BPP Crusade 111 – The Needs of Earth

The Babylon Project Podcast

This would have been the third episode to air if JMS had his way., but we’re seeing it as the eleventh episode. Once again, we talk about things seem disconnected here (such as the relationship between Max and Dureena) based on “earlier” episodes, – but they really aren’t. One thing all three of us intend to do at some point is go back and rewatch the series in the order originally intended.

Consistent with Babylon 5, this story deals with a fairly common theme involving the use of moral authority, stated in this case by Captain Gideon as the friction between what is right (legal) and what is moral. As we’re “early” in the Crusade storyline, we see a Ranger come to Gideon and present him with a possible lead toward a cure. An individual from a planet called Praxis 9 has copied thousands of years of his (somewhat closed, or relatively unknown) culture’s information, apparently everything that’s important, and has fled in order to sell it to the right buyer for the right price. The fugitive was subsequently captured and his people have sent a ship to recover him. The Excalibur is closer, and if the determination is made that there might be scientific/medical value useful for curing the virus on Earth, the Excalibur could attempt to get there before the Praxis vessel, directly interfering with another race by taking custody of the fugitive then hopefully convincing him to release the information to Earth. The Ranger points out to Gideon that Praxis 9 is technically outside the jurisdiction of the Alliance, so in addition to violating the Alliance directive not to interfere with other races, risk exists in that if the mission is discovered and is attributable to an Alliance ship, the Alliance will disavow any knowledge. This would leave the crew of Excalibur at the mercy of the legal system of the Moradi race. Gideon has to make a decision whether or not he and the crew should do something illegal for the greater good (or needs of) Earth. He decides to accept the risk and the mission is on. To limit risk, Gideon and Dureena are the designated crew to contact and extract the fugitive (named Natchok Var).

The Moradi are understandably protective of the details of their culture, and Praxis 9 has a very hostile atmosphere, resulting in their cities being under several domes. We learn that Dureena has been here before, and she uses her past experience to open an exterior door to enter the dome where Natchok Var is held. As we’re introduced to the city, it appears to be a city-sized version of “Down Below” on B5, but with additional unsavory businesses, including an active slave market. It’s at this point we start to get an indication of Dureena’s past, as she shows a moment of hesitation when seeing the slave market. It’s easy to conclude she was once held as a slave here.

After a few distractions created to give the opportunity to grab Natchok Var, he’s quickly liberated and the team heads back to Excalibur…but not before the Moradi arrive. During the confrontation/exchange, the Moradi state they want to end the situation peacefully, and the time taken to work out the deal, two important things happen. First, we learn that Natchok Var’s actual intent is to preserve cultural information that his government is destroying in the name of removing things that aren’t “beneficial to the state”. (We referred to this as an example of “cancel culture”.) He tells the crew he’s willing to give the information away to the right people—it wasn’t stolen to sell. Second, he is moved by hearing Mozart, decides the crew of Excalibur are the right people, and gives them the data crystals to copy. In return he’ll give himself up, allowing the situation to end peacefully, and ensuring the data will survive. There’s a smaller moral issue that plays out during this as well, in that Gideon and crew wrestle with the concern that turning Natchok Var over to his government could result in an unfair trial or even his death. In the end, it’s his decision though and they see him depart. Their greatest fears are realized when they witness the Moradi warship destroy Natchok Var’s shuttle once it’s clear of Excalibur. Perhaps this encourages them though that gaining a copy of the information on the data crystals made Natchok Var’s sacrifice worthwhile.

What was remarkable in the end, after Dr. Chambers did an initial review of the data, she realized there was “nothing scientifically useful” on the crystals. Instead the data all captured the Moradi arts. Your hosts agreed that this is a tragic view of the value of the arts expressed through the fictional Moradi government, and seen at times through our own (real world) human history, where the arts have been downplayed and even destroyed in various places and at various times.

Finally, the episode ends with what still would have been significant, initial character development for Dureena. In an exchange between her and Gideon, we learn that Dureena wasn’t just held as a slave on Praxis 9. Tragically, her own family sold her into slavery to pay off debts. Wow!

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