Shadowsouled bloodshed

Before facing the unknown, Renati and Varas were thoroughly briefed on the enemy and their participation in the assault.

As Renati had so persistently refused command over the Enan'Fi, Shakat had mediated for a solution. He understood the young one's need for revenge as well as seeing the advantage of having an Anla'Shok with them to explore the complex, however she was not properly trained. It was a miracle she had survived the first encounter.

"You will be assigned two guardians. Stay with them at all times", he ordered her. Renati took the Satai's judgement without protest for a change.
Varas would stay on the ship and pilot them out in case of an emergency. There was none other with her level of flying he could miss on the battlefield.

"I want you to remember that these creatures are unlike anything you have encountered before. They are foul and merciless, treat them as such.
Mind you there are only two ways to kill them: the first is by cutting out their hearts, the second is by means of decapitation. I suggest you opt for the latter.
Other wounds will injure them, but are not fatal. Remember this when you face them", Shakat urged.
He saw the silent shock on the servants of Valen's faces and opted for a peace of mind: "They are not Minbari, never mistake them for one"

He was unsure as to whether that helped the cause, but there was no other way of confronting them. They would need to be strong of both body and mind if they are to face the Shadowsouled.

Darkness.
There was nothing in sight, not even the planet.

"The scanner says its there", Varas informed a nervous Renati on deck. She waved her hands over the crystals to ensure the hyperspace engines were recharging properly. Vital if they needed to break for an escape.

"Alright, now what?", Varas awaited instructions.
"Now I will try to see", Renati took advantage of Akel's absence to take in her command position. She placed her hand on the console and felt it sink in the surface lightly. Shock filled her eyes, but the sudden rush of images delayed her reaction.

Did the ship just do that?!

Tunnel-vision took her down to the planet's surface, into a crevasse, beyond some dangerous passageways to a hidden port. The platform was large enough for the Enan'Fi to rest on, she would take them there.

A strange cold feeling overcame her when she retracted her hand, however when looking down there was no sign of the impression she had felt.

My mind's messing with me...

"Well?", an impatient Varas wondered.
"Take her down, I'll talk you through it"
"Can the others follow?", Varas tempered her impulsive friend.
"Order a transfer to the smaller vessels, then go"

Without much trouble the Enan'Fi and accompanying ships managed to dodge the base's defences. The feeble display of power lowered Shakat's hope at finding their home base, but then again any victory against this enemy would be a satisfactory one.

It was actually more dangerous to fly between the rifts in the surface, dodging the falling rocks in their descent deeper towards the moon's core, than it was avoiding the defence system. It was almost as if they intended to miss.

Were they walking into a trap?
What if everything had been planned? The captive after the assault on Anla'Shok Na, what if they had anticipated the Minbari would go into his mind and have planted this image there? Perhaps they were waiting for them on the platform, guns blazing and there wouldn't even be a battle. The Minbari people would lose some of their most prominent leaders... was this a risk worth taking?

Renati had the same worries as many others. Shakat, Branmer, even Akel was unrury.
It was too late to go back now. Whatever was waiting for them, they would simply have to face it.

Varas had piloted the ship with excellence down the crevasse, but not without the help from Renati who had the annoying tendency to anticipate the falling rocks. Seven out of eleven times, she was right.

Has she grown?, Varas wondered while looking at her friend's back standing insilence.
The silence only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to prepare them for what was to come.

"Let's go"

Nothing.
Not a soul on the platform. The Warriors swallowed in anticipation when the landing gear touched the ground.
Caution was with them when they dispersed in an orderly fashion around the landing platform. Surely, their presence could not have gone unnoticed?

Nevertheless, the expected warm welcome stayed out.
Communication between the soldiers was restricted to finger speech in order to support stealth.

The clusters of Warriors advanced in synchrony. To Renati, it appeared as if they had fought together so many times that the need for orders had become oblivious, but in fact they were merely following the most basic schematic of Minbari deployment.

'Stay close', Sedain, one of Renati's guardians, ordered her. He gazed at her empty hands and handed her his second sword.
'May the Fire of Falkor protect you', he gestured and went ahead.
She was backed by her second guardian, a small but bright-eyed Star Rider who had not introduced himself.
'Follow', he commanded the Anla'Shok with few regard and deepened into the compound.

The striking place about the structure was the absence of doors. Everything appeared connected to each other through tunnels and hallways. Hallways with walls carved across their lengths in depictions. Some of the stories told parts of what Renati made out to be the history of this... organism, but she found little references to her own.
They must all date post Valen's Shadow war.

