The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. A self-contained world five miles long, located in neutral territory. A place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, the year the Great War came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon Stations. The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5. "It is now 8 days since the death of President Santiago and 5 days since Commander Sinclair was recalled to Earth, and things have gone straight to hell." --Ivanova, "Points of Departure" "I can only conclude that I am paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate." --Ivanova, "Points of Departure" "The Minbari aren't going to be thrilled to find out you're running Babylon 5. I hear they still call you 'Star-Killer'." --Ivanova to Sheridan, PoD "I just keep seeing Earth Force 1 blowing up, over and over again in my dreams. You know, all my life I thought that I could handle everything, fix any problem, but when I saw that, I just realized I couldn't do anything to stop it. I don't think I've ever felt so helpless." --Ivanova to Sheridan, PoD "We do not harm our own kind, Kalain, we never have." --Hedronn, PoD "But the Gray Council never tells anyone the whole truth, does it?" --Kalain to Hedronn, PoD "When I was 21, I visited Tibet. I went to see the new Dalai Lama. You do that sort of thing when you're 21 and son of a diplomatic envoy. We had a simple dinner, rice, raisins, carrots, steamed, not boiled, and green tea. When it was over, he looked at me and said, do you understand? I said no, I didn't. A good beginning, he said. You will be even better when you begin to understand what you do not understand. After reading some of your reports, I begin to understand what I don't understand about Babylon 5. But I couldn't wish for a more capable and skilled group of people to learn from. It was an early Earth president, Abraham Lincoln, who best described our current situation. He said..." --Sheridan's welcome good luck speech, PoD "If there is a doom on this station, it is because you brought it here!" --Hedronn to Sheridan, PoD "If you are going to kill me, then do so. Otherwise, I have considerable work to do." --Lennier, PoD "The war has already begun. All that remains is honor and death." "And I thought I was a pessimist." --Ivanova, PoD "There's enough guilt in the world to go around without grabbing for more." --Ivanova, PoD "It was an early Earth president, Abraham Lincoln, who best described our situation. The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. We cannot escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. The firey trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. We shall nobly save or meanly lose our last, best hope of Earth." --Sheridan's good luck speech, PoD "I understand you were looking for me, Ambassador. How can I be of service?" "The destruction of the Narn base in Quadrant 37 is drawing quite a lot of attention." "Yes, that was the intent." "And you're absolutely certain it cannot be traced back to me? "Oh, beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Narns will never be able to prove it was done at your instigation. And based on your promise to take care of it, your government accepts your responsibility without question or hesitation. Perfect symmetry. I believe that this little demonstration will provide you with some very interesting propositions." "Yes, but what if I am asked for another of these little demonstrations?" "Then we'll provide it. Simply choose your target. A colony, an outpost." "Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" "One thing at a time Ambassador, one thing at a time. Oh, one last thing. A small favor in return for our good efforts on your behalf. A person in an important position like yours hears about many things, and if you hear about anything strange happening out on the Rim, I'd appreciate being informed, even if seems unimportant. Good day, Ambassador." --Morden and Londo, "Revelations" "Weep for the future, Na'Toth. Weep for us all." --G'Kar, "Revelations" "I have looked into the darkness, Na'Toth. You cannot do that and ever be quite the same again." --G'Kar, "Revelations" "We must warn the others, Na'Toth. After a thousand years, the darkness has come again." --G'Kar, "Revelations" "I am not ill, Doctor. What I have become, what I suffer requires you alone." --Delenn, Rev "Go ahead, make my fraggin solar year." --Lou Welch to Garibaldi's 2nd, Rev "Spacing, it's the worst kind of death imaginable... And when they do it, I'm going to be there to push the button." --Garibaldi to his 2nd, Rev "Hey, Garibaldi, be seeing you." --Garibaldi's 2nd, Rev "What is that?" --Na'Toth "A human book. I've been studying their literature for a while, and I came across this. It would seem they may be wiser than we had thought. Listen: Things fall apart. The center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The blood-dimmed tide is loosed. And everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned. And what rough beast, Its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born." --G'Kar, "Revelations" "Gets cold up here sometimes, doesn't it, Lt. Commander?" "Yes sir, it does indeed." --Sheridan & Ivanova, "Revelations" "Well, you try getting shot in the back sometimes and see what it does for your disposition." --Garibaldi to Franklin, "The Geometry of Shadows" "Sinclair I could trust. This guy, I don't know." --Garibaldi, TGoS "What you are asking could be considered treason." --Londo "Or the first step in restoring our people to their rightful place in the galaxy, depending on who writes the history books." --Refa, TGoS "To see even one of them is a rare thing. To see more than one at a time is considered a very bad omen. Three. This is definitely not good." --Londo about the Technomages, TGoS "You don't frighten easily." --Elric "I work for Ambassador Mollari. After a while, nothing bothers you." --Vir, "The Geometry of Shadows" "There is an old saying. 'Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.' Do not come again Vir Koto." --Elric "I have absolute trust in your abilities, Commander." "Oh, that's a hell of a thing to tell someone. Hah. No pressure." --Sheridan and Commander Ivanova, TGoS "Every day you here create greater miracles than the burning bush. "Maybe, but God was there first, and he didn't need solar batteries and a fusion reactor to do it." "Perhaps, perhaps not. It is within that ambiguity that my brothers and I exist. We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things." "Such as." "The true secrets, the important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever, seven words to make them go without pain. How to say goodbye to a friend who is dying, how to be poor, how to be rich, how to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you. That is why we are going away, to preserve that knowledge." "From what?" "There is a storm coming, a black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost or used to ill purpose. From this place, we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will not see our kind again in your lifetime." --Elric and Sheridan, TGoS "In other words, you're perfect for the job, paranoid and compulsive." --Sheridan to Garibaldi, TGoS "Does this torment end when you leave, or am I going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for one little mistake?" "Oh, I'm afraid you're going to have to spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes. Not this one, of course, it's trivial, I have withdrawn the spell, but there will be others." "What are you talking about?" "You are touched by darkness, ambassador. I see it as a blemish that will grow with time. I could warn you, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but another would take your place. So I do the only thing I can. I go. Oh, I believe it was an endorsement you wanted. A word or two, a picture to send to the folks back home, confirming that you have a destiny before you." "Yes, yes it was just a thought, nothing more." "Well, take this for what little it will profit you. As I look at you, Ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds, the sounds of billions of people calling your name." "My followers?" "Your victims." --Londo and Elric, "The Geometry of Shadows" "Oh, good, Captain, I was about to call you. We just received a message for you. It's from Captain Maynard of the Cortez. It's rather, uh, rude, sir." "Rude?" "Unless all your friends call you 'swamp-rat'." --Ivanova and Sheridan, "A Distant Star" "Universe Today had a story a couple of months ago, asking if something could live in hyperspace." --Warren Keffer "Nothing can live in hyperspace." --Lieutenant, ADS "I'll gain weight!" "Briefly, yes." "It figures. All my life I've fought against imperialism. Now, suddenly, I *am* the expanding Russian frontier." "But with very nice borders." --Ivanova & Franklin, ADS "Sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective." --Delenn, ADS "We're all in great danger! A pox upon this station! You! A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit unless it's got bad roots." --Amis to G'Kar, "The Long Dark" "Incoming! Incoming! To the walls! Get to the walls!" --Amis, TLD "Damn lurkers, we oughta space all of 'em." "Hanson. Were you in the war?" "No, I missed it." "He didn't." "How do you know?" "I've had that same dream." --Garibaldi about Amis, TLD "Well, I've found that life is, in general, much easier if I forget most of the things that happen to me." --Amis, "The Long Dark" "You were about to accuse the Centauri ambassador of being in league with the devil. Which might not be far from the truth." --Garibaldi, TLD "I know some good counselors, I use them myself." --Garibaldi "Now what would a man with everything in the world do with one of them?" --Amis, "The Long Dark" "Take my advice and go back to the time you came from. The future isn't what it used to