BPP Crusade 103 – The Well of Forever

Welcome back! We’re three episodes into Crusade and as you’ll hear, still reminding each other that this is a new show, with new characters who need to develop—meaning the actors and writers haven’t quite found the familiarity with the characters just yet, but that’s to be expected. This episode is one of only a few written by someone other than JMS.

Things kick off quickly, and a little ominously, with a Psi Corps ship approaching the Excalibur. We’re introduced to Mr. Jones, a Psi Cop of sorts, who is there to perform a scan and review of the First Officer, Mr. Matheson. We learn that the Senate has abolished Psi Corps (at least as we knew it, even though Jones’ ship is prominently marked with the Psi Corps logo and he wears a Psi Corps pin) but has apparently retained a form of the organization akin to an Internal Affairs activity, that ensures telepaths who now live among the Normals aren’t abusing their abilities. That said, through the episode we watch unethical behavior from Mr. Jones that rivals any of the abuses of power we saw in Babylon 5.

This takes place while the Excalibur is under way to a mysterious location within Hyperspace—a little known and understood place called The Well of Forever. Galen talks Captain Gideon into tying his ship and the Excalibur’s navigation systems together to find and reach the Well by suggesting there might be something there that could help contribute to the cure of the plague on Earth. What that might be is a mystery, as are most things that Galen appears to know. With Gideon convinced, the ships are connected and the search begins.

Jones conducts his scan of Matheson in a less than professional way, while mentioning Matheson is a sort of folk hero, who therefore requires additional oversight. Jones almost sounds jealous, but may also be using this as an excuse to look for something valuable that has nothing to do with his official duties. When the scan is complete, Matheson complains to Jones that he violated the rules and obtained “operational information”. Jones simply dismisses this, using his authority to threaten Matheson to be quiet.

Excalibur reaches the expected location of the Well only to find it’s not there. The agreement was that if the Well wasn’t there, Excalibur would immediately return to normal space. When Gideon tells Galen they’re turning around only to learn Galen has hijacked the Excalibur’s navigation system so that he could continue the search without interference from the crew. This was a significant betrayal of trust and Gideon tells him it’s mutiny. Galen doesn’t appear to care. They find the Well of Forever shortly after this exchange, but the damage is done to the relationship. We learn the Well is a sort of burial ground and Gideon’s motive for seeing it out at any expense was a promise he made to a loved one to carry her remains there for burial. They learn that the structure of the Well contains significant and rare elements, and a solid core of Quantium 40—the stuff Jump Gates are made of and rely on, but nothing that appears to be of any value in terms of helping to cure the plague. This adds to Gideon’s frustration as he realizes Galen knew this and the suggestion there might be something that could help save Earth was also a lie. Galen lied to get the Captain to agree to make the voyage, already knowing that once that happened, he’d hijack the ship. Now that the mission is complete, Galen returns control of the Excalibur to Gideon and they safely depart.

During these events, Matheson told Gideon that during his scan, Jones took operational data—something he wasn’t authorized to do, nor did he have an official need for. Gideon, with the help of Dureena, puts a plan in place to confront Mr. Jones. As things wind down, that confrontation occurs in a manner that causes Mr. Jones to admit he was scanning people without authority. Gideon then holds this over his head to ensure no bad report will go out about Matheson, nor will operational data about the ship’s mission (specifically about the Well of Forever) will be released.

Having broken the Captain’s trust, Galen is going to depart the ship and suggests to Gideon he won’t return unless welcomed. Gideon reminds him of his betrayal and that while he kept his honorable promise to his dead friend to get her to the Well of Forever, he acted without honor to do so. Galen seemed to think the ends justify the means; Gideon didn’t agree—nor did your hosts. We’re left wondering if Galen will ever be able to restore the trust others had placed in him.

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