Babylon 5: Outrageous Fortune

Denouement

A few days later, the Fortune is docked at Renashaa Transfer Station in Abbai-space. The clean, white, brightly lit and quiet corridors contrast sharply to the packed grime of Tribon.

You are met by the crew of Whitestar 96, captained by a Minbari ranger called Linnmer, where Raive is taken to be debriefed. Sethyk is tended in the Abbai med-labs, recovering slowly from his injuries. Sarhat and Kevin are alos almost recovered from their wounds incurred in the mission.

"I've got your new orders," says Linnmer to Sarhat. "As well as a possible change in personnel, there is someone on this station that Dr. Franklin is very interested in. It seems this individual has shown incredible resilience to disease, and has promised to help Dr. Franklin in his research, in exchange for some kind of.. cultural favour."

He turns to the door as it slides open. An abbai enters, accompanied by another alien. An alien whose race was supposed to have been wiped out by a virulent plague in 2259. A markab.

Sarhat bows slightly to the Ranger and greets him. "Shak-Na. We will continue to serve." He looks on as the strange alien walks in and wonders about this "cultural favour".

"Before going on, I had a favour to ask." He says to Linnmer. "As a Minbari you certainly understand my disdain for these plasma weapons. If your ship has a stock of Minbari pistols, I would like to requisition one as this would benefit the mission."

Ashley is surprised for a moment, but quickly recovers and steps forward to meet the markab.

"Hello there. I'm Ashley Logan. It's good to meet you. Thanks very much for agreeing to this."

She glances at Linnmer. "Whatever 'this' is," she directs at the Minbari, just pointedly enough to remind him that Sarhat isn't the only person in the room.

OOC:

Pausing the action for the moment to see if Leif gets his character sorted, as now is a good time for a change in personnel.

Plus a bump after the outage.

Episode Two: The Art of Survival

Renashaa Transfer Station, Abbai Space.

"Ranger Cole is being transferred," Linmer had said. "We have a replacement for him, a human volunteer. This is Kirth Warren, assigned from Earthforce. Ms. Maupassant has deemed his skillsket to be suitable for your needs." The religious caste Minbari gave a slight inclination of his head as the newcomer stepped forwards.

[OOC: Leif, chance for you to introduce your character].

Later, a small group convenes in a conference room near Renashaa Station's main medlab. Present are Sarhat, Ashley Logan, Vurk, Kirth Warren, Linmer and two others. An abbai medic and the markab known as Cheshana.

"Ms. Logan," says the markab. "You ask what this is I ask. I tell you. My people are dead, almost all of them. A small some of us survive. We remember those gone, we build shrine to them when we find place where our people are been."

"One ship of my people, the Lashaiaj, is lost for long time. It miss transfer jump when, we think, crew die of ... drafa." The markab has difficulty bringing himself to say the name of the plague that wiped out his people. "Now I find it. On board ship is great religious leader, have with him important holy relic. I need ship to find our ship and get relic, to put in shrine of memory." He turns to Linmer.

"President Sheridan declared any Markab ruin or derelict to be a protected site. Any interference is illegal. Now, we have a legal problem here. We can't simply pick the ship up due to ISA law, and to do so would require permission from the markab government, which doesn't exist any more. Cheshana here can grant us permission to board the Lashaiaj under his supervision, but we will have to leave the ship where it lies."

The abbai speaks up. "There are striking similarities between drafa and the disease that affects your people, and there is a possibility that drafa was engineered by the Shadows as well. Cheshana here has natural resistance and has volunteered to let us study him, in return for this assistance."

"I do not want to see your people die," says Cheshana. "But you must understand, this is very important to what is left of my people. Many think your disease is because you are immoral. I know your people do much to help many races, but they ask this favour of you to test."

The abbai medic turns to Vurk. "Dr. Vurk, your species are known to be susceptible to drafa, so I have managed to procure enough doses of Franklin's Serum to help boost your...um... chlorocyte levels enough to help you withstand the disease, since there is a risk of exposure."

"Any questions?" asks Linmer.

[SBLOCK=OOC]
Jumped a little from the last few posts.

Sarhat is granted a Minbari laser for use.

From the previous adventure, Sethyk is recovering in the station medlab. The Q40 has been loaded on board Whitestar 96, as have Raive Timogen and Kevin Cole for debriefing. Linmer also requests that the Shadow tech item be handed over for further study.
[/sblock]

Introduction of Kirth Warren

Kirth has an extremely unassuming appearance. He is dressed in an oil-stained tech/mechanic's coverall with a glittering Earthforce insignia on the left breast. (The oil stains miraculously seem to be allergic to the portion of his coverall that bears the insignia.) He wears a moderately-sized satchel over his shoulder, presumably containing his tools. He looks as if he's been awake for several days straight, and he is sporting what looks to be three days' growth of beard in support of that. He briefly and half-heartedly salutes the officers present. "Kirth Warren's the name. Happy to be on the team. If anyone has anything that needs fixing, just leave it on top of the pile and I'll get to it when I get to it."

Kirth Warren

[Back to the action at hand....]

"Yeah, I have a question. [OOC: Kirth pauses significantly.] Sir. Um, what precautions are planned to see that we don't contract this disease? Presumably, the ship's entire crew succumbed to it, so I'm thinking that all of the atmosphere and 99% of the surfaces in the crew compartment are fully contaminated. While I'm sure that we all want to improve relations with the Minbari, I'm equally sure that we don't want to sacrifice ourselves in the process. While I understand that this is a disease of another race or species, it is apparently quite similar to an affliction of humans and who knows whether it could easily make the jump from one race to another?"

[sblock=prickly bast***, isn't he?]Yeah, that's right, Kirth has a +1 mod for charisma. Hard to believe isn't it? It may take me a little while to find Kirth's 'voice', but what I'm going for now is the Engineer from "The Hunt for Red Oktober," if anyone remembers him, except that Kirth isn't a chain-smoker. Gets along famously with the crew and the Captain depite (or, perhaps, because of) his irreverent nature, keeps to himself, mostly, and doesn't stand on ceremony at all.[/sblock]

Sarhat stood there silently, listening to the briefing and considering the mission. Boarding a derelict ship, possibly exposing themselves to a deadly virus. Sounded dangerous but he was ready to serve.

The abbai doctor nods her head in understanding.

"Well, Mr. Warren. First of all, it does not seem that drafa affects humans or minbari. The disease has been present on, for example, Babylon 5 station for over seven years now with no other races beyond the pak'ma'ra being affected. It is known only to strike races who synthesise neurotransmitters in circulating cells, not, as the case of all our species, with the exception of Dr. Vurk, within the nerve cells themselves.

"However, I appreciate your caution. We will give you all a full medical check before and after your return, in addition we have some isolation suits available for you to use. Since we have had little time to prepare," she glances at Linmer and rubs her crest, "they will have to be of Abbai design. They will fit you, but you may find them, um, a little tight."

Kirth Warren

Kirth gives the doctor's assurance a curt nod, but his downcast eyes and grim expression suggest that he is not totally comfortable with these precautions (or lack thereof).