be." --G'Kar, "The Long Dark" "The forces of darkness do not move openly. They work through others, use others. When the darkness was defeated long ago, they scattered, hid themselves away in secret places, and waited. Now the dark hand is reaching out and recalling them from their sleep." --Markab ambassador, TLD "Evil sometimes wears a pleasant face." --Markab ambassador, TLD "Don't make promises life won't let you keep." --Mariah to Franklin, TLD "It's good to be the Captain." --Sheridan, "Spider in the Web" "What do you think of my new Mars proposal?" "It's like all your proposals: too progressive, too risky, and too costly in the short run. But if you can make it happen..." "I must make it happen. FutureCorp has to expand beyond Earth, and Mars is the first step." "The Senate won't like it, and the Mars Conglomerate will try to bury you." "We're prepared for that. Now we need only convince Mars to share the risk." "And if they won't?" "Then the path to freedom may well be drenched with blood, and a long held dream of mine will die." --Talia and Taro Isogi, SitW "I've read your proposal, Mr. Isogi. Frankly, you're either insane or a very brave man." --Amanda Carter, "Spider in the Web" "Thirteen." "All components have arrived safely on Babylon 5. Control is prepared to go online." "Commence operation." --"Spider in the Web" "Taro Isogi, chief executive of FutureCorp, has arranged a meeting on Babylon 5 with Amanda Carter, a representative of the Mars provisional government. Carter is an outspoken advocate of Mars independence, and we suspect FutureCorp is conspiring with her to finance another rebellion on Mars colony." "Do you have any proof?" "We know FutureCorp desperately wants a foothold in space. An exclusive trade and services agreement with Mars would give it to them, if they could move the current Mars Conglomerate out. Many of the members wanted to pull out after the last rebellion. Another would have them running like river rats." "I understand your concern. There's not much I can do about it. I have no authority over corporate negotiations. Babylon 5 is neutral territory. Any race can negotiate here without interference, even our own." "This is a possible threat to Earth Alliance security, Captain, and as such we are asking you to check it out. Nothing official, just keep an eye peeled and and ear open, and report anything of interest to me." "With all due respect, Senator, my duties as commander of B5 don't include spying on civilians." "These are volatile times, Captain. Practicality is more important than principles if lives are to be saved. I'll expect to hear from you soon." --Senator Elise Voudreau and Sheridan, "Spider in the Web" "Mars has resources the alien worlds need. Now they in turn can supply an economic base which will enable the colony to become self-sufficient in ten years. You can win your independence without bloodshed." --Isogi, SitW "I'm sorry. I'm also tired and I hurt. May I go back to my quarters now?" --Talia "Yes. I'll arrange for an escort." --Sheridan "One escort at your service." --Garibaldi, SitW "Well, you know how I feel about telepaths!" "Do I ever! You threw one out of a third-story window on Io." "There was an ample pool below the window." "I'll assume you knew that." --Ivanova and Sheridan, SitW "I trust in individuals, not organizations." --Sheridan, SitW "Whoever killed Taro Isogi killed Mars' best hope for the future." --Amanda Carter to Sheridan, SitW "My guess is some sort of prosthetic weaponry. What I can't figure is how he got it on the station. A power source that would generate that big a charge should show up on scanners." "Maybe he had some special help." "You want to explain that?" "Not 'til we have more to go on. Keep an escort on Ms. Winters, and intensify the search. Include EarthGov and Corp-secured areas." "Will do. Captain, I'd sure like to know where you're going with this." "Someplace very dark. I hope to God I'm wrong." --Garibaldi and Sheridan, SitW "What have they done to me?" --Abel Horn, SitW "It was as if he were reliving the thought of his death over and over again, clinging to it as if it were the only thought he had." --Talia about Abel Horn, SitW "According to Earth Force Intelligence, Abel Horn is dead. A cruiser scragged his ship over Phobos during the rebellion." --Garibaldi, SitW "There's only one way in here, and I have a full detail on it. It would take an army to get to you." --Garibaldi to Talia, SitW "Mr. Garibaldi, I was just going to make a cup of tea to soothe my nerves. Would you like one?" "Well, since I am Chief of Security, I guess seeing you're secure is my job, and tea just happens to be my third favorite thing in the universe." --Talia and Garibaldi, SitW "You were dying. They operated on you, rebuilt you, scanned you. There was a Psi Cop...." --Talia to Abel Horn, SitW "You hurt that lady and I'll see it takes you ten days to die." --Garibaldi "I'm already dead, mister security man." --Horn "No you aren't