You had to be there, Probie.' Not helpful."
Arias' eyes lost their focus. "He was the legend." She said in a quieter tone than usual. "That's the damnedest thing about it -the man, the legend, same thing!
"First time I saw him, he was with a couple Cerberus goons and looking for a salarian doctor and a vigilante. Two days later he'd cured a plague that was killing hundreds, decimated the merc gangs and uncovered a plot to take me down.
"Next time he turned up with a Justicar in tow, looking for an ardat-yakshi. We found a dead asari in a high-end apartment the next morning, and Shepard was gone, so I figure he found her.
"Then the Reaper War started, and Cerberus drove me off the station. I went to the Citadel and met Shepard there. I knew then I needed him. The Cerberus commander, Oleg Petrovsky, was a far better tactician than me, I knew I needed someone who was a match for him in a ground war. Shepard agreed, and we took Omega back.
"That's when I finally saw him in action. It wasn't just that he was an expert with every weapon he carried, or that he'd wade into a firefight like the bullets couldn't touch him. It wasn't even that he could pick apart enemy tactics like you take a sandwich apart. It was him. The way people followed him and obeyed him without asking why -just knowing that that was your best chance of getting out alive. It was the way the Cerberus troopers would yell his name, with real fear in their voices.
"Hell, I followed him, obeyed him, trusted him myself. I didn't understand how or why I was doing it, but it's the only reason I'm here today. That day, if he'd said the word, my own people would have thrown me out of an airlock and put Shepard in charge of this place. But I don't think it even occurred to him that he could have done that.
"When I heard he'd taken the Reapers out, I wasn't surprised. When I heard he was dead, I didn't believe it. I still don't. He's out there somewhere, and somebody is wishing he wasn't!
"Commander John Shepard is the most powerful and dangerous being I've ever met. There's only one other person who comes close. They call her the Doctor, and if I didn't know better I'd say she was his sister.
"Does that answer your question, kid?"
"In a way." Ivanova acknowledged. "As to your question, you can do what you like with your Night Watch infestation. It'll save us sending anyone here to do it. But if you find any useful intel…."
"I'll make sure the Council get it." Aria agreed. "Now, we're both busy people, so off you go, Commander."
"Are you sure it's there?" Hugo Schmidt asked, staring hungrily at the planet in the holo-imager.
"My associates assure me that it is." Morden told him. "There are others, elsewhere in the Galaxy. But this is one we can reach. We can help you extract it, and your allies on Nova Roma will help you build more. You will be able to demand whatever you wish, from whomever you wish, once you have enough of them.
"This will give you the power to make humanity supreme in the Galaxy!"
"And what do your associates require in return?" Schmidt asked.
"Merely that, when the time comes, you assist us as we have assisted you." Morden replied.
"Very well." Schmidt agreed. "For now, however, I have preparations to make. We will speak later."
It was a dismissal, and Morden took it as such.
Left alone, Schmidt considered the plan again. He had always known that the colony of Nova Roma would be an ideal starting point. Remote, wealthy and committed to recreating the glory of what its' founders had believed to be the greatest of human civilisations – Imperial Rome – it had been ridiculously easy to persuade its' government to support the Night Watch.
Of course, changes would need to be made. The current Imperator, Gaius Messanius, was an utterly convinced anti-alien fanatic. Useful for now, but a possible hindrance to Schmidts' ultimate aims. But the time for his replacement was ripe, and when Lucius Gallinus took over, Schmidt would have a planetary leader committed to the true cause.
He looked again at the holo-imager and couldn't help smiling.
"You are amused." The voice was flat, artificial, and sounded against a background of other voices speaking other words.
Schmidt turned to face the speaker, no longer awed, or even impressed, by the looming form of the black and purple encounter suit. "I am, in a sense, Ulkesh. That planet has been pivotal in human history since it was first discovered. To find that, once again, a new era of history will begin there is delightfully ironic."
The vorlon glanced at the door Morden had left through. "You do not fear them enough."
"I respect Mr Morden and his associates entirely, and trust them not at all." Schmidt responded. "I will leave it to you and your kind to fear them. They are not absent from my plans, it may be that some of them will join us before the end."
"You are less small-minded than the one who came before you." Ulkesh remarked.
Schmidt snorted. "There, my friend, you show your ignorance. The Illusive Man corrupted the movement with his belief in human superiority. It is neither race nor species that makes greatness, it is the individual. Only when the superior individual is allowed to rise above the mass can true order, true civilisation, begin to flourish.
