Precursor Fudge Ripple

Plot Points:
 The artifacts Meliar was given were stolen from an Iraari research lab. The crew returned them, and claimed a reward.
The Empire plans to invade the Republic within 6 months.
Maalor, an Iraari scientist, arranged for the Purple Star to be heavily upgraded, in exchange for a chance to study Zen and the ship.
Mr. Claud Vyncynt, an associate of Meliar, hired the crew to run an errand for him, involving the Melanie and Anders crime families.
The Radiation Zone does not appear on Zen's old star charts. He believes it to have been artificially constructed.
The black hole near the old starbase is guarded by several monolithic Precursor ships, the Guardians.
The black hole is, indeed, a jump point of sorts, and can be used (carefully) to enter the Radiation Zone.
There is a Tk'Mara starbase inside the Rad Zone, with a living Tk'Mara aboard.
The Tk'Mara are about as communicative as the Vorlons. The Tk'Mara on the base apparently telepathically questioned the crew, and projected several images to them individually.
The Melan imprisoned on the fromer Tk'Mara base in the nebula might have survived its destruction.
The crew does not remember when or how they left the Rad Zone, or what became of the Purple Star.
The Stasis shield on the Klarg Star is completed, if untested.
Season Two Premiere.

Synopsis:
Maalor, an Iraari scientist friend of the crew, coms the Klarg Star One from the cruiser. He is searching for several Precursor relics stolen from a museum, which he heard they had acquired. He pays a massive sum of money for the return of the spheres. At the Imperial Palace, the Emperor informs the crew that the tide of the war has swung their way. The destruction of most of the Republics surviving capital ships at the hands of the Righteous Indignation has left the Republic itself vulnerable at last. Following repairs to the fleet, and training of the ground forces, the Empire plans to invade the Republic within six months. While on the planet, the crew receives a cryptic message from one "Vyncynt" asking to meet with them. Deciding to force the meeting on their own, the crew goes to an ice cream parlor, and ignore the whole issue. Mr. Claud Vyncynt turns around and asks them to run a delivery mission for him. Within three months, he needs a package sealed with a sophisticated DNA lock to be delivered to Carren Park on the Fed planet Eridani. A Mr. Johnson, in a tweed suit, will collect the box and provide the payment. Vincent, who seems to know Meliar, has been arranging negotiations between the Melanie and Anders crime families. The crew finally agree to take the mission.

Meanwhile, before Maalor has left the Empire, Kress and Merlmer offer him the deal of a lifetime. In exchange for a bit of help, he can study a fully functional Precursor starship. The Purple Star is smuggled to Iraar aboard the cruiser, where it is heavily upgraded, including a force screen, x-ray lasers, point defense systems, and a highly sophisticated fusion plant. The improved Purple Star heads off towards the Kaa Starbase. Zen explains that he has little knowledge of travel through black holes. However, the black hole within the radiation zone, the zone itself, and the mysterious Radiation Zone/Black Hole near the Thoron-Sthorganian-Alliance border, do not appear on any of Zen's old star charts. Zen says the Tk'Mara might have engineered them before they left.

The Purple Star arrives at the Starbase to find two Kaa corvettes sweeping the area. The Purple Star uses a mini-hyperspace jump to hop over its own xaser fire next to the Kaa ships. Zen then broadcasts (as the Tk'Mara ship of it's original name) for the Kaa ships to leave radiation zone immediately. At the same time, the xaser rays strike on of the corvettes, badly damaging it. The Purple Star then opens up with its Pulse Cannons, crippling the other corvette as the first one limps off into hyperspace. The crew continue their trip to the black hole without further interruptions.

Dodging the occasional time ripple, the Purple Star reaches the black hole, and its graveyard of stasis fields. It is challenged by two massive monolithic "Guardians." Zen tries to convince them that the crew are peaceful and wish to explore whatever is left here. The Guardians pause for several hours, then dispatch a smaller guardian through the black hole. When it returns in several days, the Guardians provide instructions to take the Purple Star through the black hole. When the crew regain consciousness, they are orbiting a large black hole, surrounded by three stars and a large Radiation Zone on the Thoron-Sthorganian-Alliance border. Zen was taken off-line, but Ramirez is able to fix him. The Purple Star lands at a Tk'Mara Starbase.

On board, the crew is escorted to the command center, where it is met by a living Tk'Mara. It explains that it was left there, within a manufactured radiation zone. It agrees to give the crew the missing Field Projector to complete the stasis shield. It also reveals that the self destruction of the Precursor starbase might not have killed the Melan in captivity there. They may, it cryptically explains, have gone elsewhere, just as the stasis fields died away; after all, such things happened before... After providing other useless non-answers, it sends the crew to quarters. During the night, each of the crew dreams of an interview with the Tk'Mara, and then witnesses several scenes:

Ramirez, asking for a cigarette, sees a bright white flash, and wakes up.

K'yrth, after seeing the Tk'Mara, sees himself on the bridge of a Thoron battlecruiser. He is engaging a K'tharr fleet, and what's left of his own fleet losing. Just as a large projectile is about to destroy his ship, he wakes up with a white flash.

Meliar says only that after seeing the Tk'Mara, he saw several scenes, ending with him, alone on his corvette, destroyed by a K'tharr cruiser.

Merlmer, after the Tk'Mara's chat, finds himself towards the rear of a large seating platform. An assortment of races (Human, Teske, Sthorganians, Thorons, Kaa ... no D'nyarri) are looking at a gallows below. Federation, Sthorganian and Thoron guards lead Kress to the gallows, where he is to be executed, after which there is a white flash. Merlmer, in a scene that somehow feels as if preceded the last one, sits in a demolished throne room. There is a crown on his head. Looking up, he sees ships in the sky, and projectiles plummeting to the ground around him. Just as one is about to hit him, there is a dark flash. He wakes up.

Kress, after an interview with the Tk'Mara, is on the bridge of a K'tharr cruiser. The Admiral tells him to proceed, and Kress orders the fleet to decloak. Several K'tharr cruisers decloak and bombard a planet with kinetic maulers. A white flash, and Kress stands as an ambassador before an assembly of races; he turns dismissively and leads his delegation out. Another flash, and he is leading his fleet against Sthorganian, Thoron and Federation ships. His fleet is large, but slowly it is whittled down. Again a flash. Kress, in a courtroom, is accused by many races of atrocities and sentenced to death. With a dark flash, Kress awakes.

The catch is, that the crew wakes up onboard the Klarg Star One on the border of Federation space, one month after arriving at the Tk'Mara station. A large button has been installed on Kress' control panel, and the Stasis Shield is completed.

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