Babylon 5

Teaser : Ivanova and Sheridan watch from the C&C window the departure of several vessels containing the last of the Nightwatch that they could find. Garibaldi joins them with his arm in a cast, remnant of the hand-to-hand combat with the invading forces. He reports some minor discontent among the remaining Babylon 5 population because Stellarcoms are down, but they cannot risk opening the channels until they have changed the access codes for the computer system. Otherwise, Earth could send a message to override the system and shut down everything in the station. Garibaldi will take care of that later on. He also remarks on Sheridan's lack of uniform, to which he replies that he cannot wear it again until the secession is over. Ivanova reminds him that he will need to wear it once more later that day.


Delenn is talking to some of the officers of the Minbari cruisers, telling them to thank their Captains for their support. Lennier informs her that Fleet Captain Lennan wishes for a tour of the station and Delenn agrees to give him one later. Sheridan goes out to make his rounds, despite Garibaldi and Ivanova's concerns for his safety. As he walks among the people in the Zocalo, a hidden man with a rifle points at his head.


Title Sequence


The Sniper is interrupted by another man, who tells him that an assassination at this point would only make Sheridan a martyr and encourage others to take his place. He tells him that they should stick to their plans, and they will win. Delenn receives Marcus Cole at Customs and tells him of her plans to call for the Nafak'cha, the Rebirth Ceremony, to help with the healing after the fight and to prepare for the struggles that lie ahead. Marcus thinks that the others will be busy with their own ceremonies and would probably not have the time. Sheridan, now in EarthForce uniform, is heading the funeral for the ones who died in the recent battle.


Lord Refa meets with Mollari in the Zocalo and they sit down for a drink. Mollari demands that Refa should convince Emperor Cartagia to stop Centauri Prime's current policy of invading many worlds at the same time, a policy dictated by Refa himself at the request of Mr. Morden's associates. Mollari fears that this would weaken Centauri Prime and leave them open to attack by Morden's forces. Refa scoffs at Mollari's fears, more concerned with his own political advancement than the safety of his people. Mollari then tells him that he has poisoned his drink with a special compound that comes in two parts: the first one, now inside his body, will remain dormant until activated by a second seemingly innocuous substance. This could be given to him at any time by Mollari's agents at Court, if he does not distance himself from Morden and reconsider his advice to the Emperor.


Sheridan and Ivanova are in Garibaldi's office, resetting their passwords and rebooting the system to prevent Earth from taking control of it once the Stellarcoms are back on. Delenn arrives to invite Sheridan to the Rebirth Ceremony. The list of participants includes all of Sheridan's staff, G'Kar, some of the ambassadors including Mollari, and Marcus. The Sniper and the other man are now in a meeting with other members of Nightwatch that have escaped the deportation, some of them still at their jobs as sleepers. The man, identified as Boggs, presents his plan to stop Sheridan by attacking Delenn. Without the support of the Minbari fleet, Earth's forces could come back and regain control of Babylon 5. They should be careful however to make sure that when Delenn dies, Sheridan will be the one to blame so that the Minbari do not start a war against Clark's regime. The Sniper reveals that he used to interrogate and torture Minbari prisoners during the Earth-Minbari war and his relish at past tortures and the future ones that he plans to inflict on Delenn reveals him as a dangerous psychopath.


Delenn meets with Marcus in a place in Downbelow, run by some local criminals, where he meets his contacts. Marcus excuses himself from attending the Rebirth Ceremony. Garibaldi and Ivanova are rebooting the computer system but, once it is back online, instead of the usual calm female voice the system replies with a cranky male voice that whines and complaints about any order given. It is the remnant of an experimental artificial personality, tested during the station's initial operation and shut down because it did not work quite as expected. He will have to be shut down again, as he causes Garibaldi an enormous amount of irritation. Delenn continues with the invitations for the Rebirth Ceremony but she is rebuffed by both Mollari and G'Kar. The Rebirth Ceremony requires that the participants tell someone a secret that they have never told before and give away something of great value, and Mollari is offended by the implication that he needs to "confess" to anything, while G'Kar is far too busy for it.


The Minbari flier Lumini, with the visiting Captain, is arriving and Delenn goes to meet him with Marcus. While waiting, she asks again for the real reason behind his reluctance to participate in the Rebirth Ceremony, to which Marcus confesses that, since the death of his family and friends at the hands of the Shadows, he has nothing of value left to give for the ceremony. It is clear the he feels guilty because he did not listen to his brother when he warned him about the Shadows, and that he joined the Rangers out of his sense of grief. Delenn understands and tells him that both his grief and guilt are the valuable things that he still has to give up. Marcus, confused, leaves Delenn and goes to inform Customs of the Minbaris' arrival, to expedite matters. At that moment, Capt. Lennan and two aides enter the station and are ambushed by Boggs and his men, who kill one of the aides and injure the other, capturing Delenn and Capt. Lennan.


