Title: Remembrance Continued

Author: Iocane

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Dureena/Chambers

Warning: f/f slash, some more vague descriptions of nasty acts, but nothing too explicit.

This is a direct continuation of "Remembrance."

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

Remembrance Continued
by Iocane

Dureena made her way through parts of the ship the designers didn't know about. She ran, crawled, climbed, wiggled, and squirmed through the guts of the ship. Finally, exhausted, she collapsed against a bulkhead. As fatigue overcame her, so too did the memories she'd been fleeing.

~~~
She hadn't entirely understood what her family was doing in this strange, hostile place. The youngest of three children, she was with her parents and older brothers.

At the space port, she waited with her parents. They didn't tell her everything, but her brothers were afraid, so she was as well. Her parents left her and her brothers in a room with many other people. Most of races she'd never seen before. Some of the men tried to touch her, but her
brothers protected her. They told her not to worry, that they would stay together. The people around them spoke in languages she didn't understand, and her fear deepened, despite her brothers reassurances.

For a long time they waited in that small, crowded room. Some of the people were taken away, and more came. Finally, her brothers were taken. She tried to go with them, but they held her back. Her oldest brother tried to fight the men taking him, saying he wouldn't leave his sister. A
large man with a gun shot him without a word. The smell of her brothers singed flesh filled her nostrils as her remaining brother was dragged away. She never saw him again. The body of her brother lay on the floor of the room, no one going near it. She huddled by the still form, as though it would protect her. All around her she could feel eyes on her. She knew what they wanted - she'd seen her brother with other girls. The thought of it happening to her made her sick.

Several hours later, when her brother's body was cold and hard, some men came to take it away. She fought, kicking, screaming, and scratching at everything within reach, but she accomplished nothing. One of the men swatted her against the wall as though she was a mere insect. The last
thing she saw was her brothers body being carried away.

When she awoke, she was sore all over, especially her legs, and ... Realizing what had happened, it was as though everything caught up to her. She cried, mourning her parents, who'd abandoned her and her brothers to this place. Her brother - dead. Her other brother - torn from her.

She was alone.

It would be several more hours before, finally, they came for her. Roughly she was dragged out of the small room. Large shackles were put on her wrists, she could feel them cutting into her skin. Someone dragged her along, her short legs unable to keep up.

Dureena was pulled onto a small platform and a man turned her around, speaking in a strange tongue. Around her, she heard snatches of words she understood. Not enough to make sense of. She heard men in the group below the podium shouting things and she began to figure out what was happening.

She was being sold. Parents had sold their children into slavery. Both her brothers gone - one dead protecting her, the other sold who knows where.

She didn't hear the rest, her mind was numb. Finally the auction was over and she was led to a room. There a woman clean her, roughly scrubbing her, heedless of the cuts and bruises on Dureena's skin. The shackles came off and the blood was cleaned from them and her wrists. There was a prick in her arm and a moment later, Dureena knew only blackness.

~~~

Dureena awoke with a start. She looked around and realized she was somewhere on the Excalibur. Somewhere inside the workings, where even maintenance crews didn't go. For a moment, she wondered why she was there, then in a flash, it came back to her.

All at once she remembered Praxis 9. She captain was going to go ... She'd gone with him, thinking she'd gotten past what had happened.

She had never expected to find herself there again. Having survived a second time, she'd wanted to ...

"Sarah." The night before came back to her. Sarah, the candles, holding her. The dream. She'd hurt Sarah. Dureena had hurt the only person in all the galaxy she gave half a damn about.

Standing, Dureena began to run again. She felt that if, somehow, she ran far enough, she would be able to leave all the pain behind.

But Excalibur wasn't big enough. The Universe itself isn't large enough to allow someone to outrun themselves.