“Random?”
“Yes.”
“Acts of violence?” He was having trouble processing the words. He had to fight to bring his full faculties to bear upon the situation.
“Yes. Here the two of you were, walking the streets of Centauri Prime, and a lone madman attacked and killed your superior. We tried to stop it, of course.”
“A… lone madman?” He felt a pounding in his head, as if his brain were shouting at him to pull himself together, and match what was being said with what had happened.
“Yes, of course. There’s only so much protection even the most dedicated guards can offer in the face of such…” He shook his head. “Very likely, it was the work of the rebels and saboteurs. They were endeavoring to discredit the Centaurum, and such actions are taken to reflect poorly upon this government in the eyes of others. In any event, it is pointless to dwell upon it. My guards dispatched the madman. Justice was done, and it’s important that we put the whole unfortunate business behind us.”
“You ordered it!” Vidkun was trying to rally. “You ordered the assault! The mob! You!”
“Mob!” Lione sounded shocked. “I saw no mob. Nor, I would suggest, did you.” Then he smiled and reached into his pocket. Vidkun automatically flinched, bracing himself for some sort of weapon to be drawn, but Lione instead simply pulled out what appeared to be a credit chip and extended it to Vidkun.
Vidkun took it, looking at it blankly. “What is this…?”
“Access to a private account that Luddig set up. He thought we did not have right of entry to it. Luddig apparently thought a number of things that were in error.” He shrugged. “It was where he was siphoning payments from the various worlds…”
“Worlds?”
“You don’t seriously think that Mipas was unique, do you?” The very notion appeared laughable to him. “No, no… Luddig had a number of ‘clients.’ There are quite a few worlds out there in which the Drazi maintain interests. Interests that stem from tradition… and from profit.
“Everyone is interested in protecting his or her interests, Vidkun. Luddig, unfortunately, is no longer capable of protecting his. You are. His interests… have become your interests. And very likely his position… presuming you are canny enough, judicious enough, and…” He cleared his throat and indicated the credit chip with a nod. “… generous enough to make things happen. If, that is, you are interested in doing so.”
He stopped talking for a moment, and it seemed to Vidkun as if he was waiting for Vidkun to say something. But the Drazi did not speak. Something warned him that it would be wiser not to.
Lione’s lips thinned into a death’s—head smile.
“You could, of course, take a more aggressive stance,” he acknowledged. “Try to rally the Alliance against us. Endeavor to prove your case. Anger a good number of people; upset a number of agreements that are understood amidst more people than you would truly believe possible. You could do all that. I have to admit I would not advise it. But it is a way you might go.”
Vidkun found the nerve to speak. “And if I indicate that is what I am going to do… then I, too, would suffer an accident.”
Slowly Lione shook his head. “That would be a foolish position for me to take. You could agree to anything I say… then once you are off—world, safely beyond concerns for your own life and limb, you might say and do anything you wish. Threats are extremely unreliable. What 1 am endeavoring to point out is that cooperation is far more to your advantage. It will benefit you. It will serve your needs. You do have needs, I assume. You are still quite young. There are things you want to accomplish, goals you wish to achieve. A quiet understanding will get a great deal that rabble—rousing and accusations will not.”
“And in the meantime, you will attack more worlds, as you did Mipas…”
“Mipas was a threat. If you believe nothing else I tell you, believe that. We acted in self—defense, nothing more. You seem a reasonable person. How can any reasonable person condemn us for that? That is indeed the entire point of the barter system which Luddig so deftly oversaw. The moneys paid are an act of good faith. We do not ask for it; it is offered freely. Even if we were not paid, we would still not attack. Assorted worlds have these arrangements with us at their behest, not ours. They misunderstand the Centauri mind—set. We are not out to destroy others, no. No, not at all. Our intention is simply to make certain that no one ever attacks us again. We are not bullies. We just desire to show that we are strong. You do see the difference, do you not?”
“Yes. Yes, I do,” Vidkun said slowly.
“That is good to know, considering that Luddig apparently did not see the difference. We do not take well to threats. But cooperation… that is different. And there are many who are most anxious to cooperate with Centauri Prime.” He sat forward and, in doing so, almost seemed capable of bending from the hip and leaning over the entire desk. “I am hoping… that you are one of those. For your sake. For ours. For the sake of the continued interests of the Drazi Homeworld. To all of that, Vidkun… I’m sorry… acting Ambassador Vidkun… you hold the key.”
Vidkun nodded slowly in acknowledgment.
“The prime minister would still like to meet with you to morrow,” Lione told him. “Are you amenable to that?”
Once more Vidkun nodded. He thought about Luddig, beaten to death by the crowd. And he thought about the contempt with which Luddig had addressed him, the way that Luddig had made him feel.
“I believe I am,” Vidkun said. “And I believe… I should inform my government of the tragic circumstance that led to Luddig’s passing. It is… commendable how quickly you were able to dispose of his assailant.”
Lione inclined his head in acknowledgment of the compliment. “We of Centauri Prime are only concerned with doing what is right.”
chapter 2
Twenty years…
Delenn was very likely as aware of the passage of time as any other person alive. Always in the back of her mind lurked the knowledge that her beloved husband, her soul mate, John Sheridan, the man who had virtually reconfigured the way of the galaxy, had only twenty years to live. That had been the price of survival on Z’ha’dum. If she could go back in time, if she could prevent any one moment, it would be that one. An impressive priority, considering some of the horrific things she had witnessed in her time, some of the disasters that had occurred to those whom she loved.
Twenty years to live…
The enigmatic being named Lorien had brought John Sheridan back from the dead through means Delenn had never fully understood. What she had understood, though, was that the “fix” was only temporary. That after a mere two decades, Sheridan would simply shut off, like a light.
Twenty years to live…
That’s what she’d been told…
…fourteen years earlier.
Once upon a time, she had been able to put such considerations out of her mind, sometimes for days on end. Lately, though, not a day—sometimes, it seemed, not an hour—passed without her dwelling on it.
Despite her closeness with her husband, though, despite the deep bond they shared, she was able to keep her concerns from him. Occasionally he would notice that she seemed preoccupied, and would remark upon it. She would easily deflect his comments by saying that she was thinking about David, their son. At twelve years of age, he was growing into something that was an impressive combination of mother and father. Remarkably, David seemed to possess elements of both their personalities. He was fully capable of being a young hellion, tearing about their home on Minbar with a definitely Human enthusiasm and abandon, much to the chagrin of his mother, the amusement of his father, and the utter frustration of his teachers.