"Introductions and Farewells"
Marcel V. Moreau
mvmoreau@iname.com or shall-iin@mindless.com
Words enclosed in * * are thoughts. Emphasised words are capitalised. Word in ' ' are in other languages, or are there for added emphasise. A line of *'s is the end of that 'chapter'. It just means that that is the point I felt best to have a division of events or a passage of time that isn't important to the story.
This is my first B5 story that I have ever written. I have written a few other stories, include several completely original stories. I had never had the urge to write a B5 story, because I did not think that I had the ability to add anything to the universe created by Mr. Straczynski. I had always thought that he had made such a great world, that my limited talents could add nothing to it.
Then I read some of the stories at the Alternate Universe today site. I was amazed that there were so many people who could come up with so many different ways to add to the B5 universe. I would never have come up with some of these ideas if I lived to be a hundred. After reading a few of them, I felt that a solid David story was missing. So I set about writing one.
There are many interesting ones, but few that I felt gave him justice. So few of them talked about him as what he would be. A young man struggling to find his way through life. In most of the stories, he is a completely adjusted, almost perfect being, universally liked and admired. Though some of his life has to be preordained, I do not agree that he is perfect. No living being can be perfect, so he must have flaws.
My original idea was to be a story were David learns of John's passing. How he would react to the news and what he would do. As I wrote, I was filled with a different idea. I would write a story, which I hope to make into a series, about David's days training as a ranger. Eventually, I will add the point of my original idea. But for now, I hope you enjoy what I do have.
I never intented to write this from the first person point of view. I have only once written a story from this perspective and those who read it agree that it was far from my best work. I never even realized that it was being written in the first person until I was several pages in and went back to check on a few things. It came as something of a surprise.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER
Only a very small number of these characters belong to me. The rest belong to their creators. JMS, Babylonian Productions, and others.
**************************Chapter 1****************************************
I was tired. We'd been fighting for more than 2 standard hours and most of my body was a mass bruise. I'd been hit so many times, I had no frame of reference for the number. Warily, I circled to the left, trying to spot an opening through the haze of blood, sweat and tears in my eyes.
I sensed, rather than saw, the blow. It happened to me sometimes. I would get these flashes and I would know what was going to happen next. I had spoken with some telepaths I knew from home. They had been unable to explain exactly how and why I could do this. They had tried a few tests, but I could not yet control this ability. If I could ever control it, it would be a great asset in my life.
I ducked the coming blow and felt the air stir above my head. My movement caused my opponent to loose his balance for a moment and I pressed the advantage. Rising, I struck him in the ribs. I hit him with two more quick blows, one to each side before I gathered my strength for a major blow.
I spun in place, my hands sliding together as I angled my weapon to cut at his knees. Unfortunately, my weakened body chose that moment to betray me. My right knee collapsed and my weapon slammed into the ground, jarring my arms all the way to the shoulders. I received another flash, seeing again what my opponent would do. But this time, I could do nothing but wait.
I did not have to wait long.
He lashed out with his blade, still as fast as it had always been. First, he disarmed me, sending my blade sailing through the air. Then, putting as much strength as he dared without risking killing me, he slammed his blade into my head, snapping me around. I hit the ground and the air flew out of my lungs. I tried to stand, but felt cold metal at my throat.
Looking up along the metal blade, I stared at my opponent, trying to contain my anger and fear.
Derhan looked down the length of his pike at me and smiled. "Well done, Davdan. If not for your misstep, I do believe you might actually have beaten me. And that is something none has done in more than twice the cycles you have lived. Not even you parents have come this close. Once, if she had chosen to remain with me and learn, you mother might have one day been able to best me." He finally removed the pike from my throat and bowed to me.
I felt a rush of pride at his words which I quickly tried to suppress. Rangers are taught that excessive pride could lead to our defeat and ultimate doom. And, as my father occasionally told me, 'Pride Goethe before a fall'.
"Thank you, Sech Derhan. It does seem to me, that even before my misstep, you had recovered from my earlier strikes and were already moving to block my blow." I had risen to my knees during my reply, and now I bowed to him. Of course, my bow was several degrees lower, to show my great respect for the old warrior.
