Crusade (1999) s01e02 Episode Script

- It's here again.
- It can't be.
I am telling you, man, it is out there.
I just saw it with my own eyes.
Get on the link.
Tell them it's back.
Tell them to send troops, ships, anybody with a gun.
We need help.
- Good morning, Lieutenant.
- Captain, you're up early.
Couldn't sleep.
Figured I'd get some exercise in.
Helps clear the mind, calm the spirit.
Damn, did you see that? That's the third time, in and out.
That hoop is defective, man! Cheap, lousy piece of I believe you were saying something about calming the spirit? Complaining about the court is part of the game, John.
So what's up? We've just been contacted by an Earthforce ship in the area.
Apparently, they're trying to bring in materials that will help fight the plague back home.
They're having trouble with the locals, and they'd like us to help out.
I'm always happy to lend a hand.
- What's the location? - Regula 4.
I've heard of it.
It's a low-tech planet.
Mostly farmers, no military to speak of.
No starships.
What could possibly be causing them trouble? Team 4, sitrep.
Repeat.
Team 4, situation report.
Do you have the target in sight? Matthew Gideon, Captain.
Attached to the Earth Alliance starship, Excalibur.
To find a cure to the Drakh plague before it wipes out all life on Earth.
Anywhere I have to.
Who do you serve and who do you trust? - Morning, Matthew.
- Galen.
Interesting reading? I just got a report from the Medusa stationed on Regula 4.
These guys must be either drunk or crazy or both.
- I shouldn't be at all surprised.
- Get this.
They report seeing a dragon.
- What? - A dragon.
Big as a skyscraper.
Breathing fire and all that? Supposedly, yes, but they haven't found any damage.
Can't be much of a dragon.
Did they say what color it was? - Red, green, black? - Gold.
With red eyes.
Why? No reason, just curious.
- I'll go and get ready to meet them, then.
- I haven't invited you yet.
You will.
So what have we got? Regula 4 is a human colony established 90 years ago by a separatist movement.
They've abandoned technology in favor of an agrarian society.
Hand tools, wood stoves, domesticated animals.
They're practically medieval.
Sounds quite charming, actually.
So we figured there wouldn't be a problem completing the mission come, take what we need, and go.
But unfortunately, it hasn't exactly worked out like that.
We don't know what's going on there - so if you could help us - You said "take what you need.
" What are you taking? Better let the Captain explain that part.
A preliminary survey of the planet three years ago revealed that humans on Regula 4 had an average life span of 15 years beyond Earth normal.
There appears to be a mineral in their water supply that counteracts most viruses sort of a natural antiviral agent.
We always intended to investigate it further but when the Drakh plague hit Earth our schedule was moved up.
We arrived a couple of months ago and began mining to remove as much of the mineral as possible for shipment back to Earth.
The tests at home were apparently very positive so we were ordered to speed up the process.
You're strip-mining the place.
We're being more aggressive, yes.
There's too much at stake not to.
And that's where the problem started.
Lieutenant.
This is a list of the problems we've experienced over the past six weeks.
The control circuits on half a dozen shuttles were completely fused shortly after landing on Regula 4.
A12-ton cargo transport disappeared entirely from our planetside base for two days.
When it reappeared we discovered that the engines had been removed and replaced with a substance resembling peanut butter.
Don't let the pranks fool you.
We are dealing with terrorists here.
As to how they're doing what they do, it's completely beyond us.
We've doubled security, we've put cameras all over the place but we just can't catch them in the act.
- Has anyone been hurt? - No, not yet.
But it's only a matter of time before that happens.
You've seen some pretty strange stuff out there, Captain.
Any thoughts? We need firsthand information before we can make any recommendations.
I say we go down to the planet, see the situation for ourselves.
I agree, but just the two of us.
No security teams, no troops.
I advise against that.
They're not exactly happy to have us here.
If you two go alone, we can't guarantee your safety.
We can look after ourselves and I have reason to believe that we won't be in any danger.
Would you like to share that reason with me? No, not yet.
Not until I'm sure.
We'll need a change of clothes for Matthew a map of the main village, and some local currency.
Are you coming, Matthew? You know something about this, don't you? Perhaps.
And if I'm right, it's definitely something you should see.
