Crusade (1999) s01e09 Episode Script

And it is our firm belief that Capt.
Gideon is the right man for this job.
His reputation- We are aware of your captain's reputation.
He has taken part in more battles during peacetime than most officers face in a major war.
His latest involved one of our captains, who was justifiably upset after losing everything he owned in a card game.
Losing to you.
He bet everything he had on a bluff.
Not my fault.
General, we recognize that Earth will die unless you can find a cure for this terrible virus off world.
But we cannot allow passage through our respective areas of space until we are sure this will not lead to an incident.
Capt.
Gideon was chosen personally by President Sheridan to lead this mission.
As head of the Interstellar Alliance and the one providing us with the Excalibur- It still requires our approval.
Since you enjoy gambling, Captain, I will make a wager with you.
Agree, and we will allow you free passage in any area of our jurisdiction.
What's the bet? You say this virus will become active in five years.
At that point every man, woman, and child of your world will die, correct? Then we will give you permission to move freely for four years.
If you cannot find a cure for the virus by then you will spend the fifth year in orbit around your home world.
Why? As the day of planetary death looms closer your people will become desperate, frightened, irrational.
Many of them will try to escape from Earth.
You will stop them by personally shooting down any ship trying to leave.
- Ambassador- - We do not want your kind spreading this virus through our worlds in a blind panic.
What will it be, Captain? Will you agree to shoot down your own ships kill your own people, if you cannot find a cure in four years? Damn it, Captain! You should never have agreed to that.
You might as well have made a bet with the devil.
Look what's at stake, sir.
If I could find him, I'd bring the cards myself.
There's your ship.
A one-of-a-kind prototype.
The best ship we've got.
Good luck with her, son.
Because unless we find something at home to beat that damn virus you, and your crew, and that ship are the last best hope of Earth.
Don't screw it up.
Yes.
Dr.
Chambers here, Captain.
We've moved into the next row ofbuildings, beginning our analysis.
So far, so good.
Then I expect trouble at any minute.
You're a pessimist, Captain.
I'm a realist.
See you in 20.
Captain's personal journal continued: Our search for a cure to the Drakh plague has brought us to a dead world unlike any we've seen before.
It's more than just the strange appearance of the buildings.
Whoever lived here vanished centuries ago.
But the city is still in perfect shape, as if they had never disappeared.
It feels like the city is watching us.
But, of course, that's not possible.
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 ha ve to.
Who do you serve and who do you trust? CRUSADE 1x09 "RACING THE NIGTH" Mr.
Eilerson, when I left here last night you were working on that same hieroglyph.
I thought you would've moved on by now.
We've got a lot of ground to cover.
You don't become an archeologist because you're in a hurry, Captain.
It's a discipline of patience.
After working nonstop for the last eight hours I've been able to translate most of this section.
As far as I can tell, all of these are equations.
This one describes a whole new means for creating and conserving energy.
And that one, a new propulsion system that will double the speeds of our current starships.
And here, ways of creating new alloys that weigh almost nothing and can support tons.
Any medical information? No, not yet.
What's maddening is that all of these contain only the first part of the formula in question.
I'm sure they're continued somewhere, but I'll be damned if I know where.
I have my people searching the buildings for this particular sequence.
Mr.
Eilerson, we are on a clock here.
We have to put finding a cure to the Drakh plague above any distractions.
Distractions? Wouldn't you like to go back to Earth, not only as the savior of mankind but with a patent on a shiny new future? - The money to be made- - Is secondary to our mission.
When Interplanetary Expeditions heard that we needed a crack archeologist and linguist they gave us you.
Fair enough.
You're one of the best.
But this isn't about making a profit for IPX.
It's about saving humanity.
I didn't know the two were mutually exclusive.
Open your mind a little, Captain.
I did.
Despite growing up on Mars under the heel of Earth oppression I still want to find a cure for Earth almost as much as you do.
It's humanitarian.
Charitable.
Noblesse oblige.
- It's something- - Good for your reputation.
