“"You can't let them get ahold of one of these ships. They don't want it so we can fight these things. They want us to become more like them."
- – Dr. Mary Kirkish
Mary Kirkish was a Xenoarcheologist and former employee of IPX who was one of the few surviving witnesses of the excavation of a Shadow Vessel on Syria Planum.[1]
History
Strike of a Lifetime
Dr. Kirkish on Syria Planum, 2253
Kirkish first began working for Interplanetary Expeditions in 2248, conducting many archaeological digs on alien worlds in search of new technology. In 2253 she was stationed on Mars and after a number of false leads on artifacts supposedly buried beneath the Martian soil for thousands of years, one of IPX's sonic probes picked up something that was clearly not a natural formation 300 feet beneath the surface of Syria Planum. The object was buried so deep it was speculated that it must have been there at least 1000 years and seeing as it was the middle of the Martian winter, it took weeks just to excavate half of it. Even that was enough to give Kirkish nightmares for the rest of her life.
"...it was enough to give me nightmares for the rest of my life."
The ship was a find of a lifetime and a week after sending word to Earth Central, Kirkish and her team were suddenly ordered to stop digging and pull back to their secondary base, two miles away with the threat of dismissal for any that tried to stay. For the next six days they sat waiting, while unmarked shuttles flew in and out of the area surrounding the dig site, before all activity suddenly ceased. Just then, Kirkish saw another Shadow Vessel arriving overhead and began firing on the site. At first Kirkish thought it was destroying its counterpart but it soon became clear that it was finishing digging it out. After the new ship disappeared below the ridge, nothing happened for the next twenty or twenty five minutes until they heard a mind splitting scream, like "the sound of something terrible being born." and watched as both ships took off for deep space.
"...the sound of something terrible being born."
Sworn to Silence
After the incident, Kirkish and her colleagues were warned that if they told anyone what they'd seen there would be unfortunate consequences. Later, they were broken up and assigned to other worlds so they wouldn't have a chance to talk to each other.
In March of 2260, Kirkish was called into a new dig on Ganymede where another one of the same type of ship had been found. Learning that the powers back on Earth intend to try and use the ship to make humans more like the race that built it and use it against the other races and if necessary even their own people and that all the other members of the original dig on Mars are all either dead or missing, Kirkish goes on the run in hopes of warning someone.
Dr. Kirkish rescued by Marcus
On The Run
The Rangers bring word of her flight and her connection to the events on Syria Planum in 2253 to Michael Garibaldi, who had also witnessed parts of that incident. He has the Rangers find Kirkish, get her off Mars and spend about a week transporting her to Babylon 5.[2] Marcus Cole gets her on board the station, though they are quickly pursued into Downbelow by a group of bounty hunters. Though Marcus is able to fight them off, Mary is knocked out and nearly killed. After recovering under armed guard in Medlab, Kirkish meets with Captain Sheridan, Commander Ivanova, Doctor Franklin, Delenn, Lennier and Security Chief Garibaldi and tells them all she knows, including the fact that in three days, the vessel will be taken back to Earth for study.
Dr. Kirkish meets the war council
With her story out and in the right hands, Mary resigns herself saying she doesn't care if they kill her now. Delenn promises that won't happen and that she has made arrangements to get the doctor into Minbari space and has Lennier take care of her.