When the Shadows Fall

Chapter 10

Ivanova should have reported back to Babylon Five, but she felt she owed it to Nerab to attend his memorial, especially since the other members of his squad had all pressed her to come. Besides, she didn't want to part company with Marcus quite so soon.

Ivanova had been placed in something like a theatre box, where she could see everything, but not too closely. At first she had thought this was an attempt to isolate her, but she was soon joined by a number of others. One of them, a grizzled human who introduced himself as Pietro, explained to her.

"These boxes are for the tech and support staff, as well as visitors. Only active, serving fighters stand on the floor at memorials. Not that we're not welcome, but there's not a lot of room down there, and most of us aren't trained to stand at attention for that long!"

Ivanova had been surprised at that, the Assembly Hall was very large. But now as she saw the close-packed ranks of fighters filling the room below her, she felt glad to be up here. The box she was in was half-way along a side wall, giving her a reasonable view of everything.

At one end of the hall was the Memorial Wall, a large screen on which the names of all those who had fallen in the short but eventful history of the Warsworn were displayed. At the base were several terminals where, Ivanova had been told, one could call up the record of any of the deceased for a more detailed account of their deeds.

The floor of the hall was filled with soldiers, from almost every race: humans, turians and asari predominated, but there were many krogan, more than a few quarians and drell, several geth and at least half-a-dozen hulking elcor. They stood ranked in order, Pledgeshields nearest the Memorial Wall, Oathblades next, then the Truesworn and finally the Firstsworn elite nearest the dais at the other end.

On the lowest step of the dais stood Nerabs' squad, along with Marcus, the mission commander. On the next were two figures. One was a tall, striking, dark-haired woman – Commander Lawson, the public face of the Warsworn. The other was the unmistakable figure of Javik, the Last Prothean, known here as the Ancient of War. On the top step, behind a simple lectern, was the legendary figure of the Grey Warden, founder and leader of the Warsworn. Ivanova noted the old-style grey N7 armour he wore, and his extensive cybernetics. Clearly he had been terribly injured in the past, but he held himself firmly, with the simple dignity of a soldier.

There was no drawn out ceremonial. Commander Lawson stepped forward and read the citation, a simple, even stark, account of the events that had led to Nerabs' death. When she had finished, Javik ordered:

"Warsworn, 'ten-shun! About face!"

The entire audience turned about as one to face the Memorial Wall. Javik spoke again.

"The name of Nerab Solus will now be added to the Roll of the Fallen. In view of his sacrifice and devotion, he is accorded the posthumous rank of Truesworn, and will appear on the Wall under that rank.

"Sworn to War!"

"Sworn to War!" The troops responded, as the centre of the Wall cleared to show Nerabs' name, dates and rank in letters everyone in the Hall could read.

Javik ordered the about face again, then the Commander spoke.

"The mission on which Truesworn Solus died was one of major importance. It also turned out to be far more dangerous than we had anticipated. Nevertheless, its' objectives were achieved.

"In view of this, commendations have been added to the records of all Warsworn participants.

"Furthermore, Oathblade Marcus Cole is now promoted to the rank of Truesworn. Pledgeshields Benezia T'soni, Regant Drokk, Larsus and Seera Remarkan and Hawkeye are now promoted to the rank of Oathblade.

"Well done, all of you!

"Also, messages have been sent to the Kha'ri of Narn, commending the courage and devotion to duty of Professor Na'Toth, and to the Galactic Council commending the actions of the Spectre Commander Susan Ivanova, who assisted in this mission.

"The body of Captain Eshra, of the Warsworn frigate Imogene, was committed to space as per her wishes. She has been memorialised on the Wall of Remembrance on that vessel, as is customary."

As the Commander fell silent, the Grey Warden stepped forward to the lectern and placed his hands on it.

"At ease." He said, and a wave of relaxation spread though the hall. The Warden scanned his people for a moment, then spoke again. "It's hard losing a comrade. I've lost many, young soldiers with their whole career in front of them, veterans in their last fight, even dying men with nothing to lose, making one last choice. You don't forget, and the hurt never really goes. You always wonder if there was something you could have done differently that would've saved them.

"But we are who we are, soldiers, and soldiers die. Whether it's bravely and worthily, or stupidly and wastefully, it goes with the territory. At least Nerab died well, protecting his team, a soldier can't ask for more."