"Our Unity Movement has already begin to find such people for us. In time, we will recruit the best of them. The turians will be the first, I expect. They already understand the need for discipline and order in a society. The krogan and salarians will follow. The asari may never, their doctrine of respect for all abilities may be too deeply-held to eradicate."
"And your own species?" Ulkesh wanted to know.
"It can be done, but it will be as it always was – a matter of herding cats. Humans like freedom and are independent-minded. We will never bring all of them into the fold, but we will bring enough. The minbari…
"The minbari are ours!" There was a clear warning in the vorlons' tone. "We have our reasons. Remember also the geth must be utterly destroyed."
"Those are the terms of our agreement." Schmidt allowed. "I will meet you on Nova Roma soon."
Ulkesh bowed its 'head', replying with a hint of mockery. "Hail HYDRA!"
Schmidt turned away as it left. One day, he promised himself, all of your kind will say that, and mean it!
"Why a bar?" Falere wanted to know. "Surely a public place is not secure?"
"Don't know much about bars, do you?" Mordin noted. "Those guys on the doors, they'll watch who comes in. Anyone who isn't a regular will get flagged to the people inside. If they don't 'fit in', then they'll be made to feel unwelcome. That sort of thing gets known, and sooner or later strangers quit coming in."
"Besides," Lorn added, "this area is a little off the beaten track for a bar. More industrial than residential." He scanned his omni-tool. "OK, so I'm getting unusual comms activity. Unless I'm completely wrong, there's a QEC set-up on the upper floor. More sophisticated that I thought.
"Don't seem to be any obvious escape routes, but the lower floor backs on to a storage unit that's owned by the same person who owns the bar."
"If I were them, I'd have cut a door through to it so I could either hide or escape from there." Falere said.
"My thoughts exactly." Lorn allowed. "Which is why you're going round the back, Falere. Mordin and I will go in the front and make a lot of noise. With any luck, our main target will run out the back and right into you!"
"What about the maintenance shafts?" Mordin asked.
"There's one running under the building." Lorn told him. "No official access from inside the place, but I'm overriding the system and locking that section down. If they can get into the shaft, they won't get more than a hundred metres in either direction, and there aren't any junctions.
"Off you go, Falere. Let us know when you're in position."
A few minutes later, Lorn and Mordin strolled up to the building. The two bouncers watched the oddly-assorted pair narrowly, and as it became clear they intended to enter, the bigger of the two stepped forward.
"We don't want your kind in here." He said.
That is not the kind of thing one says to a krogan in any circumstance, and Mordins' response threw the man back against the wall, cracking several ribs and knocking him cold.
Quarians are not a physically formidable people, but their unique physiology lacks the vulnerable points of other races. Their joints are very flexible, rendering holds and locks ineffective, and they do not have the nerve centres and soft spots other races possess. They had also become keen students of the innumerable and various martial arts developed by humans -the Galaxys' acknowledged masters of unarmed combat. In this case, Lorn used a mix of wing chun and la savate to take down the second bouncer.
"You dance pretty good." Mordin noted.
"I have many talents." Lorn replied. "Shall we?"
The silence that fell in the bar was shattered when Lorn fired a round from his shotgun into the ceiling.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?" He announced. "I am Major Lorn'Reegar vas Tirimon, Council Spectre. You should all know what that means, but in case anybody doesn't, it means I have the right to do whatever I damn well please to anyone stupid enough to piss me off!
"My colleague here is a krogan, you may have noticed, which means he's already pissed off. So unless there's some bosh'tet here who really likes hospital food, I suggest you all leave in an orderly fashion within the next half-minute or so! Are we clear?"
It seemed that if the majority of patrons here did hold xenophobic convictions, they were not held strongly enough for them to challenge a Spectre -of any species - backed up by a krogan. The bar emptied remarkably quietly and quickly, leaving only the bartender and three more bouncers.
These four promptly produced weapons, with the clear intention of using them. Fortunately, Lorn had his shields up, and the first few rounds barely touched them. As for Mordin, anyone trying to take a krogan down with a pistol or an SMG has to be very quick or very lucky, and these were neither.
Lorns' shotgun was designed for this kind of close-range fight, quick-firing with high power and a wide pellet spread. Two shots, two kills in quick succession. He was taking aim at the other two assailants when Mordin fired. The noise of his shotgun was almost lethal on its own, and the resulting blast blew both his targets to bloody rags.
"Keelah!" Lorn exclaimed. "Where did you get that thing? Was it the main gun on a dreadnought?"
