We did nothing.
We were sworn to one duty: to protect. None of us would dare break
that oath--traditionally, it would have meant death, not only for us
but for our families. And we are Centauri. To break such a vow would
run against our very strongest natures, regardless of the consequences.
The fact that the man we were bound to defend was both insane and in a
position to be more dangerous than anyone else on the planet did not
alter those two facts.
So we did nothing.
As he had men killed who had served Centauri Prime for decades, we did
nothing. As he allowed beings of whom we knew nothing other than their
ambition and their terrible power to establish a base on our world, we
did nothing. As he deliberately planned to sacrifice our world in the
delusional hope of godhood, we did nothing. He was the emperor of the
Centauri people. The emperor is always right.
Even when he is horribly wrong.
Mollari came. We saw him come to the same realizations we had. We saw
him discover what we hadn't--a way to stop Cartagia. We didn't know
what his plan was, but we knew that--whatever else might be said of
him--Londo Mollari was not insane. When he spoke of Cartagia's
impending ascension, he was playing along. For safety's sake, we
thought at first, as so many others were doing. But Mollari began to
speak of a trip to the Narn homeworld, of special arrangements.
Somehow, we knew, he had formed a way to end the emperor's life on
Narn.
And we did nothing.
We, the personal guards to the emperor, did nothing as a member of the
court plotted against him. We said nothing after his death. Mollari
did not try to bribe us, knowing we could not accept such an offer.
Still, he must have known that we knew--we were there, after all, to
hear his conversations with Cartagia. Because we knew, and did not say
anything, Mollari chose not to have us killed when he took the throne
for himself.
Such was his option, both by law and tradition. No one on Centauri is
privy to more sensitive information than we are. There is no other way
to leave the post than by death, and more than one emperor has felt it
unwise to retain the guards of his predecessor. Yet we remain, in
service to the man who arranged Cartagia's death.
We did not realize immediately that Mollari could be as great a danger
to Centauri Prime.
It took time to recognize the change in him. More to realize that it
was something beyond the new demands of power. Still more to discover
what was affecting him, and its origins.
And we do nothing.
We are sworn to him as we were to Cartagia. As he isolates us from the
same allies he helped create, we do nothing. As he makes our world
vulnerable, we do nothing. As he is influenced--willingly or
unwillingly, we cannot yet tell--by forces of whom we know less than we
did of the Shadows, we do nothing.
We do nothing.
Yet.