- And if you're wrong? - That hardly seems likely, does it? Well, Galen, we're here.
What now? This is an inn.
We're new in town.
I suggest you buy us a drink.
You're enjoying this, aren't you? - Immensely.
- Swell.
Hi.
Hello.
- What's your name? - Go on back, Claire.
Told you before about talking to strangers.
Yes, Father.
Evening.
We just got into town.
We're bringing some cattle to market.
Thought we'd stop and wash some of the dust out of our throats.
You came to the right place.
What'll it be? I got fliskey, dry and wet lauderales, tunies, lister, and bark.
What will this buy? The inn.
All of it.
Then I'll just have a couple of tunies.
How much longer are we supposed to wait here? Until something happens.
What if nothing happens? Something always happens.
See? Something I can do for you? Yeah.
Get out of our village.
- We were just - I said get the hell out! We don't want your kind around here.
Leave them alone! They belong to me! You know these two, Alwyn? I employ many different people to bring me information from the border.
These two came to see me.
I told them to expect a warm and friendly welcome.
You've made a liar out of me.
We thought they were outsiders.
They tried to pay for their drinks with this.
Yes, that was supposed to be a signal to me that they had arrived.
They obviously gave it to the wrong person.
I really don't know what to do with them some days.
Intruders everywhere, our way of life hanging in the balance you would think that sometimes they would be bothered to attend staff conferences, wouldn't you? Still, I suppose that is inevitable when you are dealing with the outer villages, isolated like that.
Pretty soon the gene pool turns into a stagnant pond.
This is what you get.
Thank you.
Hello, Alwyn.
It's good to see you again.
And you, Galen.
How did you find me? A gold dragon? You used to pull that one out for children at parties.
You might as well have put up a sign with your name on it.
Yes.
It's a classic.
Classics never grow old, do they? The fear reaction to that image, you know, is hereditary.
It is ingrained in our DNA.
It's archetypal, it's Jungian, it's It's just that I do like dragons especially golden ones.
Nobody does dragons any more, do they? Pity.
Too showy, I suppose.
Who is this? - Matthew Gideon.
- This is the captain of the Excalibur.
It's all right.
We can trust him.
Galen, I am the one who is being betrayed.
How do I know I can trust him? You know me, Alwyn.
I would never do anything to harm you.
I just think we should talk.
Yes, follow me.
Now mind the bowls.
It's a vegetable chowder made by Mrs.
Simms just down the road.
It stays blisteringly hot for at least half an hour after it's drawn from the pot.
Don't know how she does it.
Defies at least two of the laws of thermodynamics.
I just can't decide which of the two it is.
I take it from that little display at the inn that you're a Technomage, same as Galen? I was once a member of that order, yes.
Since you are here, am I to assume that the others have decided at last to come out of hiding? No, not yet.
I came back a little early.
Booted you out, did they? - Something like that.
- Good lad.
Hope for you yet which is more than could be said of the others.
You said you were a Technomage.
You left? No.
They did.
Just as the Shadow War was gearing up they decided it would be a jolly good idea if we all left and went somewhere else rode out the war in some safe place where we couldn't be found.
Rank cowardice, if you ask me.
Which they didn't.
It was always painfully surprising to me that you went along with them.
I followed my teacher.
- I believed I had an obligation.
- You did.
What a pity you confused the one with the other.
I take it that you're responsible for some of the problems that our ships have been having lately.
- I keep busy.
- Why? You say you have an obligation to help people? The resources on this planet can be a huge help back home maybe even slow down the plague and save lives.
So why this campaign of terror? Terror? Do you want to see what a campaign of terror really looks like? Do you? Come with me.
Machines work day and night tearing the heart out of this place.
The mineral they're after is a natural antiviral agent that has been filtered through ground water over the centuries and the only places you can find it are in the most fertile of our lands with a nearby supply of clean water.
All of which is being destroyed by this little operation of yours.
We tried to convince them to mine elsewhere away from the village, but they would not listen.
Because this is where the greatest concentration of the mineral can be found.
This is where it is easier to dig out.
All in the name of speed and efficiency and damn everyone here who is affected by it.
These people here have been displaced.
They have lost their homes.
- Can't they go elsewhere? - Where can they go? They work the land.
