

The Excalibur goes to Babylon 5 so that Gideon can meet with an ambassador for permission to go to a planet that might have technology that can help Earth. But the ambassador refuses and Gideon is not going to accept it. And Ellerson runs into his ex-wife, who is in trouble with a loan shark. When he pays him off, he feels she owes him more. And goes to great lengths to collect.
Capt. Matthew Gideon assembles the crew that will be with him on the experimental starship Excalibur. Their mission: explore the reaches of space to find a cure for the deadly Drakh virus that will overrun Earth in five years.
Gideon mediates between Earth miners and the residents of a planet containing a virus-fighting mineral--and a fire-breathing dragon.

Galen persuades Gideon to seek a mystical crossroads. An investigator probes Matheson's mind.