Ivanova realised she had been listening with rapt attention, as had everyone in the Hall. There'd been no shuffling or coughing, even among the support staff in the viewing boxes. The charisma of the damaged man in the old grey armour was astonishing. His words go straight to your heart, she realised, because they come straight from his!

"But now, we face another threat." The Warden went on. "Despite the destruction of Z'ha'doum, the Shadows are not completely destroyed. The being calling itself 'Q' warned us that there are others, worse than the Shadows, out there.

"The Ancient of War advises me that the races known as the First Ones were legends among his people, the protheans, and the insunannon before them. They were said to be ancient, powerful and feared even by the Reapers.

"Now we know those legends to be true, and for whatever reason, the First Ones have chosen to act against us. Races that were feared by the Reapers will not be easy to face, but we have to try, or everything we are will be lost.

"This was one of the reasons I created this order. In case the Reapers returned, or in case we faced something worse. That threat is at our borders now, and we have to prepare to face it.

"We're about to go through Hell, but this what you've trained and worked for. Once again, we fight or we die!

"Sworn to War!"

Draals' report had caused a flurry of discreet activity. His companions had been brought in, and several people had been summoned discreetly.

"Well, Jeff?" Ashiara asked.

"This confirms what Oraka told me." Colonel Sinclair confirmed. "Tulina is in the clear, and so are a lot of her staff. But there are people on this list who are in key positions in the Unity Movement and the Templars. Fortunately, Oraka and I have established our own network, people we can trust. Give the word, and we'll take them down!"

"Need any back-up?" Grunt asked.

Sinclair shook his head. "It's better if the Unity Movement cleans its own house, and is seen to do so."

"To suppress the Movement itself would be undemocratic." Ashiara told them. "Tulina, though not overly popular, is still a Matriarch, and she is sincere in her beliefs. For the Council, or even the other Matriarchs, to intervene and stop her would be against all asari principle.

"The Movements' ideals, though pushed to an extreme, are the same ones of cooperation and sharing between the various races that I think we all support."

"Besides, if young Mordin is right," Grunt pointed out, "then if we take out the HYDRA-backed separatists, the Unity Movement will slow down anyway. It's been the fear of the separatists that's caused a lot of people to join the other side."

"Thanks Uncle Grunt." Mordin replied.

"Anytime." Grunt told him. "Nice to see you acting like a krogan for a change! How's he been doing, Major?"

"Kicking ass and taking names!" Lorn responded fervently, making Grunt chuckle.

"The other Councillors have been given lists of HYDRA operatives within their governments." Ashiara said. "As for the separatist groups, a lot of them have been thrown into confusion.

"We have reports from the Warsworn that the home planet of a hostile race known as the Shadows has been destroyed, and it seems that some of these groups answered to these Shadows. With their mentors gone, they've collapsed into infighting.

"Those that remain organised are the HYDRA-backed ones, and the Council has assigned Spectres to deal with them, along with Special Forces from various Council races.

"That only leaves their agents here on Babylon Five and in BSec. Commander Garibaldi?"

"I've got my best people on it as we speak." Garibaldi told her. "We can move whenever you're ready."

"Then let's hit 'em!" Grunt said. "You and Sinclair, both at once. A clean, surgical strike to get it over with."

"Sounds good." Sinclair agreed.

Ambassador Delenn had been more than cooperative. No, Kosh was not part of her staff in any official capacity. Yes, it was classed as a minbari citizen and therefore under Council jurisdiction. No, it did not have diplomatic immunity. No, there would be no need to have a minbari representative present during questioning, but she would like a transcript afterward.

The interrogation room had had to be specially fitted. Kosh flatly refused to remove its Encounter Suit or to have it searched. Scans revealed nothing untoward, but it was thought proper to confine the vorlon within a small but potent shield similar to those used to neutralise Reaper and Leviathan artefacts.

Senior Agent Gibbs watched on the monitor. The waiting game wasn't going to work on this one. A turian, human or krogan would be getting twitchy by now – a salarian would be climbing the walls. But this one was more like an asari or an elcor, who could wait calmly forever. He and Antoninus went in.

"Kosh, the reason we've asked you here," Antoninus began, "is that we have reliable reports that a vorlon was seen in association with the leader of a subversive organisation called HYDRA.

"Can you tell us anything about this?"

"Are your reports reliable?" Kosh asked. "Perception is a barrier to truth, when it is limited."