They have farms, livestock, crops.
You cannot just back in a truck and shift it all away.
We have no cities here.
We have no emergency relocation camps.
You push them out of here and come the ice and snow, they will starve, they will die.
Have you tried talking to Capt.
Daniels, telling him about it? Tried, failed.
He won't listen.
Why should he? I mean, what are a few lives here compared with billions back at home? I have tried to make it more trouble than it is worth for them to stay here.
It is not working.
They call you a terrorist.
Do they really? And I am flattered.
The truth is that I am more of an annoyance than a terrorist.
I would rather work this out peacefully, but with each passing day that becomes more and more improbable.
One day, this will turn to violence and when that happens your kind will come here with ships and guns and bombs.
And there is nothing here that can stop them.
Wrong.
I will be here.
I will be waiting for them.
These people have given me a home.
They come to me with their problems, with their questions and I try to help them.
I am part-time wise man, part-time jester, part-time soldier part-time whatever the moment requires.
They are decent people, and I have an obligation to them.
Galen, you know what I can do.
So far, I have held back.
But if they come with guns they will leave in boxes.
Try it and you're dead.
Come on, get them in here! Quickly.
We don't want to kill you, but we will if we have to.
Do you understand? - Good.
- Yes.
Move them out.
Let's go.
Hurry up.
- Where is your friend? - Outside.
He has to check in with the Excalibur every few hours otherwise they get nervous.
And he didn't want me to overhear him.
If I didn't know any better, I would think he didn't trust me.
He doesn't trust easily or often.
I'm surprised he trusts me.
Almost as surprised as he is about it.
How is Elric? He must not have been happy about you coming back.
He passed beyond just after we reached the hiding place.
I'm sorry.
I didn't know that.
We disagreed about Well, about almost everything, really.
But he was a good man.
He taught you well.
When he took me in after my father died I spent most of my life being afraid of him because he was tall and powerful and that voice.
And because I was afraid that I might lose him, too just as I'd lost my father.
I sometimes wonder what either of them would think about how things have turned out.
I think they would have been very proud of you.
You've become your own man make your own decisions speak your own mind.
There is much of your father in you although you will go beyond him, I think which is what he would want.
It is what all fathers want for their sons, is it not? Speaking of making decisions since you are here, you could help me with all this.
These people are good people.
Rash, unpredictable, annoying at times but surprisingly decent.
They would give you a home.
You wouldn't have to go wandering through space anymore.
You could stay on here after I have gone and help guide them.
I go my own way, Alwyn.
I always have.
I cannot be responsible for others.
Galen, there's been a problem.
What's happened? A dozen or so workers at the mining operation have been taken hostage.
They're saying unless the ships leave and the mining stops, the hostages will be killed.
Just like I told Capt.
Gideon - you can't trust these people.
- No, sir.
We'll take care of that for good.
A message needs to be sent, and it's time that we sent it.
- Tell your attack squad they may proceed.
- Aye, sir.
- You'll be going with them.
- Sir? Need a command presence down there, Lieutenant.
It's good for the men to see.
Besides, as far as we can tell, they have no heavy weaponry.
- It'll be a skeet shoot.
- Yes, of course.
But I thought, perhaps, you would prefer to go yourself.
And horn in on your action? Not a chance.
Promotion only comes from combat experience, Lieutenant and it's time that you got some.
I'll see you when the dust clears.
Good hunting.
Lieutenant? It's a hologram.
Got to be.
Haven't had any damage yet from this thing.
Keep on going.
Like I said, just smoke and mirrors.
Continue on to the target.
Alwyn, listen to me.
This isn't a clean fight any more.
Your people have taken hostages.
You know that's wrong.
I told you if they come with guns and ships I will stop them.
If you protect these people, you're an accomplice.
If anyone gets killed, this whole situation escalates beyond the control of you or me or anybody else.
No one will be able to pull it back from the edge.
Is that what you want? Is it? No turning back at this stage.
Catastrophic mistake if we do that.
No, I strongly disagree.
All right, everyone move it! Up against the wall! Now! - You over there! - You! Get down! - Move it! - I said get down now! No! Leave him alone! Get her away from here.
Don't touch her! - Any weapons? - No, sir.
