Crusade

Gideon and co investigate a world

they think may nhave been hit by disease

all its building are intact

with no sign of war or dessertion.

Unfortunately on of thier dissappears

and they detect large amounts of movement

on the surface.

An armarda of automated probes

begin attacking the earthers.

They hastily retreat from the planet

but the probes pursue

and the space battle begins.

The planet unleashes a gravity weapon slowly pulling the ship downard.

During the fight the excalibur

has its data base scanned by the planet and a hologram appears on the bridge.He is a representative of the race

that used to live on the planet(now all in cryogenic suspension).He tells them they were attacked by the virus but never found a cure.

They didnt have a fleet to look for a cure as the humans are doing So they ran test on anything that visited thier world

.One prson runs the tests and the machines,but dies of the plagues a few years later.Another custodian is then woken to countinue on.

Gideon is appauled and calls them an example of what they should never do.

The custodian offers them all thier data on the plague if they only leave and tell other races to visit the planet

.Gideon refuses and destroys the probes.



Max says it best would you sacrifice a few 100 narns to save earth,if a few 100 why not a thousand or more.

The moral is of course ,how far can they go to stay alive?

what terrible acts would they commit for the greater good.

The custodian predicts they will not be as proud in a few years



A great pilot