"Well the word of three Council Spectres and an asari Justicar is reliable enough for me!" Gibbs said flatly.

"This vorlon isn't known on Minbar." Antoninus pursued. "Yet your people claim to be the last of your race. Are you sure others didn't survive? A group you don't know about?"

"All of us are known." Kosh replied.

"But nobody on Minbar knows this one." Antoninus insisted. "Its name is Ulkesh. Is it known to you?"

"Known to us. All of us are known." Was the answer.

"So why is Ulkesh working with terrorists?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"We each have our task." Kosh told him.

"So what's yours?" Gibbs pounced.

"To watch, to learn, to teach, to guide." Kosh answered.

"And what's Ulkeshs' task?" Antoninus asked.

"His." Kosh said simply.

"So you don't know?" Antoninus enquired.

"Yes." Kosh allowed. "But it is not mine to speak of."

"If his faction is opposed to yours, it would help us both if you tell us." Antoninus pointed out.

"There are no factions. No opposition." Kosh answered.

"So you support HYDRAs aims?" Gibbs demanded.

"No, they support ours. As does the Unity Movement. You must choose between them." Kosh explained.

"You're contradicting yourself!" Gibbs snapped.

"No." Kosh told him. "It is you who are blind. There are no sides, only facets."

"You're lying." Gibbs told it. "You're lying and twisting words. So what's going to happen is that you'll be kept under house arrest in an apartment we've fitted out for you. You'll get everything you need, but you will not be allowed to leave, or have contact with anyone but BSec officers.

"You're going to have a lot of time to think. So if I were you I'd think about helping us out or at least telling the truth!"

"I do not lie." Kosh said. "But I may not tell all the truth. You do not need to know the truth. Confine me if you must. It is already too late."

"What do you mean, too late?" Gibbs snapped.

"The avalanche has already started." Kosh replied. "It is too late for the pebbles to vote."

The minbari light cruiser Sundancer came through the Mass Relay combat-ready. The distress call from a remote salarian colony had been nothing short of desperate. Now Captain Teelan saw why.

"Valenn!" She swore. "This is a full-on invasion!"

"Captain, there is a turian frigate in the system, hailing us!"

"Patch them through."

"Sundancer, this is Commander Regius of turian frigate Fireblaze. Our opponents are the race called Shadows. If you have any telepaths aboard, please warn them!

"This is not, repeat not, an invasion. The Shadows have already completely destroyed one inhabited planet in the system and are now moving on the last one.

"Captain, there are a Hell of a lot of salarian refugees in system, heading for the Mass Relay. So far, there has been no organised pursuit, but if they come near the shadow ships, they will be fired on. We're trying to round them up and get them on a safe route before the enemy decides to come after them. Can you assist?"

"One cruiser won't make a dent in a fleet that size!" Teelans' XO advised. She nodded.

"Fireblaze, continue what you're doing. We'll hold position near the Relay to make sure they get there safe. We should be good until or unless their capital ships notice us. Let's hope we can get the refugees out before that happens!"

She was sitting on her own in a corner of the control room, staring at the watch. She knew it was time, and that she would see him again soon. She wondered if he'd remember her – he'd only heard her voice before.

Graham came over. "You OK, Doc?" He asked.

She sighed. "Sit down a minute." She invited. This was new for her, the way she reacted to the people around her. Before, as a man, she'd put barriers up, to protect herself and them. The results hadn't always been good. But now, she was less afraid to share, to let people in. It wasn't just about being a woman now, though the different perspective helped, it was a hard lesson it had taken Rose Tyler, Amy Pond, Clara Oswald and River Song to teach her. People deserve better than to be shut out.

"We have to go somewhere soon, Graham." She said. "There's things we need to do. It's what we call a fixed point in Time. We have to be there and certain things have to happen."

"Is it going to be dangerous?" He asked.

"No more than usual." She told him.

"I'll make up some sandwiches." He said. "We tend to miss meals on these outings of yours!"

She laughed. Graham was, of course, infinitely younger than her, but he looked as if he could be her farther, or even grandfather. It made it easier to confide in him, and she loved the way he tried to look after everyone – including her.

"This is the thing, Graham." She went on. "The big things are meant to happen, and they will happen, we can't stop them. But the little things, what happens to individual people, they're almost never fixed.