Horn. Now just listen to me. They are using you to betray your own world." --Sheridan, SitW "Mars will never be free until the sands run red with Earther blood." --Horn, SitW "No trace. No evidence." --Sheridan, SitW "Captain. Begging your pardon, but have you gone space-happy?" --Garibaldi, SitW "Horn wasn't trying to kill me. He wanted me to scan him. There was something in his mind, controlling him, something he wanted me to find." "And did you?" "I saw an image, some sort of an operation." "Well did you recognize anything? A location, a face, a uniform?" "No." --Talia and Sheridan, SitW "Let's start with how you knew about the Lazarus project." "Some people collect coins or art. I collect secrets. Black projects, conspiracies, secret organizations. They fascinate me." "Does one of those secrets include who was behind this thing?" "It's better you don't ask that." "Look, Captain, I know you don't trust me the way Jeff used to, but if there's a threat to this station..." "The threat goes far beyond Babylon 5, Mr. Garibaldi." "I'm not surprised. If Horn was what you say he was, then this thing sure as hell has nothing to do with Free Mars. To pull something like this off would take a lot of power and a lot of money, and I think you know who it is." "All right, but promise me this information will never be repeated outside this room." "You got it." "For the past six years, there have been rumors about a rogue agency operating deep inside EarthGov, a dirty tricks squad dealing in black projects and starchamber justice. It took me over three years just to get the name. Bureau 13. And the man who gave me that name died soon after. Now I am convinced they exist and they are behind this incident." "Why?" "Isogi was a danger to Earth policy on Mars. I think his death was a warning to the other corporations. I also think Horn was meant to destroy Free Mars from the inside and possibly ruin Amanda Carter as well. Unfortunately, I can't prove any of it." "But if this is true..." "Then everything we believe in is in jeopardy. There is a spider in the web, Mr. Garibaldi, and I intend to find it and kill it." --Garibaldi and Sheridan, SitW "Thirteen." "Report from Babylon 5 Control. Mission only partly successful. Isogi terminated, but unit was destroyed before he could leave station for Mars." "Is the Bureau at hazard?" "Control does not believe so." "Belief is not enough. He is to follow up until he is certain. Thirteen out." --SitW "I'm here to pick up some women." --Vir "You'll have better luck in bars." --Garibaldi, "Soul Mates" "So what's the problem?" --Sheridan "I don't know. That's the problem." --Garibaldi, SM "You know him?" --Garibaldi about Matt Stoner "Only in the most unpleasant sense. I was married to him." --Talia, SM "Daggair! My, what a surprise!" "A pleasant one." "I wouldn't go that far." "Madam Daggair, my pardons. This is unconscionable. I was at customs. I don't know how I could have missed you." "Believe me, Vir, if you knew her as I do, you wouldn't miss her a bit." "Oh, Timov, Timov, why do you always try to draw me into your little verbal fencing matches?" "Because I don't have a real sword handy." Timov, Daggair, & Vir, SM "Please, I trust you." --Delenn to Ivanova, SM "I thought the only way anyone left PsiCorps was feet first." --Sheridan to Talia, SM "So, now that you've been here for a while, you feel you've settled in, Captain?" "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" "Oh, merely polite interest." "I'm sorry, I guess I'm reading too much into it, but people seem to be implying that I shouldn't get too comfortable." "Oh, nonsense. It's not as if anyone expects you to, oh, vanish overnight under mysterious circumstances to a strange Minbari post, why, that would be unprecedented in this station's history." --G'Kar and Sheridan, SM "Whenever these bizarre and odd things occur, it gives me pain, right here." --G'Kar, holding head "Ahh, my good Captain Sheridan. All settled in?" --Londo "All settled, Ambassador." --Sheridan "And my dear G'Kar, how are you this glorious day?" --Londo "We're in a space station, Ambassador. One day is much like another." "That, my friend, is very much subject to point of view. And from my point of view, this is a most glorious day! G'Kar, you are looking in particularly excellent health today. Whatever it is you're doing, keep it up!" --Londo "Excuse me." --G'Kar, holding head again, SM "Can I get you anything?" --Vir "Yes. You can get me out of here. Who does Londo think he is, to keep us sitting about?" --Timov "He probably thinks he's our husband, and that we as dutiful wives will wait with breathless anticipation for his arrival. Is that not right, Vir?" --Daggair "Well, um," "You are joking, Daggair!" "Your problem, Timov, is that you've never known your place." "My place? You once threatened to break a vase over his head." "Well, that was the impetuousness of youth. "That was last month. Daggair, what are you playing at?" --SM "Where have