Derhan smiled again. "If you can stand, Davdan, you may join your classmates." he nodded towards the empty spot in the circle of bodies around us. It was where I had stood before he had chosen me to spar against.
Wincing with the effort, I stood and retook my place among my peers. I stood silently, hoping that Derhan would not keep us too much longer, but I was determined to remain on my feet for as long as he held us. I would not, I could not show further weakness to my friends.
"The assignment for tomorrow is simple. I want you all to review the match and hand in a report on what you would have done differently at different points of the match. From BOTH points of view." There were a few muffled groans at this but he ignored them for the time being and continued. "You will each receive a copy of the recording by the end of evening meal. Until then, you may have some free time." Derhan glanced at me while the others stood patiently waiting for his dismissal. Among the warrior cast, it was considered impolite to leave a room until you superior has already done so or has told you to depart. "Shannon, Kahlen and Marcel. You will return Davdan to your quarters and see that his wounds are properly treated. I expect to see nothing wrong with him tomorrow." he bowed to the class, who bowed back and then left.
I have to give them credit. They waited almost a full twenty seconds before they started to cheer. All of us had had several sparring matches against our teacher, but only I and four others, had managed to last more than 15 minutes against him. Most of the class could not yet even strike him. They could stop some of his blows, but could not break through his defence. So they all looked to those of us who could to avenge their bruise and broken bones.
Glancing at my friends, I whispered. "Get me out of here before they start slapping my back." Nervously, I looked around. Even the normally stoic Minbari trainees were visibly excited.
As usual, Shannon laughed, Kahlen giggled and Marcel simply looked around with an expression of boredom on his face before catching me as my legs collapsed again.
As they helped me walk the corridors to the small room we shared, I took a few moments to reflect on them.
Each of them was in a very real sense, unique.
Kahlen was from a completely different reality. She had been brought here by a god-like being of immense power who had simply abandoned her. With her red hair and emerald green eyes, there was no denying her physical beauty. Due to her hyperactive genetic makeup, she was also a telepath and a telekinetic. She was so strong, that when Psi-Corps had learned of her abilities and tested her, she had been quite literally off the scales. They had tried to recruit her but she had laughed them off.
After that, she had explored our universe for a few years, doing odd jobs for assorted businesses and races. She had learned of the Rangers and their mission of peace and decided to see if she could find a home among them.
She could reach across the surface of a planet and read the mind of someone thousands of miles away. Using only her mind, she could lift loads of several tons. She could also lift herself off the ground, allowing her to 'fly.' The scientist who had studied her DNA agreed that there was something about her universe that altered the people in it, giving some of them these god-like abilities.
Shannon has a less fantastic type of uniqueness. She was Minbari. A nice, normal, completely run of the mill Minbari. Her parents were Worker Cast. They had been among the first people called when the design for the then new White Star fleet was agreed on. While working side by side with the human Rangers, they had become fascinated by human culture. After the end of the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, they had moved to a small human colony on the edge of human space. Shannon was born there and had spent her entire life among humans. Though her outward appearance was entirely Minbari, her heart and soul were human. It was only natural that when she reached the appropriate age, she signed on with the Rangers.
And then there is Marcel. Marcel was a strange one. He was physically and mentally almost the human ideal of perfection. Of course, several genera- tions of genetic manipulation will do that to someone.
He stood 7'3" and weighed 360 lbs. with no visible fat anywhere on his immense frame. He was muscular without being grotesquely over muscled. He wore his light brown hair at shoulder length. His eyes seemed to vary in colour from a deep chocolate to a dark obsidian.
I sometimes envied him his size. He could do things with his body that the rest of us could only dream of doing. He was a natural warrior. He did not have to be taught how to fight. He had been born and raised among a race of warriors. He took to fighting the way the rest of us took to breathing. It was quite literally a genetic imperative for him. Because of this, he was not well regarded by most of the other trainees. They thought he was more machine than person.
He was almost totally emotionless. At least, that's what it seemed like to most people. He had no sense of humour, he couldn't grasp the intricacies of 'human' interaction and was nearly devoid of anything resembling a personality.
