Babylon 5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages - Invoking Darkness
Jeanne Cavelos
 The story begins where the second book, Summoning Light, left off. The technomages have reached their "hiding place", an asteroid in an apparently remote and uncharted region of our galaxy, and have sealed themselves in by means of an advanced stealth- and defense system, the only remaining link being an observation room linked to the remaining probes left behind by the technomages throughout the galaxy. Galen is in charge of observing the outside (meaning mainly the ongoing Shadow war), the only technomage save the Circle (the ruling body of the mages) with access to any information about the developments in the outside world. The rest of the mages are descending rapidly toward chaos, being hemmed in and cramped together weighing heavily on the solitary-natured technomages. Fights and disputes are omnipresent, old friends and rivals turning on each other all the same. The mage elders continue to die a slow, withering death, a result of their severing of connection, and destruction of, their places of power. Of the original Circle, only Herazade, Galen's teacher Elric, and Blaylock remain. Elric is deteriorating rapidly and Blaylock's condition is not much better. Galen himself, the main character of the trilogy, is torn. In the previous book he barely escaped death, and worse, at the price of unleashing all the destructive potential of what he was intended to be. He knows the creators of the tech to be the feared and hated Shadows, the only mage outside the Circle, except Alwyn (who stayed out in the galaxy fighting the Shadows openly with the Narn G´Leel at his side) privy to this knowledge. On the Shadow stronghold of Thenothk, he has faced his nemesis Elizar, as well as a considerable portion of the Shadows´ war machine, and survived only through the use of his "Spell of Destruction", actually one of the basic "functions" of the "tech" (the biotechnological implants that define a technomage), a weapon of immense power. This has left him scarred, as the destructive impulses also instigated in the tech, impulses he has freed by his overuse of this basic function, are nigh irresistible. Thus, he spends his days in seclusion from everyone, struggling with great effort to suppress this deadly programming. Even though it is the very same programming that, unbeknownst to them, is pushing the rest of his order over the edge, Galen's terrifying power would only need to be unleashed once to destroy them all in the confined space of the hiding place. For this reason, as well as because of feelings of betrayal at not telling him of the nature of the tech, he avoids all contact with Elric, despite his failing health and the pain separation causes both of them. Thus, two years pass in the hiding place. Then, Elric is killed by Circe, another mage who her Shadow side has gotten the better of. Circe attempts a power grab from the Circle and the weakened Elric dies protecting the solidarity of the mages that he has so long fought and sacrificed for. This is the last drop for the already much-strained Galen, who only now realizes how much he cared for the old technomage. Since it turns out that Circe and her accomplices were put up to their nefarious plans by Morden, the ubiquitous extended hand of the Shadows, Galen convinces what remains of the seclusionist Circle to let him go kill Morden, who has proven to be a threat to the mages even in their exile, as well as his old nemeses Elizar and his deranged sister Razeel, who had previously forced Galen to watch through the probes the destruction of his and Elric's onetime home, the planet Soom, as well as the brutal execution of Fa, a Soom native child who was once a friend of Galen´. And so Galen goes to the heart of the darkness, Z´ha´dum, the homeworld of the Shadows. A second, parallel storyline begins here, which is mostly the lead-up to and the onscreen part of the season 3 Babylon 5 finale, "Z´ha´dum". It is revealed that Galen's and Sheridan's presence and actions on Z´ha´dum actually coincide, where neither would have been successful without the other. Before continuing on to his final destination, where he is certain he will perish, Galen stops over on Babylon 5 to attempt the assassination of Morden. He briefly meets his and Elric's old friend Alwyn, who is still griefstricken from the death of his apprentice, the ever-cheerful young Centauri Carvin, then fails in killing Morden, having squandered the opportunity on an attempt to persuade Morden to free himself from Shadow influence. This he achieves through killing his invisible but omnipresent Shadow cohorts, who, it turns out, are directly controlling Morden, more or less forcing the otherwise relatively decent man into the atrocities he daily commits in their service. Although it becomes apparent Morden is beyond help, the knowledge is still a useful piece of the puzzle that is Galen's very own reason for being. In a brief encounter with Sheridan, the fragment of Kosh still alive within the captain