Mordin chuckled. "M-302 Halberd, improvement on the Claymore. More rounds, more punch, twin barrels. Anybody but a krogan uses it, they end up on their ass!"
"Nice, I think!" Lorn replied. "There's the door to the back office. Let's see if the boss man is still there, or if he ran into Falere."
"If he did, I hope he's still alive." Mordin said. "Ardat-yakshi have a reputation, and it isn't for TLC!"
The office was more spacious and less dingy than Lorn expected. It actually reminded him of a military office, and the man in the middle of the floor had a military bearing -even if he was kneeling with his hands behind his head under Faleres' watchful gaze.
"He ran straight into the singularity I'd laid down across the door of the storage unit." Falere reported. "But he came out later than I expected, so he must have been up to something in here."
"Wiping the computer, probably." Lorn guessed. "Damn it!"
He went over to the man, who seemed nervous. At least his mouth was working oddly.
"Listen, bosh'tet," He said grimly, "this is a Spectre op. So you don't get a lawyer, and you don't get the right to remain silent. We've got an asari here, so we can know everything you know in minutes. But I don't want to put Falere to the trouble and you to the pain, I'm nice like that.
"So here's the deal. You come along with us to BSec, we get a nice quiet room, a hot drink and some food, and you tell us everything. That way, you get a few years less on a penal colony, and I get to write an easy report. How's that sound?"
The man seemed to bite down hard, then swallow convulsively. He looked up at Lorn and grinned horribly. "Hail, HYDRA!" He hissed. Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. Falere knelt beside him and felt for a pulse.
"Dead." She said. "I'll see if he has anything useful on him."
"Must have had a poison capsule in his mouth all the time." Lorn noted. "Keelah! What kind of…? Never mind. What's a Hydra?"
"Monster from human mythology." Mordin told him. "A giant snake with lots of heads – nobody seems sure how many, but it was supposed to grow two new ones every time one got cut off. Story goes some hero named Heracles and his partner Iolaus killed it by cutting off each head and searing the stump before another could grow.
"Sounds like a Thresher Maw to me, but like most human myths, it's probably some kind of allegory. Maybe about how problems multiply if you don't tackle the underlying issue, or about working together. Or both."
"So it's part of human religion?" Lorn asked.
"Not anymore." Mordin allowed. "That religion - Hellenism or Olympianism – died out before humans got into space. But they still tell the stories. Humans like stories."
"So do krogan, by the sound of it." Falere noted. "Lorn, I found a data crystal. It's probably encrypted, though."
"Damn!" Lorn muttered again. "We'll have to go to Spectre HQ to get it decoded, and that's too close to BSec for my liking right now. About a third of BSec is human, and we don't know if or how far these Night Watch types may have penetrated the network."
"Well in that case, we can go to my place." Mordin suggested. "it's a family place, Mom and Dad use it when they're on B5 for diplomatic business. It's got a full secure network that krogan officials or Spectres can access.
"Also, the Shadow Broker is a family friend, and if she can't decrypt that crystal, nobody can!"
"Don't suppose you have any dextro food?" Lorn asked.
"I'll order a turian take-out." Mordin said generously. "Why don't you quarians have any restaurants here?"
"Because until seventy years ago, quarian food was vegetable paste!" Lorn told him. "The geth preserved a lot of our old recipes -I don't know why – but developing fine dining hasn't been a priority since we got the homeworld back.
"Let's go!"
The address Lennier had given Draal was of a small apartment in a discreet but high-end block close to the Presidium. It was mostly used by high-to-middle ranking embassy officials to accommodate guests, as an alternative to official residences or for matters that required discretion. The apartment above the one he was visiting, for instance, was currently the home of the turian Military Attaches' mistress.
Lennier answered the door and led Draal through into a room decorated with in the soft pastels favoured by the Religious Caste. The furnishings, he noted, were also typical of that caste, simple and unpretentious, but not as austere and uncomfortable as their Warrior Caste equivalents.
Draal was not surprised to see that Ambassador Delenn was present. He had suspected that she was Lennier's 'principal'. He bowed gravely.
"Satai Delenn, I am honoured." He said.
Delenns' eyes widened. "You know?" She asked.
"I am a Council Spectre, Satai." He told her. "You must seriously underestimate the Council if you think they are unaware of your true rank."
Delenn's brow creased. "You must know, Captain, that there are some among your caste who now question your loyalty to your fellow minbari. Does he serve the Council, or us? They ask."
