From jeffdm@mis.ca Sun Aug 18 20:58:27 1996
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 14:33:48 -0700
From: Jeff DeMerchant <jeffdm@mis.ca>
Subject: The Destroyer Of Worlds

                     THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS
           (Inspired by "The Long, Twilight Struggle")

                       By Jeff DeMerchant


     Space was dark.

     Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic stood on the
deck of the *Valerius*, flagship of the Centauri fleet, and
marvelled at the cold blackness outside the viewport.

     His heart was dark.

     The *Valerius*, along with the rest of the fleet was
bombarding the surface of the Narn homeworld with mass drivers,
levelling the planet. Londo Mollari was to blame; he had made this
possible. The thought of Narn deaths shouldn't have bothered him
much, but some part of him was dying with the launch of each small
asteroid from the weapons of destruction all around him.

     Londo remembered a time not too far in the past when he had
enjoyed life, had celebrated just for the sake of celebrating. *Do
you know what the last Zon said just before he died?-- "Aaargh!".*
Londo the joker, Londo the teaser, Londo the flatterer. *Have I
ever told you that you are very cute for a Minbari?* 

     Where was that Londo now? When had he turned into a murderer
of innocent lives? Had he been influenced by evil? Perhaps he
wasn't to blame at all; this was Morden's fault! or Refa's! No. The
sad realization came to him that it *was* his fault; he was just as
evil as his associates, perhaps even more so. He had allowed this
to happen. What began as simple revenge and a desire to see his
beloved Republic regain its former glory had turned into a
bloodbath. An entire planet was being blown to oblivion. He gazed
at his reflection in the viewport and saw cold, unfamiliar eyes
staring back. 

     Light from the bright Narn sun shone through the viewport,
casting a shadow behind him--a tall, thin mockery of the regal
Centauri. Londo turned to look at it. It was as dark as the space
outside and the sight of it turned his heart to ice with terror.
*Frightened by shadows, Londo?* he asked himself accusingly.
*Perhaps rightly so*, he answered. He was terrified of what he had
become.

     Below him, Narn burned. Tears swelled in Londo's eyes as the
last part of his old self died with the planet. He had sold his
soul to darkness and there was no hope for salvation. *Great
Maker*, he thought sadly, *I have become death...*

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