The only time he came to life was during the combat courses. He seemed to thrive on physical battles.
It was while mulling over this that I came to a startling realization. *That is why we four were roomed together. They took the four most . . . unique trainees and stuck us together. They hoped that that which separated us from the rest of our peoples, would draw us together.* Sure, they usually did try to mix and match room assignments around among several races, but that was not how we had been matched.
*We're not the strangest looking group they've ever put in one room. Hell, there are more than twenty species represented by the rangers. There are the Pak'ma'ra, the spider-like Tuchanq, the avian Seel'ay'hia, the felinoid Histayew and a dozen others.*
*It is NOT a species thing, like with most of the others,* I thought as Kahlen keyed open our small room. *Even among our own species, we're different. Almost outcasts. Kahlen's a mutant, Shannon is a human in a Minbari body, Marcel's an experiment in genetic coding, and as for me, well . . . .
Well, I'm just me.
While Shannon went into the washroom to grab a medkit, Marcel and Kahlen put me on my bed and helped me out of my clothes. While they struggled to remove my pants, I remembered the first time we had met.
I was excited by the prospect of joining the Rangers and of being away from home for the first time. My parents had been very protective of me while I was a child. As I prepared to leave, they told me that I would be treated as any other trainee and that I was not to behave any differently simply because of who my parents happened to be. I told them how much I looked forward to being treated like any other person and they smiled.
When I arrived, I was given a pad that held my room assignment and biographies on all the other trainees who would be joining me. I ignored the bios and found my room.
I unpacked my belongings and looked around the room. There were four human style beds. Actually, they were more like bunks. Two of them were supported over the other two by some thin material hanging off the roof. One of the beds was quite a bit longer than the others, so I guessed that each of us had also been assigned a 'bunk'. I looked forward to meeting the being who would be staying in that bed.
I was in the washroom, putting away a few small essentials and tidying up a little when I heard the door open. I dried my hands and came to see who it was.
I was shocked to see, what was in my opinion the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, standing by the bunks, a confused expression on her face. I swallowed and went to introduce myself. "Hi, I'm -"
"Wait! Don't tell me." she interrupted, pulling out an identical pad to the one I had been given. She scanned the files before facing me. "Is this thing right? Are you really-"
Her question was interrupted by the opening of the door. Two figures stood looking at us for a moment before they stepping inside. One was a female Minbari, and the other was a giant human. I had never seen anything that large before. For a moment, I thought that the bed would not be long enough.
The Minbari reacted first. "Hello. You must be our other roommates. I'm Shannon and this big lug behind me is called Marcel." She too took out the pad and studied it. "You must be Kahlen O'Reilly." she said to the redhead. "It's nice to meet you."
"And likewise to meet you, Shannon." Kahlen replied. "Yours is the friendliest face I've seen since I landed. Not to mention that I've only seen two other females. At least, only two that I recognized as females."
Shannon laughed. Even then, I knew that she did that a lot. "Well, thank you. I know the feeling. I didn't see any females until I entered the room." Shannon looked at her pad, searching for room assignment lists. I saw her eyes bulge and her jaw drop when she saw my name. Definitely NOT a Minbari reaction.
Turning to me, she bowed as deeply as she could. "Please forgive my ignorance, Alyte. I did not know it was you. I is a great honour to my humble worker self to share this room with you."
*Now THERE is a purely Minbari reaction* I thought to myself as my face reddened. The others were turning from me to Shannon and back, confusion clearly written on their faces. I shrugged helplessly. After all, it wasn't MY fault who I was. Nor was it my place to explain, in case they take it for bragging.
"Shannon, please. " I begged. "I'm no one special. I'm just a trainee, like any one else here."
She giggled nervously. I found it odd, seeing human reactions coming from her Minbari features.
" 'I'm no one special', he says. What a joke. You are probably the most special person in the universe." She glanced at the others who were now staring solely at her. "Don't you know who he is?"
Marcel glanced at his pad. "Says his name is Davdan."
"Check the personal files." Kahlen suggested. She had caught on a few moments before, when I had tried to introduce myself to her.