"Now this watch, it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to someone we're going to meet there. A famous man, a hero, but I don't know him. I don't know if he's a good man or a bad one. Now he could be killed or badly hurt at some point. This watch could save his life, but it'll also make him very powerful, very dangerous.

"So I have to decide whether or not to give it to him, and I need you for that. You know people, Graham. I'm not really human, but you are, and you've seen a lot in your life. I'm going to trust you to tell me, if the time comes, whether or not to give him this watch.

"I'm not going to tell you who he is, because I don't want you to start out with my preconceptions. You'll know when the time comes."

"OK, Doc." Graham said. "I'll do my best."

The asari Third Fleet and the turian Second limped into the Aralakh system escorting a hundred or so krogan transports, and made for Tuchanka. Matriarch Kala and Admiral Atexis made contact with Command and landed by shuttle in the Kelphic Valley. Here they were driven by aircar through the bustling streets of New Keerag City, the krogan capital, a city less than seventy years old and still under construction.

"When I was last here," Atexis told his asari colleague, "I was a young pilot in Wing Artimec. We were assigned to provide air cover for an attack on the Reaper destroyer that was guarding the Shroud and poisoning the atmosphere."

"I've heard of that." Kala replied. "That was the day the genophage was cured."

"That's right, and I'm still proud to have been a part of it." Atexis declared. "A thousand years of punishment, or revenge if you like, was far too long.

"We were locked in on our first attack when Commander Shepard told us the route the krogan ground forces were coming by was blocked. We lost a third of our fighters before we could pull out. We stayed in a holding pattern, waiting for news. Then we saw the Reaper attacking something on the ground, so we went in to give it something else to shoot at.

"We found out later that what the Reaper was shooting at was Shepards' party, moving into the temple ruins to activate the Maw Hammers there."

"They summoned Kalross, the Mother of all Thresher Maws." Kala said.

"A fight of legend against legend." Atexis said. "The Reaper fought like Hell, but Kalross just wrapped herself around it and dragged it underground. I still dream about it sometimes. And you know, they say Kalross has been seen since, that she's still alive!

"And of course, Mordin Solus made it into the Shroud and spread the cure over Tuchanka before the lab he was in blew up.

"I never thought we'd face anything worse than the Reapers, but now…!"

They were ushered into a small, secure, conference room, to be met by no less than Wrex and Bakara, joint Chiefs of Clan Urdnot and de facto heads of the krogan government.

Wrex wasted no time on pleasantries. "You've both reported to your governments?" He asked.

They nodded.

"Good!" Wrex said. "Now, thanks for hauling our people out of there. I'll thank you because nobody else will. Krogan hate running away, and they won't want to remember this.

"So, what happened?"

"We were on a joint exercise." Kala said. "Our Comms people picked up some urgent chatter from a nearby system. A krogan colony was under massive attack, so we went to see if we could help. There had been no distress signal, if our Comms officers hadn't been quick on the uptake….."

"Fools!" Bakara said angrily. "This is what comes of only putting men in charge of the military. I've told you, Wrex, we need women there, even if only as advisors!"

"You're preaching to the choir, here, hon." Wrex replied. "But the clans are going to take a lot of persuasion. We've spent a thousand years keeping our women out of harms' way -hard habit to break when most of us still remember why!

"Sorry, Matriarch, carry on."

"Right." Kala said. "We had to jump in to a nearby system that has a Relay, then go hell for leather to the one where the attack was going on. We got there and found one old cruiser – turian-built but krogan registered – and a satellite defence network trying to hold off a massive fleet."

"What kind of fleet, whose?" Wrex wanted to know.

"No idea." Atexis said. "They had every kind of ship from combat corvettes to dreadnoughts. But they weren't any configuration we have on record. They looked -according to our scanners, they were - organic in construction, living creatures. But they were well-shielded and had powerful weapons -particle beams, I think.

"The krogan commander was frothing and foaming about cowards who wouldn't send in ground troops and how was he supposed to fight them. Then he grunted and went quiet, and we were talking to a woman. She was the female head of the colony, and she agreed with us that they had to evacuate, fast.

"It was a close-run thing. The cruiser had already gone down, but the network was holding up pretty well. We hit the enemy fleet from the rear – I don't think they'd seen us – and were trying to keep them busy. Those ships are dangerous, but once you strip their shields, the hulls are very vulnerable.

"But we took a beating, I can't deny it."

