Author: Laumae
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: none of it is mine, except the story.
Author Notes: I've only seen b5 and crusade, so everything else that's happened in this universe is unknown, sorry if I mess it up. And thanks to Lilandriel, my wonderful and helpful beta.
Dureena pretended to eat a meal. She poked at it, and reorganized it, pushing the food around the plate. She even went so far as to put a so-called steamed carrot in her mouth. She chewed, and swallowed with difficulty, the food catching in her throat. She pushed her food away and rested her head on her hand. A tear fell from her eye.
"Why are you sad?" A gentle voice asked her.
"Galen." She said hopefully. She turned around and met the eyes of an old man.
"Not quite, young one."
"Who are you?" She was on her guard.
He chuckled, "I'm not a threat, goodness no. But I am surprised that Galen has never mentioned me to you. What will I do with him? My name is Alwyn. Now my dear, I am becoming impatient. Why are you still here?" He asked in mock exasperation, throwing his arms out.
"What are you talking about? I belong here." She responded, irritated and annoyed.
"I believe you know what I mean." He said disappearing.
She shook her head, thinking about what he had implied. Suddenly, she realised what he had been speaking about. She couldn't believe it. There had been so many signs, but she had ignored them all. She was supposed to be following Galen, looking for him. She had wasted months to doubt and worry that clouded her vision from what she should've been doing. She mentally kicked herself for indulging in her fears, and letting it get in the way of doing something actually useful.
She found herself in Galen's favorite spot: the Transport pod. She sat in his favorite seat and looked around. To her right, she found a small star map, and a planet circled. It gave all the information she needed to find it. She left the transport pod, and headed for the docking bay.
Glancing around to make sure she wasn't being watched or followed, she snuck up to one of the shuttles and slipped inside. After rewiring the controls a little bit, she was ready to leave; she initiated the start up sequence.
"Matheson to docking bay transport-" Came over com. She turned it off, and flew out of the Excalibur. She located the constellation and then the designated planet, and set course.
A short while later, she landed and looked around. After a another couple of hours, she found a small device that had an unabashed feel of technomancy. She touched the front of the device, and it projected a three dimensional model of another solar system, near to the one she was in, and another selected planet.
The journey to the next planet took several hours. She landed in one of the only clearings she could find, and looked around. Her body was starting to tell her it was tired.
A pitch black rabbit hopped up to her and got her attention. Dureena stared curiously down at it. The rabbit got on its hind two feet, and seemed to beg to be picked up. Dureena smiled and bent down to look at it. The rabbit tried to jump in her lap, but fell off. It started to whimper.
"Galen." She shook her head, amused. She picked up the rabbit, and it smiled at her. The rabbit wriggled in her arms and pulled a top hat from under itself. She laughed, and took the top hat away from the small lapin noir. Inside was a tag with the directions to another planet, and then the words "Don't forget Bugsy."
"I'm assuming you're Bugsy?" She said to the rabbit. It wiggled it's nose and went to sleep in her arms. "Good idea." She said returning to her ship and going to sleep.
Gideon was lying unconscious on a dark floor in a dark room, with that terrible dark box beside him. Four robed figures entered the room. "This box has value." One of them said.
"We were not commissioned to capture a box." Said a second. He was sure to make the word box seem disdainful and so unimportant that it wasn't worth even being mentioned.
"This box may have some profit for us." Agreed the third.
The fourth and obvious leader pushed back his hood, revealing a triangular forehead and the ragged bone of a warrior cast Minbari. "We will give the human to Naddegio, as promised. The box, we will keep. I agree that it may have some value yet." He said selfishly. He picked up the box, and left the room.