Back in Sheridan's office the team meets to assess the situation, while a distressed Marcus blames himself for leaving Delenn alone. Boggs contacts them to demand that they order the Minbari fleet to leave Babylon 5 space within six hours, or they will proceed with killing the hostages. The call, they claim, cannot be traced and they also warn Sheridan that they still have people inside Garibaldi's Security forces, who are monitoring the Babcom system, so they would know of any rescue plans immediately. Just to show that they are serious, they execute the wounded Minbari aide. Marcus leaves in anger and goes back to his usual meeting place in Downbelow, where he starts asking questions to the local criminals about the kidnapping. They refuse to answer, but Marcus is confident that he can "convince" them.


The Sniper is in charge of guarding the prisoners but his attempts to intimidate them are received by Delenn with scorn and pity for his twisted soul. This enrages the Sniper and he tries to kill Delenn, only to be prevented by Capt. Lennan, who is injured as a result, and by the arrival of Boggs. Back in Downbelow, only two of the locals are still standing, facing an enraged Marcus. As they try to attack, they are knocked unconscious along with the rest. Marcus will now have to waste time waiting for one of them to wake up. Lennier joins him to ask if he is still on for the Rebirth Ceremony. Marcus asks him how he can still be concerned for such a trivial matter, to which Lennier reacts by tackling Marcus, thus demonstrating that he could be a very dangerous opponent if provoked. Then Lennier breaks down and confesses to Marcus that he loves Delenn, not romantically, or so he claims, but very deeply. That is the reason why he must go on with her plans for the Rebirth Ceremony. This confession to Marcus can be taken as part of the ritual as well. The conversation has given time for one of the local crooks to wake up and Marcus grabs him again. This time he is much more willing to talk.


In Sheridan's office Ivanova is still trying to trace the call without success. She has however managed to isolate a background sound that Garibaldi identifies as the noise of the cooling system that feeds the fusion reactor in Grey Sector. They still need the Level to be able to pinpoint the location, and this is supplied by Marcus. His informant told him that he sold components needed to make a call untraceable, to someone from Security and that he overheard them talking about delivering the purchased materials to Level 14, although he did not know which sector. He also gave Marcus a detailed description of the Security guard involved. Ivanova scans Level 14, Grey Sector and finds an area, 14A, sealed off by Security, Garibaldi never having given such an order. They now have the location and the kidnapper's contact on the outside, but the place is fortified and they have to come out with a plan that will not risk the lives of the hostages. The answer is to surrender.


The deadline approaches and Boggs is getting nervous. They are contacted by their Security guard who shows them images of the Minbari fleet leaving. He also tells them that the Minbari will turn against Sheridan if Delenn is harmed, so Sheridan cannot do anything against the kidnappers while they have her. Boggs is jubilant and orders the Security guard to call Earth and request troops to win back the station. At that moment an explosion shakes the room and people are running outside. One of them tells Boggs that the fusion reactor's cooling system broke down and that they need to evacuate. Smoke drifts from one of the panels towards them. Boggs orders his men to take the hostages and leave, and they are ambushed by Garibaldi's forces outside. Boggs is shot by Ivanova and Sheridan disarms the Sniper with a shot from his gun. Capt. Lennan and Delenn manage to free themselves from their binds but the Sniper takes out a knife and throws it at Sheridan. Delenn shields Sheridan at the expense of her own life, and is injured instead. The Sniper attempts to flee but is pursued by Sheridan. He catches him and beats him up, evidently infuriated about what happened to Delenn.


Delenn will recover from her injury but there is little time left to comply with the Rebirth Ceremony's ritual. Garibaldi is working on getting rid of the annoyingly whiny artificial personality and there are hopes of success there. One by one Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi and Dr, Franklin enter Delenn's room in Medlab carrying their uniforms in their hands. These are the valuable things that they all give up. Each also tells her a secret: Sheridan confesses that he loves her, Garibaldi that he is afraid all the time of losing control and drinking again, Ivanova that she loved Talia Winters and Dr. Franklin that he thinks that he has a problem. Before they leave, Lennier tells them that Delenn had prepared her gifts to each of them for the Ceremony and that they will find them in their quarters. They are new Babylon 5 specific uniforms.