Good PR.
Good business is good for everyone.
IPX is a multiplanetary corporation with its own unique needs.
But out of calamity comes opportunity.
Nations rise and fall.
Planets live and die.
But corporations go on and on, through good times and bad because it's all about profit.
Captain, in here.
Your commission can wait.
If you find any formulas that relate to the medical information we need I'll turn this place upside down to help you find the rest of them.
Until then, keep moving.
Sorry to drag you away from the king of the pig people but I thought you should see this.
These are soil samples.
Wherever we go, we leave microscopic skin flakes behind.
Too small to see, but carrying our DNA imprint.
So far I've made out at least 30 different types of DNA in soil samples going back 50 years.
If we're not the first ones to find this place why is everything still intact? Usually a resource like this would be stripped bare.
I don't know.
And another thing.
Those hieroglyphs Mr.
Eilerson found why are they out in the open like that? I put my books on a shelf.
I don't take the pages and turn them into a shelf.
Could this place have been similar to the Library at Alexandria? A source of knowledge used by various races over the centuries? No.
We would've heard about it by now.
And why no sign of long-term excavations? It doesn't make sense.
All we know for sure is that this planet has been deserted for at least 1,000 years.
And the alien race that built all this disappeared almost overnight.
Could they have been killed by the same plague that hit Earth? Maybe.
Obviously something cataclysmic happened here.
But if it was a plague, where are all the bodies? There should be some sign of them.
It doesn't make sense.
Too bad Galen's not here.
He might have some ideas.
It would certainly be easier if he could stay closer to home instead of flitting off at every possible opportunity.
He's a Technomage.
They're like that.
He appears when you want him least and need him most.
By the way, where's Dureena? I didn't see her on my way in.
We're having trouble getting into some of the other vaults so I asked our resident thief and tunnel rat if she could find a way in.
Did she? I don't know.
When I looked back, she was gone and there was a Dureena-sized hole in the ground.
Another one.
- Yeah? - Dureena, you better get up here.
- But I just found- - It can wait.
One of the crew's been murdered.
Squad One, flank out and search the area.
I want a 0.
5 mile radius secured in five.
Bunch in, stick close, cover formation.
Aye, sir.
The Captain's on site.
The Doctor's with him.
- You found the body? - Yes, sir.
Nobody saw or heard anything and the only footprints we found belong to the victim.
Footprints aren't all that's missing here.
He wasn't just killed.
He was gutted.
Nearly all his internal organs are missing.
Mr.
Eilerson, when we did our preliminary scan of this planet you told me this place was deserted.
No sign of life at all.
- That's correct.
- Then how do you explain this? Clearly, Dr.
Chambers' people gave me bad information on which to base my analysis.
Garbage in, garbage out.
- Just a minute- - Yes? Excalibur here, Captain.
We're getting movement in your sector.
Identify.
Unknown.
But whatever it is, it's heading your way and it's definitely not us.
I don't think they've seen us yet.
Get to the shuttle and take off.
Tell the others to get back to the ship as soon as possible.
I'll catch up.
Where are you going? To buy you some time.
Now move it.
Over here! I want you to know, Matthew I heard that bit about my only showing up when I'm most needed and least wanted.
- Good thing for you I don't hold a grudge.
- Yes, you do.
Never contradict a Technomage when he's saving your life.
Again.
Code 2 alert.
All shuttles have cleared the ground.
Some are still en route, but most have arrived safely.
- Any other casualties? - We're doing a head count - but we think everyone got out all right.
- Don't think.
Yes, quite right.
If you wanted to think you should never have joined the military in the first place.
Bridge.
As far as we can tell all activity on the planet stopped as soon as you left.
For the time being, at least, it appears we're safe up here.
No sign of life down there? We're running the scanners at maximum, probing to a depth of 0.
5 miles.
So far, nothing.
There's something down there, Lieutenant.
There could be some kind of Automatic Defense System.
An ADS is designed to keep you from landing.
It's been quiet for two full days.
Now this.
