The second battle was nowhere near as easy. This time, unlike before, the Shadows themselves were actively involved. They had set up a garrison near Beta Durani, ready to defend the world on behalf of their human allies. The Shadowtech capital ship, the Marten, was also present, and the planetary defence systems had been hastily rebuilt and repaired after the liberation of the colony.
Opposing them were the forces of the United Alliance of Kazomi 7, consisting of the first major deployment of the new Dark Star fleet, with support from Drazi, Brakiri and such Narn vessels as had been commandeered by Ha'Cormar'ah G'Kar.
In terms of military death toll, the battle was matched only by the Third Line at the Great Machine, and by the bloody exchange that marked the end of the long month known as the Death of Hope, long after the end of the war.
The Dark Star ships had already proved their competence in numerous minor skirmishes, but this was a full-scale deployment of nearly the entire fleet, and while the ships were almost a match for the Shadow vessels, too many of them did not have adequately trained captains. It was widely held that were it not for the near-suicidal courage of Captain John Sheridan and the newly-promoted Captain David Corwin, the battle would have been lost.
However, the jamming technology of the Dark Stars served to paralyse the Shadow vessels, and also to destroy certain vital systems within the Marten. The human ship found its power supplies drained and its weapons systems rendered inoperable, and was easily destroyed. Its captain, Walker Smith, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for Valour.
The Shadow ships themselves were considerably harder to defeat, but finally they withdrew, heavily outnumbered, but satisfied with the casualties they had inflicted upon their enemies. There would be other battles, and the Dark Star fleet had not been unharmed.
Captain Sheridan's actions on Beta Durani were swift, and meticulously planned. Governor Young and her staff were promptly arrested and detained. A new provisional Government was formed, answerable to the Alliance Council. Martial law was instituted on the colony.
It did not take long for the news to reach President William Morgan Clark on Proxima. His immediate reaction is perhaps rather better imagined than witnessed.
It is said by some that knowledge is power. Sinoval had always held that to be a quaint and amusing statement. Power was power, and nothing else. Oh, knowledge was a useful tool, and often essential, but without the will to do what others would not, without the determination, without the vision, or the dream, or the inner fire....
Without those things, knowledge was nothing but dusty words in dusty books in long-forgotten rooms.
He stood at the vast archway that led to the Well of Souls. It seemed different from the last time he had been here, although he could not place the difference. It was merely that his perceptions of it seemed.... askew somehow. Whereas before he had seen stone and mortar, now he saw a million sparkling lights, and he could hear the voices within. He could close his eyes and pick out the individual souls that had been joined so long ago into one form. He could recognise members of long-dead races, the ancestors of those who now walked among the stars.
He stepped through the archway, and let the calm of the Well of Souls wash over him. He was the Primarch Majestus et Conclavus now, or so he had been told. He was the voice, the conduit, the link between these souls and the world of the living.
He was beginning to understand what that meant. Every time he closed his eyes, he could feel his essence drawn here. He had to come, to confront the sentience here.
We welcome you, Primarch, said the ancient voice of the Well. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, and that was because it did. The sentience here was not within the infinity of tiny, twinkling soul globes, nor focussed on the altar, nor in the vast orb floating in the centre of the room, nor in the eternal white flower laid out on the altar.
The sentience that was the Well of Souls was the room. It was the air, the stones, the light and the shadow.
"I am the Primarch Majestus et Conclavus, then?"
Did you disbelieve that which you were told?
"I am.... a cynic by nature."
That is known to us. Yes, you are our voice now. It was said, long ago, that another would come, and he would erase the wrongs of long years past, and bring us to our next age. We knew not when he would come, whether now, or in a thousand years, or a million. But now you are here, ready to fulfill your destiny.
"I do not believe in destiny."
Destiny believes in you.
Sinoval bowed his head, feeling the power wash over him. He could not but be awed by this place. He had watched the expressions on the faces of G'Kar and Mollari as they had come here. No one could help but be awed. No one.
Sinoval was awed, but he did the only thing that was possible in the circumstances. He threw back his head and laughed.
"I came here," he said, still laughing. "Full of arrogance and power and belief in my own mastery of all. The deal I made.... my soul for leadership of this Order.... I meant nothing by it. I intended to find a way around it, for the short-term goal of finding Valen.
"And now.... and now you have my soul, don't you? I can no more run from this than I could run from my own soul. You knew. You knew."
We knew you might be the one for whom we had waited. We were prepared for failure, it has happened before, many times. But this was no failure.... You are the one we foresaw.... in this place, in this time. You were told, this is a time for warriors, not healers. Hence fate pulled you forward, and brought you here to us.
Sinoval shook his head. "What will happen to me now? What must I do to.... fulfill this destiny of yours?"
You will become one with us. You will become one of us. You will lead us beyond the world we know. We will take the knowledge we have here, and the legacy we have assembled. We will be the protectors, the guardians.... until such time as we are no longer needed, such time as the younger races can protect themselves. Then.... you will lead us beyond.
"I will become a Soul Hunter. I, a Minbari, will become a Shagh Toth!"
You will become Primarch.
"Well.... I made a deal, but I never thought...." He shook his head. "He knew, you knew. I never thought...." He raised his head. "You know the answers to every question ever asked, yes?"
Save only one, that is true.
"Then answer me this. What must I do.... to save my people? What must I do to reunite them, and end this war amongst ourselves?"
You know the answer to that question.
"Tell me!"
He heard the answer, and his body shook, trembling with the realisation of just where his choices had brought him. Slowly he sank to his knees, touching his hands to the stone floor beneath him. The warmth of Cathedral flooded through him, as if welcoming him home.
"Is...." He bit back his fear of the answer he knew he was about to receive. "Is.... there any other way? Anything at all?"