“"That does seem to be the rule, doesn't it? Analyze the problem, choose whatever strategy makes least sense, and then do it."
- – Doctor Lazarenn commenting on the fear and hysteria created by the plague.
Lazarenn was a Markab doctor and an old friend of Stephen Franklin.[1]
History[]
Funny Human[]
Dr. Lazarenn met Dr. Franklin on his home planet when Franklin was on layover whilst hitchhiking on starships. Lazarenn admired his willingness to learn and explore the unknown, trading his services for free passage from system to system. Lazarenn found the human to be funny and from that point on, the two were friends, working together on several occasions. He remarked in later years that everything to Franklin was a test and problem to be solved.
The "Dark Angel of Drafa" Returns[]
In 2259, the ancient and once thought extinct Drafa Plague spread to Markabs on Babylon 5. Dr. Lazarenn was one of the few Markabs to acknowledge it for what it was and he worked on finding a cure. When the station's authorities began to find out about it, the Markab government refused to publicly acknowledge it for fear of being voted out of office, nor were the local Markabs helpful either. It soon fell to Dr. Lazarenn and Dr. Franklin to find a cure. After Franklin found out about the spread of the disease he was astonished at the lack of active research toward a cure. He questioned his friend and Lazarenn answered that his government didn't provide him with the money or resources to find a cure, and no other doctors were assigned to help him. Further, he said that his government ordered him to keep quiet even though he begged them to let him enlist other assistance. With no else willing to do so and the need for more information about the disease, Lazarenn volunteered to enter the Isolab alone, examine an infected body, and perform an autopsy. He soon became ill with the plague himself and provided insights to Franklin about the disease's pathology from within the isolab. While violence and fear rack the station, Dr. Lazarenn and Dr. Franklin worked harder and harder but came up short. Inevitably, he died, but not before he gave Franklin an insight about where to look for answers. While this idea did lead to a cure, Franklin found it too late to save any of Lazarenn's people, either on the station or on their homeworld. After Lazarenn's death, Franklin was shaken and his problems with stims continued to grow.
Notes[]
- The Markab doctor Dr. Franklin refers to in ("Knives") is almost certainly Lazarenn.