"Then the big ship came." Kala said. "When I say big, it was the size of a small moon! It was slow, ponderous, and all the other ships crowded round it to protect it. It just came over the planet and fired a massive beam that started some kind of chain reaction. The whole planet just tore itself apart!

"By that time, all the population that could had got off-planet, so we had a fleet of transports to take care of. That was when they came for us, and that was when we had the first communication from them. It came through the QEC. Watch!"

She activated her omni-tool and projected a full-sized holo recording. The image was of an Encounter-Suited Vorlon. There was no exchange, just a message:

The krogan and turians are to be removed. Your people will be spared to serve. You should leave now. We do not wish to fight you.

That was all.

"They seem to like you asari." Bakara remarked.

"The feeling isn't mutual." Kala said flatly. "Needless to say, we weren't going anywhere. We had to escort that civilian fleet out of the system and back to the Mass Relay, and the vorlons were after us every inch of the way."

"It was tough, real tough." Atexis reported. "We lost a lot of ships and too many people. But, spirits be praised, we didn't lose any civilians. The vorlons didn't follow us through the Relay, we don't know why not."

"Probably couldn't tell where you'd gone." Wrex said. "For all they knew, they could have arrived in the middle of a full Council fleet!

"Well, we 've learned two things. One, either the minbari lied to us about the vorlons, or the vorlons have been lying to the minbari about themselves. I figure the latter, the minbari seem decent people.

"Second, we need a fleet! The krogan specialise in ground combat nowadays, but these vorlons don't seem to use ground troops, so apart from fixed planetary defences, we've no way to get at them!"

"An error of judgement on my part." Bakara admitted. "I persuaded our people to concentrate on the rebuilding of Tuchanka and our colony worlds. We are building warships, but not as a priority, and progress is slow."

"Hmm." Atexis said. "I don't know of a navy in the Galaxy that doesn't have at least a few mothballed ships. They'll be old, but still serviceable. I'm sure Palaven Command would be willing to let you have what we've got, and engineers to refit them."

"The same goes for asari High Command." Kala promised.

"That would help." Wrex allowed. "As for refits, you can hang on to your people. I'll get in touch with Tali. Quarian and geth engineers could refit an entire fleet faster than the rest of us put together. I might even ask the Dalatrass if the salarians have any new tech they could spare!"

"I'm sure they will." Atexis told him. "There is a war on!"

"I suppose there is." Bakara said sadly.

Councillor Garrus Vakarian stood looking at the holo-portrait of Shepard that hung above his old Widow sniper rifle, over the hearth of his living room. It wasn't the official portrait, but rather an enlargement and enhancement of an omni-tool snap Garrus himself had taken the day he and Shepard had had a shooting contest at the very top of the Presidium in the old Citadel. Shepard was holding his rifle and grinning, but the tiredness around his eyes was apparent. They had been in the middle of the Reaper War and had managed to steal a precious hour of leisure out of that continuing nightmare.

"You once told me that there was no Shepard without Vakarian." Garrus said to the portrait. "But what does Vakarian do without Shepard?

"Spirits know I've done my best all these years, but now we're up to our necks in another Galactic war, and you're not here to have my back. Or are you? If you're up there somewhere, put in a good word for us. They'll listen to you. People always listened to you."

Then Tali came up beside him and slipped her arm around his waist.

"So you come and talk to him as well, when you're troubled?" She asked.

He dropped his arm over her shoulders. "I do." He admitted. "Not that I tell him anything you don't know. But I didn't know you did the same?"

"Of course I do." She replied. "He was like a brother to both of us.

"Do you realise that we were the only ones who were with him through everything? From that first day on the Citadel when you saved my ass from the Shadow Brokers' goons, through that whole suicide mission through the Omega Relay, right down to the Battle of London. Even Kaidan and Liara didn't go through the Omega Relay with us!"

"I guess you're right." Garrus allowed. "Hadn't though of that before. But this might be worse than all of that. We've had a lot of practice, and we've still got a lot of good people to call on, but we could sure use him!"

"We could." Tali agreed. "We could use Ashley and Mordin and Thane and Zaeed and even Legion as well. But they're all gone, so we do our best as we are.

"But there is one thing I want to ask, now. It didn't seem important before, there was plenty of time. But now we're in harms' way again, and I don't want any regrets if the worst happens.

"Garrus Vakarian, will you marry me?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Garrus replied.

THE END

The story will conclude in

The Last Harvest