Any thoughts, Galen? Sorry.
I was just trying to work out whether a comment from me would be "most wanted" or "least needed.
" I thought you said you don't hold a grudge.
I don't.
I have no surviving enemies.
At all.
Should we break orbit? Negative.
Whatever's down there killed at least one of our people.
We're not leaving until I know how and why so the same thing doesn't happen to the next ship to come this way.
I have to say I agree.
There's extremely valuable data down there and if we leave now, we lose everything.
Max, we don't have anything.
You said you were only able to find partial information.
Exactly my point.
I say we find out what the problem is and take care of it.
I believe that blowing it up is the usual solution to these things.
And then we go back for the rest.
And we avenge the untimely death of Crewman Varelli.
Vivisected.
Terrible way to die.
We have to have our priorities, after all.
Did you say "vivisected"? Yes, nearly all his internal organs were missing.
Now, that is interesting.
- Where are you going? - I need to get something from my ship.
Why do I always get nervous when he says that? Where's Dureena? Flight deck.
The answer is still no.
I didn't say anything.
That's the look you gave me the last time you asked me to teach you what I know.
- The answer was no then, and it is no now.
- Why? Because there is a time and a place for everything and right now is the wrong time.
You want to learn for the worst of all possible reasons: the need for revenge.
The Drakh killed my entire race.
Now they'll do the same to yours to all the humans who were on Earth when the plague was released.
And you don't want revenge? When you have reached the end of the road then you can decide whether to go to the left or right to fire or to water.
If you make those decisions before you have even set foot upon the road it will take you nowhere.
Except to a bad end.
I don't understand.
That's why I said no.
When you have grown out of your rage, then we will talk.
Not before.
The probe is away.
I've arranged to have the homunculus connection fed into here.
"Homunculus?" It's Latin.
It means a parallel version of oneself.
It's a projection, but with more substance than a hologram.
With any luck this will draw the attention of whatever is down there.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to concentrate.
Oh, my! Whatever shall I do? They've all left without me.
I knew I'd forget where we parked that shuttle.
I hope something dreadful doesn't happen to me.
Oh, look.
Something dreadful.
Stop! That hurts! Oh, the indignity of it! The horror! My liver.
I wondered where that had got to.
Not so fast! - Where is - No, not yet.
Yes.
This is pretty much what I was afraid of.
None of them escaped here, either.
What does it mean? What? Sorry, got distracted.
Lost contact.
Poor old homunculus.
Didn't have much left in him anyway.
So to speak.
Those ships.
There must have been hundreds of them from who knows how many alien races.
A graveyard for alien ships.
- A gold mine of information.
- It's a laboratory collecting specimens for examination analysis, dissection.
That would explain the partial formulas written on the walls displayed right out in the open, so we were sure to see them.
They gave us just enough so we'd stick around but never let us have the whole thing.
Cheese for the mousetrap.
And all the while they were observing us until they were ready to spring the trap.
That would explain the dozens of DNA samples I found.
And the bodies.
What bodies? The ones I found underground.
Some were fairly intact, others were just in bits and pieces.
Doctor, you were wondering what happened to the original inhabitants of this world.
There's your answer.
No, these bodies were all different.
No two alike.
They were visitors, same as us.
Why did you wait until now to mention this? Because there is a right time and a wrong time for everything.
I was just waiting for the right time.
Besides, by the time I found the bodies the crewman was dead and the attack was on.
It wouldn't have changed anything.
It is wrong to withhold information.
Yes, it is, isn't it? I don't know what's between you two, and right now I don't care.
- You said you found bodies? - Yes.
What else did you find? An underground cavern with a generator.
Some kind of control center.
It was fully functional and big.
How big? Big enough that I couldn't see the end of it.
We've got a lock, sir.
Once Dureena gave us the location of the power matrix we were able to focus our scanners and pick up the electromagnetic traces.
It looks like they've sunk relays directly into the planetary core to draw power.
What are these? These appear to be the artificial caverns.
They're miles beneath the planet's surface.