Marcel still looked puzzled. "So Davdan isn't his full name. Big deal."
Kahlen and Shannon stared at him silently. He simply stared back until they were forced to turn away. I watched this byplay, amused that they had seemed to forget that I was in the room.
"Don't you recognize who his parents are?" Kahlen asked incredulously. She had only been in our universe for four years, and even she knew who I was.
The giant shrugged. "Should I?"
"Where have you been for the last twenty four years? EVERYONE knows who they are."
Marcel though for a moment. "24 years? Well, since I'm only 20 ES years, I couldn't tell you where I was for the four years before I was .. . born. But for most of the last 20, I've been living on a small island on a smaller world a long way from the space lanes. The only things my computer uploaded
were technilogical advancements and medical breakthroughs. I knew nothing about what was happening in the world beyond my little island."
"A few years ago, a Ranger ship landed on my island. They were searching the ruins for something when they found me. It was the first time I had seen a human being. Last year, they came back and I left the planet with them. So no, I don't know who these people are."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Shannon struggled with Marcel's revelation for a moment before turning to face me. "Well, Marcel, his parents are -"
I interrupted her. "Are not important at the moment." She frowned, and I felt a twinge of guilt. "I am Davdan. That is the name I wish to be called while we are here. Who my parents are does not matter. I am NOT them. I am only myself. I am here because this is where I felt I belonged, for the time being. I do not want ANY special treatment just because of an accident of birth."
Marcel nodded thoughtfully. I could see that he understood my feelings even though he didn't know the reasons for them or why I would expect others to behave differently towards me. Kahlen also seemed to understand. But then, I had read her file. If anyone could expect to always be treated differently, it was this young woman with all her amazing abilities.
Shannon seemed to struggle with herself for a few minutes. I understood her difficulty and sympathized with her. As human as she acted, there were certain traits that her parents would have instilled in her that were purely Minbari in nature. Respect bordering on adulation for those born to a higher calling, as well as a humbleness that characterized all of the Worker Cast.
"I ... will try. I ... do not promise it will be easy or that I will ... always be successful, but I will try."
"That is all I can ask of you, Shannon. That is all anyone can ask of another."
Words enclosed in * * are thoughts. Emphasised words are capitalised. Word in ' ' are in other languages, or are there for added emphasise. A line of *'s is the end of that 'chapter'. It just means that that is the point I felt best to have a division of events or a passage of time that isn't important to the story.
This is my first B5 story that I have ever written. I have written a few other stories, include several completely original stories. I had never had the urge to write a B5 story, because I did not think that I had the ability to add anything to the universe created by Mr. Straczynski. I had always thought that he had made such a great world, that my limited talents could add nothing to it.
Then I read some of the stories at the Alternate Universe today site. I was amazed that there were so many people who could come up with so many different ways to add to the B5 universe. I would never have come up with some of these ideas if I lived to be a hundred. After reading a few of them, I felt that a solid David story was missing. So I set about writing one.
There are many interesting ones, but few that I felt gave him justice. So few of them talked about him as what he would be. A young man struggling to find his way through life. In most of the stories, he is a completely adjusted, almost perfect being, universally liked and admired. Though some of his life has to be preordained, I do not agree that he is perfect. No living being can be perfect, so he must have flaws.
My original idea was to be a story were David learns of John's passing. How he would react to the news and what he would do. As I wrote, I was filled with a different idea. I would write a story, which I hope to make into a series, about David's days training as a ranger. Eventually, I will add the point of my original idea. But for now, I hope you enjoy what I do have.
I never intented to write this from the first person point of view. I have only once written a story from this perspective and those who read it agree that it was far from my best work. I never even realized that it was being written in the first person until I was several pages in and went back to check on a few things. It came as something of a surprise.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER
Only a very small number of these characters belong to me. The rest belong to their creators. JMS, Babylonian Productions, and others.
**************************Chapter 1****************************************
I was tired. We'd been fighting for more than 2 standard hours and most of my body was a mass bruise. I'd been hit so many times, I had no frame of reference for the number. Warily, I circled to the left, trying to spot an opening through the haze of blood, sweat and tears in my eyes.