All right, people.
You and I are gonna have a little talk and you are gonna tell me where you're holding my people and maybe I'll let you go and maybe I won't, depending on how fast I get some answers.
Leave them alone.
Get out of the way, old man.
Don't mess with things you don't understand.
That's funny.
We were about to tell you the same thing.
Just more tricks.
Holograms.
They can't hurt you.
Shoot it! Nicely done.
Your own design? They're holodemons.
I made a few modifications to the original program.
Popped in a few synthetics into the basic design.
They don't last for more than an hour but then, generally speaking, you don't need them for more than that.
No, that's usually sufficient.
- The teeth are a very nice touch.
- Do you think so? Not too big? No, I think they're just about right.
Yes, I suppose you're right.
Sir, I've got Lt.
Meyers on the line.
Very good.
Put him through.
So, Lieutenant, do you have the hostages? No, sir.
Actually, we've been captured also.
- Well done, Alwyn.
- Thank you.
And nobody killed, I will point out.
Bashed, beaten, and bit, but still alive.
An admirable restraint on my part, I feel.
I told them we could count on you when it started to come down and now Now we will release the prisoners and the hostages as a show of good faith.
Alwyn, these are the only bargaining tools we have.
You can't ask us to let them go, not now.
We can beat them, Alwyn.
You can't hope to win against a superior force like this.
Sooner or later, they will beat you.
You have to be reasonable.
We don't have to be reasonable, not as long as we have him.
- You all right? - No.
- I don't feel - Claire? - What's wrong with her? - I don't know.
She's been pale and tired all week and getting worse.
I wanted to bring her to you, Alwyn but with so much going on, she didn't want to be a bother.
It's more than a bother.
She is dying.
I've done all I can.
It may not be enough.
She needs more than I can do here.
What's wrong? It's the antiviral compound.
The mining has sent tons of it into the sky as dust.
The winds blow it across the village.
Your house is the nearest to the mine.
She has gone out into the open far often than you have.
She is therefore the first to be affected by it.
Affected by what? If we've been drinking it for years, why is it a problem now? You have all grown up ingesting this compound at a slow rate.
You've adapted yourselves to it.
Indeed, you can take in a certain amount of it on a daily basis.
However, because you are saturated with it, this dust constitutes an overdose.
A deadly one.
That's it, then.
If we tell Capt.
Daniels this, he'll have to stop.
You think he will? He will say it's a trick.
He will say this disease has nothing whatsoever to do with the mining operation.
Then let me try and convince him.
I'll have Dr.
Chambers do a full workup on her.
If we can prove what you say, he'll have to listen and Medbay has the equipment we'll need to save her.
Do what you have to.
Just save her.
But Alwyn's right.
They won't listen.
We've got to do things our way.
A life for a life.
Don't be a fool.
Oh, dear.
This was such a nice, quiet planet.
All right.
I'll have the Excalibur send down a shuttle.
We'll take her up, see what we can do.
Alwyn, talk to your people.
Get them to calm down before this situation unravels any further.
Yes, I will.
One thing.
If we're planning to appeal to the better angels of their nature we better have a backup plan in case reason is not sufficient to the cause.
- I should go with you.
- No.
They are my people.
I will talk with them.
You wait here.
No, don't get up.
I might be tempted to force you back down again.
Hard.
I have lived amongst you for almost 12 years.
I've always been very proud to call you my friends until now.
Now I am ashamed.
- Alwyn - I have not finished.
The taking of hostages is a weapon of choice for a coward and the criminal.
Which are you? They're the only weapons we have.
We were fools to live like this.
To throw away our guns, our machines.
We could fight.
- We could beat them - You would lose.
Those who came before you chose this life because it was better than the one they had, and they were right.
If you choose their weapons you become no better than they are.
You choose their tactics and you will lose your way of life.
Everything that made this a fine and decent place in which to live you will lose it.
We won't give up the hostages.
- If you try to take them from us by force - Force? I would not use force against you.
I still have some understanding of honorable behavior.
So you give me no choice no room for maneuver.
I must settle this in my own way and you will all bear the consequences.
Dr.
Chambers has just finished her preliminary analysis of the woman's condition.
Her diagnosis confirms what Alwyn said.