We're reading lights, atmosphere, other power sources.
- Is there anyone alive down there? - Unknown.
We could probe further but if we do, whatever's down there could pick up the scan.
We could trigger a response.
- Noted.
Increase scan.
- Aye, sir.
Increase scan.
Getting life signs.
Faint.
Almost not there.
But, Captain, those are alien life forms.
Billions of them.
They appear to be in some kind of cryonic life support.
We've figured out where everybody went, but why- We're getting movement on the surface.
Oh, hell.
- Clear the bridge.
Battle stations.
- Aye, sir.
All hands to battle stations.
Confirm incoming.
- Get us out of here.
Maximum burn.
- Aye, sir.
Maximum burn.
We're not moving.
We're being held in some kind of enhanced gravity field.
They don't want us leaving with what we know.
Too bad we don't know anything.
- Status of hostiles.
- Closing fast.
Launch Fighters.
Give me a lock on the gravity field source.
Primary and secondary weapons array online.
- Fighters taking up defensive positions.
- Forward guns, stand by.
We've got a lock on the source of that gravity field.
- Dispatch assault team.
- Aye, sir.
Here they come.
Weapons array, stand by to fire.
Fire at will.
Target locked.
Weapons hot.
Fighters report they've hit the target.
Minimal damage.
Coming around for a second - We - What is it? Gravimetric force is increasing.
We're losing orbit, being pulled down toward the planet.
If we don't shut that thing down, we'll crash and burn in the atmosphere.
Engines are at maximum thrust but the gravimetric force continues to pull us towards the planet.
Ten minutes until we hit the atmosphere.
Turn us about so we're facing the planet.
Bring the main guns online.
Sir, firing the main guns takes up all available power except gravity and life support.
We'll be dead in space for at least a minute afterwards.
I read the driver's manual, Lieutenant.
Aye, sir.
Coming about.
Ship's taking another pass at the city.
Standing by to fire main guns as soon as they're clear.
Aye, sir.
Main guns powered up and standing by.
We've got a shot at it.
Strike one to Excalibur.
We're clear.
- Fire.
- Firing main guns, aye.
Power loss, 53 seconds to rebuild.
Routing all power reserves to life support and gravity control.
- Did we hit it? - We'll know in 45 seconds.
I thought I told you to stay below decks.
Yes, it'll be so much safer below decks if the ship burns up in the atmosphere.
If I'm going to die, I'd rather do so in a room with a view.
If it comes to that, you have your own ship.
A ship built by Technomages could probably get through a gravimetric field.
You could leave.
Ten years ago, I rescued a certain stray cat.
That brings with it a degree of obligation.
Can't exactly go wandering off every time he gets stuck up a tree, can I? Engines are back online.
Gravimetric force is decreasing.
Engines are having an effect.
We're rising again.
Good.
Tell the Fighters to- - What the hell is that? - We're being scanned.
Point of origin, 5 miles beneath the planet's surface.
- Downloading our data and language files.
- What's our status? Squad leader reports that enemy ships have stopped.
Holding position in local space.
It's as if they're waiting for something.
Picking up a transmission.
Get Eilerson up here.
We may need a linguist.
My name is Matthew Gideon.
I'm Captain of the starship Excalibur.
Can you understand me? I have absorbed your language files.
My name is Kulan.
I am keeper of this world for this generation.
You attacked my ship, killed members of my crew.
Why? It was necessary.
It is the responsibility of each keeper in each generation to run the tests on those who discover our world.
What kind of tests? It is better if I show you.
Touch the recorder.
You watching? Always.
A thousand years ago, the dark ones came for us.
They desired to create a base on our world.
We refused.
They decided to punish us.
They released a poison into our atmosphere a virus that infected all our people.
A virus that would kill all in five years.
And then they turned and left as though we were already dead.
Then you encountered the same virus that hit our world.
Yes.
That is why I decided to contact you.
I saw in your records that your world has suffered a similar fate.
But this is 1,000 years later.
