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lurkers-guide



								<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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								<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?