In a matter of weeks, you could end up killing everyone within 20 miles of the mining operation.
Captain, this is no time for hysterics.
I'd like to get a second opinion.
We'll send her off to a medical facility closer to home That'll take weeks.
We don't have that kind of time.
You must shut down the operation and move it elsewhere away from the people down there.
That could cost us a hell of a lot of time and money.
We have a perfectly fine operation here.
We're not about to change it now.
I assure you, this will be gone into at the proper time once the current crisis has been resolved.
Sir, I have Galen on the line.
I'll get back to you, Captain.
Put him through.
Galen, what's the situation? Not good, Matthew.
There's been a most disturbing development.
Sorry for the interruption, but we've just had some news.
As you probably know by now, there's a Technomage down there who is responsible for most of what's going on.
We'll take care of him when the time comes.
You may not have that chance.
Looks like he's preparing to deal with you first.
I'm sending you the feed on one of our planetary scanners.
A Technomage has access to extremely powerful forces.
That makes them dangerous enough to begin with but now he plans to amplify those forces a hundred times over.
He's taken over the mine and has evacuated all personnel.
He's going to use the curvature of the mine the same way you use a satellite dish to concentrate a signal.
It'll amplify the forces that he's calling up beyond anything that we've seen so far.
What can he possibly do from down there? He can destroy your ship, Captain.
He can shoot it out of the sky.
- I don't believe it.
- Believe it, Captain.
Look again.
You have to stop him.
Gideon, we don't have the facilities to knock down a planetary target in time to stop him, but you do.
- Captain - Damn it, Gideon! Do you want the blood of every person who dies aboard this ship on your hands? Ready main guns to fire.
Main guns locked on, ready to fire.
Fire.
Dr.
Chambers says your daughter's out of critical.
Last I heard, she was demanding a shuttle or there'd be hell to pay.
That's her.
She's a tiger under all that silence.
Takes after her mother that way, rest her soul.
Now that the mining operation is being glassed over they have to move somewhere else.
It'll be hard without cooperation, and a lot of people back home will die without the kind of help that they can get here.
But I guess that's not your problem.
We released the hostages.
They can take them back any time.
And tell them we'll help them find another location for the mining operation.
Someplace safe.
I'm sure Capt.
Daniels will appreciate that.
He's certainly been in a more conciliatory mood since he realized he would need your help to find another location.
- I should be going.
- Before Alwyn died the last living thing he said to us He said he was ashamed of us, and he was right.
So we have to do something, make things right somehow honor his memory.
Well, it's a start.
Me, I always figure it's better to honor someone's opinion while they're still alive to appreciate it and you can still appreciate what you've got.
Yeah, we didn't appreciate him not the way we should have.
And he was always here for us.
We didn't listen when we should have.
Now he's gone.
I'm sorry.
Is it me, or are the mornings getting colder? You cut that one awfully close.
It wasn't as bad as it looked.
You should know by now that when we revolve nothing is as it seems.
So what will you do now? Move on, I suppose.
It was inevitable.
The minute I heard him say that they didn't need to be reasonable as long as I was around I knew that I'd stayed too long, allowed them to rely on me too much.
It is time they came into their own began making their own decisions and creating their own magic learning by their own mistakes.
That glassed-over monument to stupidity I hope, will be a constant reminder of the lessons they have learned here today.
- Won't it be hard to move on? - Yes.
It is always hard to move on.
On the other hand in 10 or 20 years, this will become a legend.
Some people won't even believe that I ever existed.
I don't think I mind that.
Not at all, really.
It's what we all want, isn't it? To become something larger than ourselves to enter living memory have them talk about us when we've gone.
May as well.
They talk about us enough when we're living.
I have overstayed my welcome here.
The long road beckons.
It's time I got back on it see where it leads me this time.
There is the whole universe.
I would like to see some more of it before the darkness comes.
Well, I'll miss you.
It's been nice to have someone from home to talk to.
You can't fool me, Galen.
You are home.
You just don't realize it yet.
I will see you on the other side.
I didn't see you say goodbye.
There was no need.
I was thinking, with Alwyn leaving his job open these people could use someone like you.
Once the mission's over you could come back here, have yourself a home.
I have a home.