I sensed, rather than saw, the blow. It happened to me sometimes. I would get these flashes and I would know what was going to happen next. I had spoken with some telepaths I knew from home. They had been unable to explain exactly how and why I could do this. They had tried a few tests, but I could not yet control this ability. If I could ever control it, it would be a great asset in my life.
I ducked the coming blow and felt the air stir above my head. My movement caused my opponent to loose his balance for a moment and I pressed the advantage. Rising, I struck him in the ribs. I hit him with two more quick blows, one to each side before I gathered my strength for a major blow.
I spun in place, my hands sliding together as I angled my weapon to cut at his knees. Unfortunately, my weakened body chose that moment to betray me. My right knee collapsed and my weapon slammed into the ground, jarring my arms all the way to the shoulders. I received another flash, seeing again what my opponent would do. But this time, I could do nothing but wait.
I did not have to wait long.
He lashed out with his blade, still as fast as it had always been. First, he disarmed me, sending my blade sailing through the air. Then, putting as much strength as he dared without risking killing me, he slammed his blade into my head, snapping me around. I hit the ground and the air flew out of my lungs. I tried to stand, but felt cold metal at my throat.
Looking up along the metal blade, I stared at my opponent, trying to contain my anger and fear.
Derhan looked down the length of his pike at me and smiled. "Well done, Davdan. If not for your misstep, I do believe you might actually have beaten me. And that is something none has done in more than twice the cycles you have lived. Not even you parents have come this close. Once, if she had chosen to remain with me and learn, you mother might have one day been able to best me." He finally removed the pike from my throat and bowed to me.
I felt a rush of pride at his words which I quickly tried to suppress. Rangers are taught that excessive pride could lead to our defeat and ultimate doom. And, as my father occasionally told me, 'Pride Goethe before a fall'.
"Thank you, Sech Derhan. It does seem to me, that even before my misstep, you had recovered from my earlier strikes and were already moving to block my blow." I had risen to my knees during my reply, and now I bowed to him. Of course, my bow was several degrees lower, to show my great respect for the old warrior.
Derhan smiled again. "If you can stand, Davdan, you may join your classmates." he nodded towards the empty spot in the circle of bodies around us. It was where I had stood before he had chosen me to spar against.
Wincing with the effort, I stood and retook my place among my peers. I stood silently, hoping that Derhan would not keep us too much longer, but I was determined to remain on my feet for as long as he held us. I would not, I could not show further weakness to my friends.
"The assignment for tomorrow is simple. I want you all to review the match and hand in a report on what you would have done differently at different points of the match. From BOTH points of view." There were a few muffled groans at this but he ignored them for the time being and continued. "You will each receive a copy of the recording by the end of evening meal. Until then, you may have some free time." Derhan glanced at me while the others stood patiently waiting for his dismissal. Among the warrior cast, it was considered impolite to leave a room until you superior has already done so or has told you to depart. "Shannon, Kahlen and Marcel. You will return Davdan to your quarters and see that his wounds are properly treated. I expect to see nothing wrong with him tomorrow." he bowed to the class, who bowed back and then left.
I have to give them credit. They waited almost a full twenty seconds before they started to cheer. All of us had had several sparring matches against our teacher, but only I and four others, had managed to last more than 15 minutes against him. Most of the class could not yet even strike him. They could stop some of his blows, but could not break through his defence. So they all looked to those of us who could to avenge their bruise and broken bones.
Glancing at my friends, I whispered. "Get me out of here before they start slapping my back." Nervously, I looked around. Even the normally stoic Minbari trainees were visibly excited.
As usual, Shannon laughed, Kahlen giggled and Marcel simply looked around with an expression of boredom on his face before catching me as my legs collapsed again.
As they helped me walk the corridors to the small room we shared, I took a few moments to reflect on them.
Each of them was in a very real sense, unique.
Kahlen was from a completely different reality. She had been brought here by a god-like being of immense power who had simply abandoned her. With her red hair and emerald green eyes, there was no denying her physical beauty. Due to her hyperactive genetic makeup, she was also a telepath and a telekinetic. She was so strong, that when Psi-Corps had learned of her abilities and tested her, she had been quite literally off the scales. They had tried to recruit her but she had laughed them off.