The style of the carvings was alien, yet frighteningly familiar. The shapes were curved, but the darkness of the stone gave it an eerie organic look, as if one was walking into the belly of the beast.

Akel shook as a shiver ran down her spine. She shared Renati's opinion about the place: it was evil. Not only the Anla'Shok, but the other Shadow Banes seemed to be taken by the structure's atmosphere as well. There was something about it that weighed down on the soul.
Though Akel was marching a couple of clusters ahead from Renati, she had her eye on her. Her heart was having second thoughts about bringing along her apprentice, but again it was too late to change the plan.

The army of light slowly advanced further into the compound, which some would refer to as temple from this point. Giant statues in reverence of some insectoid creatures were carved to jump out the walls. Simply frightening.
Though one could not tell from the looks of the troops' faces. Cold, dead glares were held in their eyes as they purged further.
Was she the only one feeling it?

Their silent footsteps suddenly came to a halt when they met with a group of Shadowsouled in a clearing, facing away from them in awe of a dark speaker. To their right there was no wall, just the edge of a ravine. One could look all the way up to the surface from the edge through an opening that was large enough to fit a Sharlin.

Shai Alyt Branmer counted roughly a hundred souls.
'That's one for every one of us. There are too many', he urged Shakat in silence.
'There are never too many to cut open', Shakat replied rather distastefully, but made his point.

'We should have stuck to bombing beforehand', the tactician advised the Satai while peering at the crowd from behind the curved wall. He prayed they did not notice him, for if they would not have surprise on their side, this would end up in slaughter rather than assault.
'The decision was taken for a reason. If we bomb it, we may miss out on vital information on the location of other bases. There is no point dwelling on it my friend, let us call to arms', Shakat asked more than he commanded. If he didn't have Branmer's support in this, there would only be half the fight.

The leader of the Wind Swords knew there was no other way. Though he hoped the losses would remain limited, he went against his heart when he ordered the troops forward.

For you, old friend. Your death will not be unavenged, he commended Lennon and drew his sword. A light blue shine radiated off the sharp end of the blade, as if extending its edge. When Renati laid her eyes upon it, she heard an irresistible call forward, one the others appeared to share. Without further thought, she followed her guardians.

Silently the Warriors spread across the back of the large room – more of a giant hole carved out of a mountain's wall really – using the darkness of the stones as their shadow. All swords were drawn, but kept their swords hidden under their garments, for one reflection would give away their presence.

Just when they were in position, the one addressing the crowd noticed the commotion int he back.
"Attack!", a voice cried through the mass and the Warriors dashed forward.

Suddenly the battlefield was illuminated with the glow of blades – illuminating blades. The origin of the Shadow Banes was not without the support for the Vorlon. As a token of their belief in the soldiers, they donated 112 blades carrying Vorlon essence.
"To fend off the darkness"

And so they did. Whenever a Warrior struck one of their enemies with their Vorlon blade, the wound did not immediately recover. Instead, it burned deeper giving a slight advantage to the blade carriers.

But the Shadowsouled countered with tricks of their own. Ancient Star Rider projectiles covered in the blackness that infects wounds were thrown across the battlefield in an attempt to take out a few random assaulters.

After the initial attack, the mayhem commenced. Not only was the enemy resilient, but for everyone that succumbed, another appeared from the cracks of the walls. They were not like any other enemy the Minbari were used to.
They did not go down easily like the Humans, were not cowardly when their life was endangered like the Centauri nor made illogical tactical decisions like the Drazi. They even carried more feul in their bodies than a Narn fighting a Centauri for the freedom of his people.

Renati was lost in the swirling of blades, safely sandwiched between her two guardians. Although safe was not how she would describe her situation. She wasn't sure who she feared most: the Shadowsouled or the two Warriors fighting beside her.
Their regard was so empty, emotionless even. It was as if it didn't matter to them that their friends were falling all around them, they just kept going, kept fighting the incoming wave of fiends.
Slice after slice, their regard did not change. It remained... blank.

And the slices were many. However possible, the enemy was growing.
Branmer had seen a hundred originally, but they had fought well beyond that number. How many more were there?

When he looked around him he could not help being struck by demoralisation. Several of the Banes, his comrades, were on their knees, bleeding, or being hauled to the back of the pack. In the far distance he noticed Varas dragging away the wounded with the help of two others. Regardless of her orders of staying on the ship, she had come down to help.

Bless the Anla'Shok's inventiveness

Hopefully she would be in time to save most of them from death.
But so many of them had been struck down. Was it even possible to minimise the casualties?