you been?" --Timov "Affairs of state." --Londo "State of inebreation, I'd wager." --Timov, SM "The secret of our marriage's success, Londo, is our lack of communication!" --Timov, SM "I'll be keeping an eye on you." --Garibaldi "Use both eyes. You'll need them." --Stoner, SM "Why have you come here?" "You never were a big believer in coincidence. We had something once, Talia." "You had something, not we, and it's nothing I want any part of, not any more." "I'll add it to the list of things you don't want any part of, like PsiCorps. But then I forget, anyone who's telepathic doesn't have that option." "Except you." "You'd love to find out how I did it, how I got out." "Yes." "Anyone can. All you have to do is lose your telepathic abilities." "Oh, that's all." "I did it." "What?" "They have no hold on me. I could arrange for them to have no hold on you, either. You'd be out of PsiCorps, Talia. You'd be free, and we could be together." --Talia and Stoner, SM "Do you seriously expect me to become involved in your sexual olympics?" "They're merely expressing their feelings for me." "I can do that." "You haven't changed." "You have. You've devolved." --Timov and Londo, SM "I'm tired. I'm tired of learning things about people I don't want to know. I'm tired of having them shrink away from me because of what I might find out. And I'm tired of being part of an organization that scares the hell out of me." --Talia to Garibaldi, SM "And also be aware that the Markabs have their day of high fasting today. Unfortunately, they tend to try to sneak food when the other Markabs aren't looking, which can lead to a scuffle if a priest catches them." --Ivanova to Sheridan, SM "And lastly, the party honoring Ambassador Mollari's Day of Ascension is tonight. All attendees must be barefoot." "Barefoot?" "Barefoot." --Ivanova and Sheridan, SM "Wearing shoes, Ambassador G'Kar?" --Mariel "You are aware of the level of insult that represents?" --Daggair "Indeed! Do you take offense, Ambassador?" --G'Kar "Oh, no, not at all. Nothing is too good for my esteemed Narn colleague." "Oh, I love doing that to him." --Londo, SM "We Minbari believe, as do some humans, that souls travel together. Some groups of souls are drawn one to the other in life, to relive good relationships from the past, and if possible, to make right the bad ones." "You're saying that these other people and I run into each other lifetime after lifetime because our souls have some sort of cosmic sewing circle going?" --Delenn and Garibaldi, SM "Oh, what is this? A deck of cards, from my dear friend Lennier." "And I marked them, exactly as you requested." --Londo and Lennier, SM "You do realize that he's not made his divorce decree official yet. If he dies, our futures are secure." "You can face him in his bed or his deathbed with equal calm." "I am what I was made, by my father, by Londo, by society." "Breeding will tell." --Daggair and Timov, SM "You dug it up, where?" --Garibaldi "An abandoned Centauri colony in Sector 127." --Stoner "Brilliant. Did it occur to you to ask why the Centauri abandoned that sector? It's because they were driven out by the Narns." --Sheridan "Narns fight dirty. They probably rigged all kinds of traps, and this is probably one of them." --Garibaldi "Hmm, could be, which means I didn't ask nearly enough money for it. Ah, well, easy come, easy go." --Stoner, SM "Hey, how about I call you an idiot in public, and you can convict me for revealing state secrets." --Stoner to Garibaldi, SM "It may interest you to know that Londo and I do have one thing in common: the same blood type." "Well, why didn't you tell me this before?" "I was deciding what to do about it." "But, he's dying." "We all die, doctor, sooner or later. As for Londo, after everything he's done I would take some small pleasure in letting him die. But whatever you may think of me, doctor, I have some principles that even 20 years with Londo can't erase. I do not like to win my battles this way. I find it vaguely unsatisfying. So you may have your transfusion, doctor, on one condition. He must never know I did this. I don't think either of us could stand the awkwardness of false gratitude." --Timov and Franklin, SM "Ehh, nightmares, all of them. And Timov, the worst of the lot." "Ambassador Mollari, do you mind if I make one personal observation?" "No, not at all." "Stick it." "How odd. And I didn't even know *we* were married." --Franklin & Londo, SM "G'Kar, if you were married to Londo Mollari, we'd all be concerned." --Mariel, SM "You're quite a piece of work, Mr. Stoner. Our initial inquiries said that you and PsiCorps are quits. Yet we slap you in a holding cell, prepared to charge you with transporting a dangerous object, not to mention your escape attempt, and suddenly PsiCorps rides to the rescue, ordering that you be turned over to them on the first available shuttle." --Sheridan "I left their employ under cordial circumstances." --Stoner "Oh, I don't think you left their