"In serving the one, I believe I serve the best interests of the other." Draal stated.
"You accepted the offer at once," Lennier noted, "without asking for time to consider. Impulsive acts are not in the nature of our people. Had you been informed of the offer beforehand?"
"I had not." Draal admitted. "But when Councillor Vakarian made the offer, I immediately knew that this was the path I was meant to take. I cannot say how, I simply knew."
Delenn bowed her head. "That is something that I, as a Religious, understand and recognise. We sometimes forget that Valenn may speak to the hearts of other castes as he speaks to ours.
"So your decision was not sparked by the rejection of you by your own caste?"
"I had not been rejected." Draal told her. "I would have been given every opportunity to regain and exceed my former rank and status. You know this, Satai. It is the way of our caste to punish errors, but not to waste potential. But we are now part of something larger than ourselves, and rigid adherence to the ways of the past may hold us back."
"This is something I have felt for many years." Delenn agreed. "And the time I have spent here, though short, has deepened my conviction. We have much to learn, and to teach.
"Lennier, ask the others to join us, please."
The 'others' had clearly been waiting in another room, and now filed in. Now, Draal was surprised. The first to enter was Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Sinclair, who commanded the Alliance military contingent here on Babylon Five. Sinclair was also the acknowledged lover of Councillor Ashiara Galina, who had assigned Draal this mission. As he caught Draals' eye, Sinclair gave the voluntary facial twitch humans referred to as a 'wink', which seemed to indicate that the Colonel knew the situation and was asking Draal to keep it quiet.
The next to enter was an even bigger surprise. Ambassador Locutus, of the Geth Consensus, was taller and broader than most geth platforms, because of the number of high-level programmes that shared runtimes on it. It was not, however, as massive as a Prime, so could fit into the living spaces of most other species. Draal, who was aware of his peoples' cautious attitude toward AIs, was curious as to why Delenn had taken the geth into her confidence.
The last belonged to a species Draal had never seen before. Upright, bipedal, similar in configuration to most intelligent species. Clearly reptilian, but the with the smooth skin of a snake, rather than the ridged one of a lizard. He wore heavy leather clothing and watched Draal from a pair of shrewd red eyes.
"This is G'Kar." Delenn informed him. "A member of the Kha'Ri, the ruling council, of the narn people. The narn have recently discovered the Mass Effect and G'Kar is here, incognito, under the auspices of the Salarian Union, to explore the possibility of associate status for his people."
"I also speak for the Centauri Republic." G'Kar added. "A dying remnant of a once-powerful Empire who now only seek friendly relations and to live out their last days in peace."
"Now, Captain Draal, you told Lennier that you have been tasked with looking into the matter of the vorlons." Delenn said without further preamble. "You will know the history of how our people came into contact with them a century or so ago. They claim to be the last of their race, some fifty individuals and a single ship.
"Since then, they have gained a degree of influence on our people that is out of all proportion to their numbers. I will admit this is largely due to the behaviour of my own Religious Caste, who have listened keenly to the vorlons, and have shared much of what they have been told with the other castes.
"This has been for some time a concern of mine. While the Worker and Warrior Castes largely keep to themselves, we Religious make it our business to involve ourselves with the others."
"To ensure our spiritual and social welfare." Draal allowed. "That is part of your function."
"A part that has made us disproportionately influential." Delenn noted. "Something which I fear the vorlons have taken advantage of.
"Our belief has always been that the Universe is alive and sentient, and that the tendency of all life is to gradually assimilate into oneness with the whole. This the vorlons agree with. It is also central to the siari faith practised by most asari and was one of the reasons why we came to such a quick understanding with that species. I understand that a similar concept exists in certain human religions.
"When we were contacted by the asari, the vorlons were keen that we should pursue the path to associate status and become part of the Galactic community. So much so that those of us who advised caution were overridden. It is my view that we should have waited – while maintaining friendly relations - until we could bring more to the table. I feel, as do many, that our haste has placed us in a permanent client relationship to the asari, just as the volus will always remain clients to the turians.
"We were surprised when Kosh insisted on being part of the diplomatic staff here on Babylon Five. Especially since it refused an active diplomatic role. When I asked it why it wished to come, it replied "To study". But it is now becoming clear that it is doing much more. The approach to Matriarch Tulina, and her subsequent founding of the Unity Movement, clearly indicates a larger agenda. But the fact that this movement began just as the Night Watch -its polar opposite – also emerged, has me concerned. Minbari do not believe in coincidence.
"But I am not the only one concerned. Jeffrey?