Renati, miraculously, was still standing. Her strikes did no more than irritate the enemies her guardians were fighting, but at least she sometimes distracted them enough for the Minbari to strike them down. With every slash and spatter of blood the revelation of Varas' and her own slim survival chances in their previous encounter with this species hit her.

This fight is impossible, she thought while looking around. Another struck down Warrior was carried to the back.
Her guardians were too busy fending off the incoming strike of three Shadowsouled soldiers to help pass him on. Renati dropped to the ground and grabbed the Warrior by the tunic, away from the dark blades of the enemy.

"Mo...ve on..", the, apparently female, Warrior coughed.
Renati wiped some of the blood off her eyes, so the fallen's blurred vision could regain focus. A gaping wound reached from her shoulder to her side, slid across her back.
"I will turn you over. It will be less painful that way", Renati urged surprisingly calm.

With little help from the female, she turned her on to her abdomen and signalled for the Warrior behind her to help move her to the back of the line. She remained on her knees for an instant, watching the body disappear in the maze of legs, weapons and blood.
From two rows behind, Naroon gazed down into her eyes. Only for a split second, he could not afford more. She was not cut out for this, there was too much suffering.

"Anla'Shok! Get up and help us!", the voice of her Star Rider guardian lifted her. He was locked in a pushing contest with one of the Shadowsouled. Their blades were pressed together, supported by both opponents' full weight. Their attempt was probably to overthrow the other and move on, but neither was backing down.

Renati was too far behind him to reach the enemy, but saw Sedain, the Fire Wing, interfere after striking down his own darkness.
"Sedain, no!", she cried witnessing the horror, but to no avail. As Sedain charged the Shadow souled in the side – and effectively breaking the lock – another jumped on top of him, his knife hungry for flesh.
"Morect va'kaf(1)!", his friend yelled and dashed onto the enemy, transforming the three into an intangible cloud of battle and rage.

Renati stood shaken amongst the others, for a moment unharmed. It appeared as if everything around her stopped when she witnessed that moment, a moment which kept replaying in her mind.
She had been in battles, she had seen sorrow and grief in the war, but this... this was different. She felt the sorrow of every loss, the pain of every strike, the anger of every kill.
Blasted darkness! How was she to see through it?

"Renati! Look out!", a voice warned her for the impending doom headed her way.
One of the creatures frontally came towards her, while another leapt up, ready to hit her from above.
Desperate to stop both in time, she lunged forward, her sword on one end, her armguard on the other. The speed and force of her thrust allowed her to pierce through the Shadowsouled's chest, forcing him to collapse.

However, with her hands locked in her enemy's gut, she was defenceless for the strike that came from above.
This was not fair… it wasn't supposed to end yet.
Not like this.

Overcome by Warrior pride, she faced up and looked her enemy in the eyes, ready to receive her fate.

May another strike you down

Right before she closed her eyes a flurry of blue intercepted the darkness coming down.
A blade of light pierced through its chest and out the back, but a blade of dark came down on the Minbari's shoulder.

With a cry of agony, he fell hard to the ground next to Renati, bleeding in pain. The blade had cut through his shoulder, diagonally outwards to his ribs. His upper arm dripped with a mixture of red and black, coiling for conquest.

"No-", she cried with a muffled breath. Another one had succumbed while trying to save her.
How many more were going to fall?

"I'm sorry", she cried, but it was only when her tears rolled off his blood smeared face that she recognised the fallen.
"Naroon!"
Though her scream was piercing, it did not mount the noise of clashing blades and battle cries. It was only he who heard it.
She placed her wet hand under his chin, but had to regrip for it slipped off the dark poison all over them.
"No..", Renati sobbed, "Live! I want you to live!"
The Shaibar'nik was breathing, but had not the strength to reply. He tried to reach for her, but when the black puss covered his eyes was struck by fear.
"NO!", she remained there crying, frozen in action. Nothing could be given to reverse this. She would have gladly given her life instead of his, but the decision was made for her.

Not him... the price is too high... not him. Anyone... but not him...

Before she could react, someone jerked on his tunic and dragged him to the back of the line. All around the sense of loss was growing, the agony was greater, the anger larger...

They were losing.
Renati focussed hard to keep all the emotions of her own in – and the others out.
So..very..difficult.

It was the voice of just a random Shadow Bane that made her lose it: "What are those?"
The attention was turned to the ceiling, from whence three... beasts emerged. To the unknowing eye they appeared as giant locusts, their carapaces dripping in black as if just having emerged from a bath of mercury...
Their giant pincers and red eyes promised bloodshed, but that was before it happened.

