lurkers-guide/synops/057

<h3>Synopsis by Katrina Glerum (kat@midwinter.com)</h3>

<p>
The Commander and Captain are relieved to see the first Earth transport
arrive since their secession from the Earth Alliance, as they need the
trade to pay the station's operating costs.  However, their defense
needs are still uncertain since the Minbari war cruisers can't be
expected to hang around outside forever.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/post.jpeg" alt="">
The scarcity of trade isn't bad news for everybody.  The postal worker
gouging Garibaldi one hundred credits for his last care package from
Earth, is positively loving the power it gives him to set his own
rates.  In fact, the man treats Garibaldi's refusal to pay as
dismissively as the dangerous glint in his eyes.

<p>
Meanwhile on the transport, one of the passengers tosses in his bunk
with nightmares.  He stumbles down a narrow corridor between doors that
refuse to stay shut, terrified by the sights beyond them.  He runs, and
finds a shining sword standing at the end, awaiting his grasp.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/pin.jpeg" alt="">
Dr. Franklin is impressed to find that Marcus has diagnosed and perhaps
saved the lives of some sick lurkers, both because of Marcus's
perceptiveness and his concern.  When he questions further about
Rangers, he learns that the brooch they wear is a symbol of Minbari and
human souls melding into one.  But what really intrigues the doctor is
that in their training Rangers learn "about terror--how to use it, and
how to face it."

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<p>
<img align=right width=160 height=120 src="/lurk/gif/057/arrival.jpeg" alt="">
Their conversation takes them past customs just as the restless dreamer
sets off a dozen alarms by striding through the security gates wielding
a broadsword and naming himself Arthur, King of the Britons.  Marcus is
able to fast talk him into medlab where Franklin questions him about
his identity.  "Arthur" replies that his last memory is of dying on the
battlefield of Camlan, all his mighty knights dead around him, and that
before he could rest he needed his brother Bedevere to give Excalibur
back to the Lady of the Lake.  His return now to Babylon 5, he claims,
signifies that he must be most needed here and now.

<p>
When Marcus mentions Arthur in the war council, Sheridan is not
impressed, but the doctor seems almost eager to believe that the
Vorlons might have been responsible for preserving and restoring
another legend, even though the practical part of him discards the
notion.  He can't investigate for psychological trauma however
because the man has escaped medlab.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/oldwoman.jpeg" alt="">
In DownBelow Arthur finds a distraught old woman, weeping because she
has been preyed upon by ruffians, and he swears to help her.  He finds,
challenges and vanquishes a small group of villains, only to be
outnumbered again by their friends.  However, a champion emerges from
the shadows in the form of G'Kar, who has been conducting business of
his own DownBelow, and together they set things right.

<p>
Garibaldi isn't too keen on the idea of a crazy knight roaming the
station with a big sword, and tells his security to find Arthur.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/sirgkar.jpeg" alt="">
Sitting over a couple flagons of ale, G'Kar is still pumped with
enthusiasm over their victory.  He grows even more impressed as Arthur
tells him of chivalry and the purpose of the Round Table, and he
subsides in awe when Arthur dubs him Sir G'Kar, the Red Knight.

<p>
Garibaldi, on the other hand, is suffering from a lack of sufficient
awe--for the Post Office.  He breaks into the package storage room only
to find the postal worker ready and waiting to turn him away.

<p>
Arthur is lost again on the field of Camlan, telling G'Kar about the
misunderstanding that had started the battle in which his knights met
their deaths, but visions of Minbari vessels destroying Star Furies are
dancing in his head.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/league.jpeg" alt="">
Sheridan addresses ambassadors from the League of Nonaligned Worlds,
petitioning them to join an alliance to defend the station in return
for being able to use the station for trade, travel and even peace
negotiations among themselves.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/snap.jpeg" alt="">
Marcus is able to convince Arthur to return to medlab, but promptly
regrets it when he learns that Franklin has discovered the dreamer's
true identity, and intends to tell him.  When Marcus argues let the man
believe he is King of the Britons, Franklin contests that the truth
will help the man heal.  So Franklin tells "Arthur" that he is David
McIntyre, and was Gunnery Sergeant on the EAS Prometheus which opened
fire on Minbari vessels in a first contact situation and thus sparked
the Earth-Minbari war.  The memories flood back into him.  In his
fertile imagination they mix with a vision of himself trying to give
back Excalibur but being struck down from behind by a black knight, and
this knocks him into a state of catatonic shock.

<p>
The Captain is delighted to hear that enough of the League worlds are
signing on to the mutual defense treaty to keep the station in
business, but nobody's happy about what happened to "Arthur."  Franklin
is the most upset, berating himself for trying to fix everything
again.  With Marcus however he finally figures out what McIntyre came
to the station to do:  to give up the King's responsibility, the King's
pain, the King's sword, to the Lady of the Lake.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/lady.jpeg" alt="">
It is Delenn who is called upon to take up Excalibur, and thus relieve
the poor man's guilt for the war and its hundreds of thousands of
deaths.

<p>
Garibaldi pays in full for his package, but springs a little surprise
of his own on the post office.  Rent for the space the office uses is
due...and it costs one hundred and one credits.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/057/departure.jpeg" alt="">
His spirit transparently lighter, McIntyre leaves the station bound for
Narn, where G'Kar thinks he would make an excellent organizer of the
resistance movement.  Watching him depart, Marcus suggests that
Sheridan is forming a new Round Table with himself as Arthur, Kosh as
Merlin, Franklin as Percival, Marcus as Galahad, and Ivanova as Gawain.
Mordred is obvious, Marcus says, but who is Morgana Le Fey?