SERIES ONE - Deliverance (A12)

[Servalan's office. Servalan is seated at her desk. The intercom beeps.]
SERVALAN: Yes?
VOICE: [V.O.] Space Commander Travis is here.
SERVALAN: Send him in.
[Travis enters and stands before Servalan's desk. She ignores him for a moment, concentrating on something else.]
TRAVIS: You sent for me?
SERVALAN: You've lost some of your fire, Travis. Whatever happened to your pride?
TRAVIS: My pride, Supreme Commander?
SERVALAN: I ignored you. A calculated insult. You obviously recognized it as such.
TRAVIS: I did.
SERVALAN: And yet you remained silent. There was a time when you wouldn't have taken an insult like that from anyone. Not even me.
TRAVIS: True. I want my command back. To get it I'll do whatever's necessary. If you think my silence is weakness, you mistake me.
SERVALAN: Better. I was afraid that the suspension and the court of inquiry into your mishandling of the Blake affair might have broken your spirit.
TRAVIS: I don't break that easily.
SERVALAN: You were expected to resign the service. Why didn't you?
TRAVIS: I've told you, I want my command back. It's the only way I can catch --
SERVALAN: You really are obsessed with Blake, aren't you?
TRAVIS: It's my right.
SERVALAN: It's my intention that you should get another chance to exercise that right, and at the same time redeem your somewhat blemished record. However, there are more important things than Blake.
TRAVIS: Not for me.
SERVALAN: More immediate, then. Orac, for example.
TRAVIS: Orac?
SERVALAN: There've been rumors about it for years. A scientist called Ensor has been working on it. Despite considerable investigation, we've never been able to locate him.
TRAVIS: And you want me to find him for you.
SERVALAN: Mm-mm. It's no longer necessary. A little while ago, Ensor's son came to see me. His father was ill. He needed medical help and equipment. While he was here, he showed me plans of his father's creation -- Orac. It is a brilliant achievement. There is nothing else like it in the universe. And he wanted to sell it. [Travis begins to say something.] Expensive, Travis. He wants one hundred million.
TRAVIS: One hundred million? Are you sure whatever it is, is worth that much?
SERVALAN: It's worth ten times that much.
TRAVIS: Oh.
SERVALAN: So I agreed to buy it.
TRAVIS: Do you have the authority?
SERVALAN: No. Now listen, Travis, I've told no one of this. Ensor and his father live alone on the planet Aristo. He made it clear that if there was any attempt to take Orac by force, he would destroy it.
TRAVIS: Would he do that?
SERVALAN: Oh, yes. He thought it through very carefully. He wouldn't even reveal the location of the laboratory until I'd agreed to all his terms.
TRAVIS: Which were?
SERVALAN: A Space Surgeon was to go with him. I sent Maryatt.
TRAVIS: How much did you tell him?
SERVALAN: Only what his orders were.
TRAVIS: He's a good man.
SERVALAN: Maryatt was to remain with Ensor as a hostage until the transaction was complete. I was to get the hundred million, take it in an unarmed ship, and in return I'd get Maryatt and Orac.
TRAVIS: So now all you have to do is to persuade the Federation to let you spend one hundred million.
SERVALAN: That could take years.
TRAVIS: You have an alternative?
SERVALAN: Yes. It occurred to me that if Ensor didn't get back in time, then in a very little while his father would die. So I took the precaution of placing a small explosive device in his ship.
TRAVIS: You said Maryatt was on board.
SERVALAN: Yes, that was unfortunate, but unavoidable, I'm afraid. Oh, don't you see? Orac is ours for the taking.
TRAVIS: When do we leave?
SERVALAN: Start making arrangements, maximum security. No flight plan is to be filed. When we do leave it must be in total secrecy. However long it takes, Travis, you must cover our tracks completely. No one must know anything about it.
TRAVIS: Right. [Starts to leave, then pauses.] You're almost as ruthless as I am.
SERVALAN: You underestimate me, Travis.
TRAVIS: It begins to look that way. [Pauses]
SERVALAN: What's the matter?
TRAVIS: Maryatt.
SERVALAN: What about him?
TRAVIS: His disappearance -- there may be questions.
SERVALAN: In twelve hours I shall have him posted as a deserter.
TRAVIS: And his family go into slavery on one of the frontier worlds.
SERVALAN: It is the normal procedure in a case of desertion.
TRAVIS: Of course. Do you remember the medic that saved my life?
[Touches his eye patch.]
SERVALAN: You're wasting time.
TRAVIS: It was Maryatt.
SERVALAN: Does it matter? TRAVIS: No... No. Only Blake matters now.
SERVALAN: And Orac.
TRAVIS: Right.

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