After that, she had explored our universe for a few years, doing odd jobs for assorted businesses and races. She had learned of the Rangers and their mission of peace and decided to see if she could find a home among them.
She could reach across the surface of a planet and read the mind of someone thousands of miles away. Using only her mind, she could lift loads of several tons. She could also lift herself off the ground, allowing her to 'fly.' The scientist who had studied her DNA agreed that there was something about her universe that altered the people in it, giving some of them these god-like abilities.
Shannon has a less fantastic type of uniqueness. She was Minbari. A nice, normal, completely run of the mill Minbari. Her parents were Worker Cast. They had been among the first people called when the design for the then new White Star fleet was agreed on. While working side by side with the human Rangers, they had become fascinated by human culture. After the end of the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, they had moved to a small human colony on the edge of human space. Shannon was born there and had spent her entire life among humans. Though her outward appearance was entirely Minbari, her heart and soul were human. It was only natural that when she reached the appropriate age, she signed on with the Rangers.
And then there is Marcel. Marcel was a strange one. He was physically and mentally almost the human ideal of perfection. Of course, several genera- tions of genetic manipulation will do that to someone.
He stood 7'3" and weighed 360 lbs. with no visible fat anywhere on his immense frame. He was muscular without being grotesquely over muscled. He wore his light brown hair at shoulder length. His eyes seemed to vary in colour from a deep chocolate to a dark obsidian.
I sometimes envied him his size. He could do things with his body that the rest of us could only dream of doing. He was a natural warrior. He did not have to be taught how to fight. He had been born and raised among a race of warriors. He took to fighting the way the rest of us took to breathing. It was quite literally a genetic imperative for him. Because of this, he was not well regarded by most of the other trainees. They thought he was more machine than person.
He was almost totally emotionless. At least, that's what it seemed like to most people. He had no sense of humour, he couldn't grasp the intricacies of 'human' interaction and was nearly devoid of anything resembling a personality.
The only time he came to life was during the combat courses. He seemed to thrive on physical battles.
It was while mulling over this that I came to a startling realization. *That is why we four were roomed together. They took the four most . . . unique trainees and stuck us together. They hoped that that which separated us from the rest of our peoples, would draw us together.* Sure, they usually did try to mix and match room assignments around among several races, but that was not how we had been matched.
*We're not the strangest looking group they've ever put in one room. Hell, there are more than twenty species represented by the rangers. There are the Pak'ma'ra, the spider-like Tuchanq, the avian Seel'ay'hia, the felinoid Histayew and a dozen others.*
*It is NOT a species thing, like with most of the others,* I thought as Kahlen keyed open our small room. *Even among our own species, we're different. Almost outcasts. Kahlen's a mutant, Shannon is a human in a Minbari body, Marcel's an experiment in genetic coding, and as for me, well . . . .
Well, I'm just me.
While Shannon went into the washroom to grab a medkit, Marcel and Kahlen put me on my bed and helped me out of my clothes. While they struggled to remove my pants, I remembered the first time we had met.
I was excited by the prospect of joining the Rangers and of being away from home for the first time. My parents had been very protective of me while I was a child. As I prepared to leave, they told me that I would be treated as any other trainee and that I was not to behave any differently simply because of who my parents happened to be. I told them how much I looked forward to being treated like any other person and they smiled.
When I arrived, I was given a pad that held my room assignment and biographies on all the other trainees who would be joining me. I ignored the bios and found my room.
I unpacked my belongings and looked around the room. There were four human style beds. Actually, they were more like bunks. Two of them were supported over the other two by some thin material hanging off the roof. One of the beds was quite a bit longer than the others, so I guessed that each of us had also been assigned a 'bunk'. I looked forward to meeting the being who would be staying in that bed.
I was in the washroom, putting away a few small essentials and tidying up a little when I heard the door open. I dried my hands and came to see who it was.