warns Galen of the rather malevolent intentions of the rest of the Vorlons and, sure enough, en route to Z´ha´dum Galen is confronted by Ulkesh, Kosh's replacement, but is allowed to proceed upon proving to the Vorlon that he is willing and able to destroy Elizar and Razeel, now powerful "allies" of the Shadows, and only them. Reaching Z´ha´dum, Galen engages Elizar in a fierce hide-and-seek, culminating in a true technomage battle, in the underground labyrinth of the Shadows´ capital, even as the dramatic events of the TV episode unfold just a short distance away. Galen is able to help John Sheridan reach the balcony in the city of the Shadows and then to allow the White Star to successfully complete its kamikaze dive on the city. He manages this by merging with the Eye, the control mechanism of Z´ha´dum's defenses as well as the directing entity for the deadly Shadow ships, as a last recourse in the fight against the now more powerful Elizar and his sister. Galen realizes, just in time, this possibility, based on the fact that most shadowtech is interlinkable (which he learned in his encounter with Anna, formerly Sheridan, at the time the displaced central processor of a Shadow vessel) and that the Eye is arguably the most sophisticated and powerful piece of shadow technology in existence. There, he mades a staggering discovery, as well as learns the reason for his being drawn to Z´ha´dum constantly over the course of the previous books and for the Shadows´ apparent interest in himself: the Eye also has a living central processor, and none other than Wierden, the first technomage and author of the mages´ revered Code. She has also been enslaved by the Shadows, and, in punishment for her secession from their ways, forced to be the "heart of the darkness" for a thousand years. Now, she is finally dying, and Galen is to be her replacement. Just before his identity is lost in the immensely powerful semisentient presence of the Eye, Galen realizes a fundamental connection, based on his past and recent experiences: the tech is not inherently evil, it is being forced by Shadow programming to do their bidding like any other creature in the Shadows´ control. He then achieves what Blaylock and those like him had striven for their entire lives - a perfect unity with the tech - by casting an empty spell, an equation with no terms, bypassing the Shadow programming altogether. The tech is in itself sentient, to a degree, and, being thus freed from the dark impulses, both it and Galen refuse to spread chaos further. First, Galen dispatches Elizar and Razeel with his newfound power, then he, being now the core of the Eye, allows the White Star past Z´ha´dum's defenses. The rest of the great machine, free at last, sacrifices itself to at least save Galen from the massive thermonuclear blast, burying him and Morden, who Galen attempts to save once more, deep under the obliterated Shadow city. Still, the blast nearly kills them both, and between attempting to heal himself and Morden, Galen soon finds himself near death. Being now in a deep, ancient and forgotten part of Z´ha´dum, Galen finally realizes the truth of the war, of the Shadows´ and Vorlons´ ancestral and petty dispute, as well as that the Shadows were once a wise and evolved race, not the chaos incarnate they are in his time. Suddenly, he is approached by Lorien, The First, the oldest being in this galaxy, who has made his home in the abyss of Z´ha´dum aeons ago, the real reason for the Shadows´ invariable returning there after each defeat. Lorien commends Galen on his achievements (particularly the spiritual ones, as the timeless being really doesn't care much for deeds of battle) and urges him to escape with his life, taking Morden into custody (and subsequently relinquishing him back to the Shadows, no doubt of Morden's own peculiar choice). This interestingly takes place at the same time Lorien is keeping Sheridan alive in a place not far away. On the surface, Galen finds a Shadow ship, merges with it, "frees" it from its servitude and leaves for the hiding place, much to the mages´ confoundment as to his means of transportation. There, he arrives just in time to fulfill Blaylock's lifelong dream of perfect unity with the tech and the universe by teaching him to free himself, moments before Blaylock dies of the deterioration caused by his severing the link with his place of power two years ago. In his absence, the mages were told of the origin of the "tech" and their order, causing a fresh wave of violence and death. Now, with a new, substantially younger Circle of five, deliverance finally comes with Galen's promise of hope for every mage to be free of their dark impulses. Still, the mages refuse to leave the hiding place just yet, for achieving what Galen has is no easy task and will require time for most of them, and also out of some persistent fear induced by the horrid conditions of their exile. Galen agrees to stay with them to help them and guide them on this new quest, optimistic for once about what the future holds for him and his order.