You must have found some way to beat the plague- No.
You never found a cure, did you? - What are you talking about? - The tests, Matthew.
Dissecting anyone who comes here.
Luring the people of other worlds to study them.
You are still looking for a cure.
We struggled for three years to defeat the plague and failed.
We had few ships capable of star flight not enough to look elsewhere for our cure, as you are doing.
So we went to sleep.
Those must have been the cryonic tubes that we saw on the scanners.
By freezing an infected person you freeze the virus so it can't advance until you thaw it out again.
They must have placed their whole culture in cryonic freeze.
Set the machines in place to conduct biological tests on anyone who came by.
It makes sense.
It's perfectly logical, reasonable.
As these things go.
I wouldn't call the systematic murders of innocent civilians logical or reasonable.
It was our hope that one of those who came to our world would have encountered the virus and found a cure or was naturally immune.
You can't murder someone because it's a convenient form of testing.
These who died are only a fraction of the billions of our people who sleep waiting for a cure.
Would you sacrifice 100 lives to save your 10 billion? If 100, why not 1,000? - Why not 10,000? - There are other ways.
Yes.
And there we believe we can help.
We will continue to conduct the tests here and give you access to anything we find if you will send others to us and help us should you find a cure yourselves.
If they're going to conduct their tests there's no reason why we can't share the data.
It's not like we're doing it ourselves.
Yes.
It's cleaner that way, isn't it? Gideon, wouldn't you gladly sacrifice a few hundred Narns to save Earth? Lieutenant are those enemy ships still within firing range? Aye, sir.
I want them out of my sky.
Aye, sir.
No deal.
If we find a cure, we'll bring it here.
No charge.
And then we'll make sure that you and your people are brought to account for everyone you murdered with your tests.
- If you find it before your own people die.
- We will.
- You'll see us again, I promise.
- No, I don't think so, Matthew.
You spoke about being the keeper for this generation.
How long does a generation last? As I said we tried for three years to find a cure, before we began the great sleep.
But one of us must remain awake at all times to maintain the machines and monitor the tests.
So every two years, one of us is awakened only to die of the virus two years later.
Five hundred of us so far have died in this service.
My remaining lifespan is six months.
I'll never know if you find a cure, but if you do remember us.
I will as an example of what we should never do ourselves.
You speak well now.
Let us see how proud you are in three years.
Goodbye, Captain.
Security team, stand down.
The intruder has left the ship.
I don't know.
All things considered, I think they offered us a pretty fair deal.
Lieutenant, recall the Fighters.
Take us away from here.
I mean, sure, we could have negotiated a little bit more improved some of the deal points but there was a basis for something reasonable.
Shut up, Max.
And we've narrowed down the prospects for your next target world based on reports of advanced architecture rumors of highly sophisticated dead cultures and a fair amount of guesswork.
These are the coordinates.
All right, I'II look these over and have a decision for you in a couple of hours.
That's all.
You're going to leave again, aren't you? You have that look.
So where do you go when you leave? Walking to and fro in the Earth, and up and down in it.
Job.
In the end, it's all the story of Job, isn't it? Some days, it feels like our faith is being tested, same as his.
Where do you put your faith, Matthew? In science? Your luck? This ship? I haven't decided.
Then if this is the story of Job a great deal of people are being inconvenienced for your benefit.
Hope you appreciate it.
By the way, I understand the planet we have just left was not on the list of targets provided by the Rangers.
How did you come to choose that one? I have my sources.
Yes, I'm sure you have.
Deck 12.
You made a good point before the fight.
If I am withholding information, I can hardly blame you for doing the same.
But the answer is still no.
For now.
- Then there's hope.
- There is always hope.
Only because it's the one thing no one has figured out how to kill yet.
You say that because you haven't seen what I've seen.
Perhaps.
Perhaps I have seen more than you can imagine.
When will you come back? In the fullness of time.
Expect me when you see me.
The last choice was not a good one.
There was change a long time ago.
Maybe.
Maybe you're still holding back.
So where to next?