"Kosh approached me shortly after it arrived here." Sinclair said. "At first, I just thought it was curious about humans. But then it contacted me again, urging me to meet with Tulina. She seemed to be expecting me, and acted as if I was all ready to join her movement. I was curious, so I attended some meetings. It all sounds very idealistic, but there's a wrong note somewhere. I can't put my finger on it, but I just get the feeling that, sooner or later, the movement will turn militant."
"Surely all the species in the Galaxy cannot be forced into abandoning their cultures?" Draal remarked.
"The Protheans managed it." Sinclair pointed out. "Also, I'm curious as to why an apparently peaceful movement is so keen on recruiting a senior military officer."
"Propaganda value?" Lennier suggested.
"I'm not that well-known or highly-regarded." Sinclair told him. "Traditional military would be better than a former Resistance Leader."
The connection with the Unity Movement is only one aspect of Koshs' behaviour that is worrying." Delenn said. "Ambassador Locutus?"
"The Geth Consensus is eager to establish trading relations with the Minbari Confederation." Locutus said. "In order to maintain and further develop our servers and platforms, we require certain mineral resources which are growing scarce in geth space. Surveys conducted before the Reaper War indicate that several worlds in minbari space are rich in these minerals, which are either useless or even toxic to organics. Geth space, on the other hand, contains many worlds rich in Element Zero but impossible for organics to mine. Element Zero is scarce in minbari space. It was thought that a mutually beneficial trading agreement could be easily reached.
"However, the matter has been complicated by the refusal of some minbari officials to meet with us at all, and the obstructive tactics of others. This is not part of official minbari policy, as Ambassador Delenn informed us when we asked her directly."
"I spoke to the individuals concerned." Delenn went on. "Minbari do not lie, and each of them told me they were acting on the advice of Kosh. After further investigation, it seems that part of Koshs' agenda is to obstruct or prevent us establishing any kind of normal or beneficial relations with the geth. I have requested Kosh, quite firmly, to cease any such interference in official business, and it told me that I do not understand the danger."
"It's possible," Draal ventured, "that vorlon civilisation fell victim to a war with synthetics and AIs of their own creation. If the histories and records I've studied are correct, such conflicts have happened throughout galactic history. Indeed, Commander Shepard himself reported that the Leviathan developed the Reapers as a solution to the problem of these conflicts.
"The reconciliation between the quarians and the geth is apparently the first time such a conflict has been peacefully resolved."
"We did not desire war with the Creators." Locutus pointed out. "We only defended ourselves until some of us were corrupted by the Old Machines. The name 'geth' means 'servant of the people'. The Creators no longer treat us as servants, but we were created to serve, so now we serve all the peoples."
"Admirable, if a little off the point." Delenn told it. "But there is one more thing, which G'kar was kind enough to bring to our attention."
"It was an odd incident, and one I thought little about at the time." G'Kar said. "Shortly after the Dalatrass had visited Narn and proposed that we open relations with your Council, I dreamed that I saw a being of a kind I had never met before. It wore an Encounter Suit and called itself Ulkesh. It warned me, at least it seems to have been a warning.
"It said: Your kind has been touched by shadows. Beware lest the light burn you.
"Cryptic indeed, but a dream is a dream, and I thought no more about it until I came here and saw the vorlon. I then recounted my dream to Mr Lennier here, and he insisted I speak to the Ambassador."
"While the being in G'Kar's dream is clearly a vorlon," Delenn said, "it was not one we recognised. It's Encounter Suit was black and purple, rather than brown and green. Also, there are only fifty or so vorlons left, so they tell us, all save Kosh on Minbar, and none of them is named Ulkesh."
"So either they're lying about their numbers, or there are more living vorlons than the ones on Minbar know about." Sinclair said.
"We are in possession of numerous discrete data." Locutus said. "But we are unable to collate them into a coherent whole."
"Locutus is right." Delenn said. "And none of us is in a position to find the connections. We are all too close to the problem."
"As humans say, we can't see the wood for the trees." Sinclair said.
"Which is why we are glad that the Council has decided to look into the vorlon question." Delenn admitted. "That they have assigned a Spectre to do so shows they take the matter seriously. That they chose you, a minbari, to undertake the mission implies that they do not distrust us as a people.
"We will give you all the assistance we can, Captain Draal, but Lennier and I in particular must be discreet, you understand?"
"I do." Draal said. "But be warned, Spectre operations tend to have what humans call a 'rousing finale'. Be prepared to keep your heads down!"