I was shocked to see, what was in my opinion the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, standing by the bunks, a confused expression on her face. I swallowed and went to introduce myself. "Hi, I'm -"
"Wait! Don't tell me." she interrupted, pulling out an identical pad to the one I had been given. She scanned the files before facing me. "Is this thing right? Are you really-"
Her question was interrupted by the opening of the door. Two figures stood looking at us for a moment before they stepping inside. One was a female Minbari, and the other was a giant human. I had never seen anything that large before. For a moment, I thought that the bed would not be long enough.
The Minbari reacted first. "Hello. You must be our other roommates. I'm Shannon and this big lug behind me is called Marcel." She too took out the pad and studied it. "You must be Kahlen O'Reilly." she said to the redhead. "It's nice to meet you."
"And likewise to meet you, Shannon." Kahlen replied. "Yours is the friendliest face I've seen since I landed. Not to mention that I've only seen two other females. At least, only two that I recognized as females."
Shannon laughed. Even then, I knew that she did that a lot. "Well, thank you. I know the feeling. I didn't see any females until I entered the room." Shannon looked at her pad, searching for room assignment lists. I saw her eyes bulge and her jaw drop when she saw my name. Definitely NOT a Minbari reaction.
Turning to me, she bowed as deeply as she could. "Please forgive my ignorance, Alyte. I did not know it was you. I is a great honour to my humble worker self to share this room with you."
*Now THERE is a purely Minbari reaction* I thought to myself as my face reddened. The others were turning from me to Shannon and back, confusion clearly written on their faces. I shrugged helplessly. After all, it wasn't MY fault who I was. Nor was it my place to explain, in case they take it for bragging.
"Shannon, please. " I begged. "I'm no one special. I'm just a trainee, like any one else here."
She giggled nervously. I found it odd, seeing human reactions coming from her Minbari features.
" 'I'm no one special', he says. What a joke. You are probably the most special person in the universe." She glanced at the others who were now staring solely at her. "Don't you know who he is?"
Marcel glanced at his pad. "Says his name is Davdan."
"Check the personal files." Kahlen suggested. She had caught on a few moments before, when I had tried to introduce myself to her.
Marcel still looked puzzled. "So Davdan isn't his full name. Big deal."
Kahlen and Shannon stared at him silently. He simply stared back until they were forced to turn away. I watched this byplay, amused that they had seemed to forget that I was in the room.
"Don't you recognize who his parents are?" Kahlen asked incredulously. She had only been in our universe for four years, and even she knew who I was.
The giant shrugged. "Should I?"
"Where have you been for the last twenty four years? EVERYONE knows who they are."
Marcel though for a moment. "24 years? Well, since I'm only 20 ES years, I couldn't tell you where I was for the four years before I was .. . born. But for most of the last 20, I've been living on a small island on a smaller world a long way from the space lanes. The only things my computer uploaded
were technilogical advancements and medical breakthroughs. I knew nothing about what was happening in the world beyond my little island."
"A few years ago, a Ranger ship landed on my island. They were searching the ruins for something when they found me. It was the first time I had seen a human being. Last year, they came back and I left the planet with them. So no, I don't know who these people are."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Shannon struggled with Marcel's revelation for a moment before turning to face me. "Well, Marcel, his parents are -"
I interrupted her. "Are not important at the moment." She frowned, and I felt a twinge of guilt. "I am Davdan. That is the name I wish to be called while we are here. Who my parents are does not matter. I am NOT them. I am only myself. I am here because this is where I felt I belonged, for the time being. I do not want ANY special treatment just because of an accident of birth."
Marcel nodded thoughtfully. I could see that he understood my feelings even though he didn't know the reasons for them or why I would expect others to behave differently towards me. Kahlen also seemed to understand. But then, I had read her file. If anyone could expect to always be treated differently, it was this young woman with all her amazing abilities.
Shannon seemed to struggle with herself for a few minutes. I understood her difficulty and sympathized with her. As human as she acted, there were certain traits that her parents would have instilled in her that were purely Minbari in nature. Respect bordering on adulation for those born to a higher calling, as well as a humbleness that characterized all of the Worker Cast.
"I ... will try. I ... do not promise it will be easy or that I will ... always be successful, but I will try."
"That is all I can ask of you, Shannon. That is all anyone can ask of another."