“"Yes, I'm a thief, and a damned good one."
- – Dureena
Dureena Nafeel was an expert thief and the last known survivor of her race, who were destroyed by the Drakh during the Shadow War.
History[]
Early Life[]
Born on Zander Prime, Dureena was sold into slavery by her family at a young age so that they could pay off their debts. Later in life Dureena would assert that it didn't bother her; they did what they had to do. As a slave, Dureena was transported from one world to another until finally ending up on Praxis IX, where she was to learn how to serve. Eventually managing to escape, Dureena along with four others made the difficult journey outside the domed capital city, over rough terrain and through Praxis IX's dense atmosphere. Though her companions were killed in the attempt, Dureena gained her freedom.[1] Eventually falling in with the Thieves Guild, Dureena was trained by Mafeek of Tripani VII and would eventually become very skilled in her new trade.[2]
Dureena's Thieves Guild tattoo
In 2261, during the last days of the Shadow War, Dureena was still living away from her homeworld. When many of Zander Prime's neighboring worlds were destroyed by the Shadows, her people called out to Babylon 5 and the Army of Light for help, but it was to no avail. Zander Prime was one of the last planets to be destroyed by the Death Clouds, leaving Dureena the only one of her people to survive, as far as she knew.[2]
Called to Arms[]
In 2267, Galen appeared in a dream to Dureena warning her that Daltron VII suffered the same fate as her homeworld and that other planets would be targeted soon. Galen then later revealed that the Drakh had a Death Cloud and that the destruction of Daltron VII was simply a test, and that they want revenge on Earth because they had defeated their masters, the Shadows.
Dureena traveled to Babylon 5 and contacted the Thieves Guild. She soon recognized John Sheridan, who she blamed for the destruction of her home planet which occurred around the same time as the Battle of Coriana VI. She quickly came to terms with what happened, and decided to work together with John Sheridan and Captain Leonard Anderson to uncover what happened to Daltron 7 and what the Drakh were up to.
The Excalibur and sister ship Victory engaged a Drakh scouting force. The Excalibur followed the Drakh vessels to the main staging area of the Drakh Fleet. The Excalibur returned to the Victory and both vessels escaped into Hyperspace. The Excalibur and the Victory joined a large force at Earth in preparation against the Drakh. Dureena was able to correctly guess the location of the Death Cloud's main system control segment, which was targeted and destroyed by the Victory.[2]
Ceti IV[]
After the attack, Dureena met Galen at Babylon 5, before the pair of them traveled to Mars, intent on joining the Excalibur's new mission. Shortly after she arrived, Galen disappeared leaving Dureena to be arrested by Earthforce for further questioning. After escaping several times, she finally came face to face with Captain Matthew Gideon who insisted she be released and allowed to join his crew.[3] The Excalibur's first mission was investigating a Drakh crash site on Ceti IV in which Dureena assisted in the capture of the Drakh captain, Counselor L'shan.[3]
Mars Conference[]
While Gideon and Dr Chambers were attending the Earth Alliance Health Organization Plague Eradication Management Strategies Mars Conference, Dureena went down to Mars for shore leave with Max. He again managed to get his pocket picked, though this time Dureena got back his possessions, claiming that she hates to see a sloppy thief win as it reflects badly on the rest of them. Though Max appreciated the effort, he claimed that he didn't need any help and that in future she should let him handle things.
No sooner had the words left his mouth when he bumped into a man in a bar, spilling his drink. Dureena gladly left him to deal with it himself, which he does by buying everyone a round of drinks. Later that evening a rather inebriated Max decides to teach Dureena how to dance and to her surprise does so quite well. While that is going on, Trace is attacked outside the bar. Hearing the commotion Max and Dureena come to his aid. After helping him sober up, he identifies the attacker as Andre Sabot, someone he knew from his Foundationist days.[4]
Technomage Virus[]
At the end of March, the ship reached a dead planet that the crew believed the Drakh plague had killed. Dureena came with the landing party and went off investigating. She climbed to the top of the skyline, and activated an energy bridge, which she crossed and found a set of data crystals. She managed to safely return to the base with them and handed them to Max to study. They discover that the entire population was killed by a nano-virus, which Galen immediately identifies as Technomagic in origin.
Dureena admiring the view of a dead world.
Gideon followed Galen to help him eliminate the Technomage threat. When he got down to where Galen was he found Dureena trying to kill Galen due to the virus' influence on her brain. When Dureena charged at Galen, Gideon blew the bridge out from under her. She made it across and Galen threw his staff at the machine. It blew it up, deactivating the nano-virus, and they returned to the ship. Galen said that the staff was a one of a kind control mechanism of great personal value to him. It was assumed unrecoverable by the Excalibur crew, but moments later Dureena, covered in mud, dropped it at his feet, having dug it out of the collapsed structure.[5]
Ancient Plague World[]
The Excalibur arrived at a planet which appeared to be abandoned. Eilerson found hieroglyphs that were the beginnings of formulas for advancements such as energy and light alloys, which Gideon considered unimportant compared to the plague. Dureena went into the underground passageways of the city where she found a large power source and a lot of bones of many different species.
During this mission, she asked Galen to teach her what he knew, which he declined. They soon discover that the indigenous species of the planet was not dead but in suspended animation, and had been experimenting on species who came to the planet. She later explained what she found under the city, which allowed Gideon to destroy that power source.[6]
Theta 49[]
In June 2267, the Excalibur was ordered to a planet that apparently had no value of any kind, to retrieve some colonists who reportedly had left the planet around the time that Earth was infected by the plague. When they got there they find the colonist's ship and the crew, and took a blood sample from their leader. They found out that they had been infected with the plague.
Dureena went scouting, and happened across a lost colony of her own people. She first met a village elder, who mistook her as a supernatural guide that comes to take the dying. Moments after being found, he passed away. She soon found the rest of the colony. She was told their tale, that the colony was descended from slaves who had been taken as labor on the ship Qal’Thaa generations earlier. The ship had been shot down by Shadows, and the surviving escape pods began the colony. She had the unfortunate task of explaining that their homeworld, Zander Prime, had been destroyed.
After leaving the colony, she ran into Dr. Chambers, and made her promise to tell no one. Chambers was able to get samples of blood from them, which showed that her people only had a year left before the plague would kill them.[7]
Dureena Nafeel
Appearances[]
TV MoviesCrusade
Novels |
References[]
| Main Characters (Crusade) | ||||
| Captain Matthew Gideon • Captain Elizabeth Lochley • Lieutenant John Matheson • Max Eilerson • Galen • Dr. Sarah Chambers • Dureena Nafeel | ||||