The Excalibur visits a remote world, where a strange, telepathic alien being in a glass globe causes several of the crew members to think back over things that have pained them in the past.  The alien apparently offers "forgiveness" to those in pain, but few seem in the proper mindset to gain from this.  Gideon orders the alien left where they found him.

Returning from the planet, Gideon seems depressed.  Matheson senses that Gideon is once again plagued with depression and doubt over two things that haunt him:  the destruction of his old ship, the Cerberus, which was attacked by a mysterious black ship, and his late arrival at Earth during the Drakh attack.  Unable to get the Excalibur to the scene of battle in time, Gideon could do nothing to save the Earth from destruction.  This "failure" has haunted Gideon constantly during the past year. 

Matheson visits Gideon in his quarters and points out that if Galen had come to Gideon immediately, and not wasted time fruitlessly searching for John Sheridan to do the job first, Gideon probably would have had enough time to reach the Earth before the end.  He argues that Gideon and Captain Anderson did all they could.  

Gideon replies that apparently the Psi Corps officer that recently visited gave John the permission to go poking around in his commanding officer's head.  Matheson departs Gideon's quarters under strained conditions, though later both apologize.  "But you have to understand, John," Gideon tells him gravely, "I was too slow once, and Earth paid the price. I will never be too slow again."

After visiting the telepathic alien, Galen dreams of Isabelle, his late lover, who promised to send him a message from beyond the veil, if she could.  In the dream, he hears her repeating the words "Galen" and "love," as well as a strong sense of  warning to gather the other Mages and finish the great migration soon.  He awakes in a cold sweat.

Max learns that his ex-wife has been killed on Mars.  He is overcome with grief and remorse that he ignored her calls for help.

General Lochley continues to campaign for vice-president while at the same time attempting to learn as much as she can about Senator Redway and his strange behavior.  One of his advisors, Samuel Drake, a shadowy man in dark glasses, confronts her and tells her that if she values her life and her freedom, she will do as she is told and cease her investigations.

ISN announces that the Minbari intend to withdraw from the Interstellar Alliance.  At the ISA headquarters on Babylon 5, President G'Kar expresses shock and sorrow at this news, saying that he hopes the galaxy is not now venturing down a path of sorrows rather than a path of light.

The Apocalypse Box warns Gideon to gather whatever personal forces and powers about him he can, as things in the galaxy are about to get very, very nasty.

Annotations for "The Path of Sorrows."

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DarkCrusade is the Crusade Alternate Universe story--
the complete, five-year Crusade saga, following one slight change in 2261, "the year everything changed."
Story, design, and layout by Van Allen Plexico. Send correspondence and comments to vplexico@bellsouth.net
Babylon 5 and Crusade created by J. Michael Straczynski and property of Warner Communications.