Free Armies of Light and Dark by Babylon 5

directly into the far end of the Shadow Base. Even as far away as they were from the source of the destruction, Vir still felt the base trembling around him from the impact. More hits, more firing upon the base, as the Death Cloud – operating in some sort of automatic program now – started to progress down the base's length. Then, on the holographically reproduced image, Vir saw more explosions, this time from within Xha'dam itself. The vibrations became more pronounced, even though the source of the devastation was still miles off.
    "Now would be a good time to leave," Kane said, with such calm that one would have thought the base's destruction could have no immediate impact upon him. Vir's head was bobbing.
    "Yes ... yes, I think you're right."
    He turned to head for the door, and suddenly Kane was shoving him to one side. Vir tumbled to the floor, wondering just what in the world was going on, unable to comprehend why in the world Kane would have suddenly attacked him. Then he heard a slight whisper of a noise, a pfwwt of air, followed by another, and he half sat up and twisted around to look behind him. Kane was standing there, looking down in what almost seemed to be amusement. Three spikes were imbedded in his chest. The centermost one happened to be the one that he had intercepted when he had pushed Vir out of the way. The second and third were still quivering, having just been shot into him. Vir, to his horror, saw the Drakh lying on the ground, his fingers still twitching around his weapon, apparently not as dead as they had assumed him to be. It all happened so quickly that Kane had no time to react or prepare a spell to freeze them in place. He tried to use his staff for support, but instead sank to his knees, and the Drakh focused on Vir. Vir desperately threw himself to one side as the Drakh squeezed off two quick shots. Both of the needle darts flew past him, but he tripped, hit the ground, and found himself lying there, eye-to-eye with the fallen Drakh. The creature swung the weapon around and Vir found himself staring right down the barrel.
    "I can't die," he whispered. "Londo said so. I'm invincible."
    Not giving a damn about fate, Centauri predictions, or Londo Mollari, the Drakh squeezed the trigger. His weapon made an oddly vacant sound – one that had a uniform quality across a variety of cultures. It was the sound of a weapon empty of ammunition. The Drakh uttered a word that Vir could only surmise to be a curse in the Drakh's native tongue, and then the creature began to haul himself up. Suddenly the entire room shook violently, and the Drakh flopped over onto his back. This time he didn't get up. The creature emitted a sound that could only be a death rattle, and his head slumped to one side.
    Kane was still on his knees, looking somewhat perplexed as he stared at the metal projectiles sticking in his chest. Vir hauled him to his feet, shouting, "Come on! Hurry! Back to the ship!"
    "I do not think ... that is going to happen," Kane said softly.
    "Oh no you don't!" Vir yelled at him. "I am not about to go back to your techno-pals and tell them that I left you behind! And they're going to tell me that if I'd dragged you along with me, maybe they could have saved you, and the next thing I know, someone's going to be wearing my head for a hat! No thank you!"
    Kane tried to say something else, but Vir wasn't listening to him. Instead, with a strength he never would have dreamt he had, Vir yanked Kane to his feet and started hauling him, draping one of Kane's arms around his own shoulder to provide support. They stumbled out of the control room and down the corridor, and Vir didn't even want to think about what was going to happen if they ran into a Drakh because they had absolutely no defense at all. Kane sagged, and Vir thought desperately to himself – to himself, and to whatever deity might be willing to listen – Please. Please let us get back to the ship without any problems. Please.
    They