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								  Synopsis by Katrina Glerum (kat@midwinter.com)


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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."


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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.


								   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?


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								      [15]Last update: November 9, 1997


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