"Xodikth(2)!", this time Renati's scream did pierce all. For a moment, the battle stopped – all eyes faced her. She felt the emotional build-up of everything around her as well as something... native. Something inside her was telling her this thing was the spawn of evil, her natural born enemy.

Something told her to attack... to assault it... to kill it!

One of the two insects leapt from the side of the wall towards Branmer, who was fending off an enemy of his own. It flew towards the Minbari from the side, ready to pierce through him with his pincers. Branmer showed no fear and turned towards it after decapitating the Shadowsouled.

Not prepared for the death of either, he stood frozen as he witnessed what happened. The creature was pierced from the side by the arm guards of an Anla'Shok, who continued cutting until it stopped moving.

She stood there, covered in black blood, but it did not effect her. In fact, it was dissipating!
Branmer squinted his eyes when he noticed a light blue gleam in her eyes. The gleam came and disappeared, reappeared and disappeared again, over and over.
The stronger the blue radiance became, the faster the blood seemed to run off her body until it was completely gone.

Who is this?, Branmer thought both puzzled and frightened.
Before he could say anything, she sped off into the direction of the other Xodikth. Her arm guards had grown larger through blue extensions of light.
The creature squealed as the spikes cut through its body, leaving no room for healing. It was as if the touch of blue cut further through it, destroying it from the inside.

The last beast had watched the scene from the ceiling and remained there – upside down and wondering how to kill this prey.
Renati however gave him no more chance to consider his actions. She ran towards the wall and upwards. Carrying divine speed in her legs, she jumped from side to side with such precision and agility as if she had been taught by a spider.
With extended frontal blades she purged her armguards in the creature's neck, below the carapace. It screeched and shook, desperately trying to throw her off, but the Warrior covered in blue light remained in place.

The power had overtaken more than just her arms and eyes, her entire body glew. Her face appeared different – alien but with her own facial features, while the bone crest with elongated spikes reminded the crowd that she was Minbari. Only... no longer wholly.

When the creature fell to the ground, Renati spun around just in time not to be hit by it. She landed in front of Branmer and Shakat, who were rendered speechless. In all their lives...

The light dimmed from around her body and finally her eyes. Exhausted, Renati dropped to the ground.
"Renati!", Akel came crying from the crowd.
For a moment mayhem returned. Even the remaining Shadowsouled had been quiet during the Anla'Shok's assault, but now was the time for them to strike back.

Their leader, the one Shadowsouled that had done nothing other but watch, finally decided to intervene. Fighting ceased as he lunged at Shakat, who deflected the unexpected blow from behind.

Cowards!

The leader of the Shadowsouled stood proud as he saw the Minbari Warrior countering his attack. He had once been Minbari, but his body and soul had been exposed to the Shadows for too long. His head bone was barely recognisable, black veins from his skull continued in it as if mouthing there. His face was sharp and his body carried carapace armour.

An abomination, that's all he was in Shakat's mind. He charged the creature with his sword of light, but it deflected the blow. Soon a sparring match of unseen technique formed between the two of them. They both moved at such speed that even the trained eye could only make out a flurry of black and white moves.

Shakat was giving it all he had. This was the moment he had been waiting for, this is what he had been born for. His soul was destined to be the opponent of this long lost soul and he would finish the job. He ignored his body's signs of exhaustion and continued to fight beyond what he thought was his own capacity.

When the opportunity came, he drew a second blade from his back and struck it towards the creature. It focused all of its attention to block it that it was too late to notice Shakat's Vorlon sword slicing across its chest. The creature fell back, covering the soil in more black blood. Once down it stopped moving, leaving Shakat as the victor of the fight.

He turned around to face the others after a short pause to regain his breath, when the crowd witnessed the creature standing up again. It raised its much too large sword over Shakat's head, striking down.
As the sword came down, Shakat turned around and saw his doom evaporate in a thousand different pieces.

A large beam of green light shone centimetres from him until the creature was nothing but ashes.
"Well, at least I killed one", Varas said manning the controls of the Enan'Fi that hovered in the opening in the wall.

In a dark room somewhere in the universe a resting place that had not been touched for centuries suddenly showed life. As the lid scraped slowly off the chest, a dark figure arose.

So another has returned….

Footnotes

(1) - Morect va'kaf (Vik): Evil begone!

(2) - Xodikth (Vorlon): Shadow critters. Originally a species called the Ox, the Shadows colonised their planet in a distant past and converted an entire civilisation of insectoids to assassins. Across the years the necessary 'changes' were applied of course to obtain the perfect killing machine.

Next chapter: A gift unasked for

Coming soon!