employ at all. You told Talia that the experiments performed on you by the Corps erased your telepathic ability. I think they transformed it, turned you into something new. An empath. Your effect on Garibaldi, and Talia, and Officer Welch all point to it." "See, PsiCorps couldn't keep you on the regular rolls because the rest would find out about you pretty fast. The last thing the Corps wants is for folks to find out they've been experimenting on telepaths to increase their abilities. So they let you go, officially, and kept you on, unofficially." --Garibaldi "This is nonsense." --Stoner "Is it? Before you changed, the Corps decided you and Talia were genetically a perfect couple, so it makes sense they'd send you here in hope of breeding more empaths, even if it meant controlling her to do it." "I think you should just forget about all this." --Stoner "Oh, I wouldn't try that little trick again, if I were you. See, I've got 5 armed guards outside watching the monitors, and if we start acting like best buddies, their orders are to come in shooting." --Garibaldi "Tough guy. You surrounded yourself with tough guys. Talia, I was only trying to act in your best interests, not repeat the mistakes of the past. I wasn't lying to you, I do know the cure. Look into my mind. No shields. No tricks." --Stoner "No chance." --Talia "See you in some other lifetime." --Garibaldi, SM "Why me?" --Timov "Because with you, I will always know where I stand." --Londo, SM "We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, busting our butts for Earth, and now they want to charge us for an extra 5 square feet?" "Seven feet." --Sheridan and Ivanova, "A Race Through Dark Places" "You were raised by the Corps, clothed by the Corps. We are your father and your mother." --Bester, ARTDP "He is dead." --psi cop "Doesn't matter. I caught it, just before he died, betrayed by his final thoughts. Babylon 5." --Bester, ARTDP "Well, if you need a place to stay, I've got a spare cot at my place." "You have a spare cot? I don't even have a spare cot. How the hell do you rate a spare cot?" "Well, I requisitioned it for medical purposes." "Damn. I always knew I should have been a doctor." --Franklin and Sheridan, ARTDP "One day they're shooting at you, the next day they're taking you out to dinner. Huh, what a universe." --Sheridan about Delenn, ARTDP "For some time now, we've been aware of an underground railroad, smuggling unregistered telepaths away from Earth to the outer colonies where the Corps can't reach them." "So far, I don't see a problem." --Bester and Ivanova, ARTDP "It's damned ironic, isn't it? The Corps got started because we were afraid of telepaths, and now they're victims of our own fears. We took away every right they had and shoved them into a big black box called Psi Corps. Now look at them, black uniforms, jack boots, giving orders. Some days they scare the hell out of me." --Garibaldi, ARTDP "Did you scan them?" "Ms. Winters, you know the rules against scanning normals without their permission." "So, are you scanning me?" "You'd notice." "Not if it was just a surface scan." "I'd only do that if I suspected you were doing something inappropriate. Are you?" "No, of course not." "Well, then you have nothing to worry about." --Bester and Talia, ARTDP "It would appear my choice was successful. The woman who sold me this told me that I would definitely `turn heads.'" "Yeah, well, if they turn much further, you'd be sued for whiplash." --Delenn and Sheridan, ARTDP "You're so cute when you're worried about investigating someone close to you." --Ivanova to Garibaldi, ARTDP "Such creatures are an attempt by the universe to make sure we never take ourselves too seriously." --Delenn, ARTDP "We believe no race can be truly intelligent without laughter." --Delenn, ARTDP "How many Minbari does it take to screw in a light bulb?" "How many?" "None. They always surrender right before they finish the job, and they never tell you why." --Sheridan and Ivanova, ARTDP "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Kosh." "Kosh who?" "Gezheunheit." --Sheridan and Ivanova, ARTDP "Were you like this when you were married?" "Huh? Yeah." "The woman was a saint." --Ivanova and Sheridan, ARTDP "Well, at least I'm an intelligent life form according to the Minbari. I think I like that. I think I like that a lot." --Sheridan, ARTDP "I guess that's how they found my brother before they found me. They said he could either join the Corps, go into a relocation camp, or take the sleepers, so he wouldn't accidentally violate the privacy of normals. He took the sleepers. They shut off his talent, but they didn't stop him from speaking out against the Corps. He wrote the Senate, the media, got interviewed by ISN, until one day when they came to give him his injection. He closed his eyes and never woke up." --telepath #1, ARTDP "You're getting good at this. Keep working on it, one of these days I might even be convinced you're human." --Garibaldi to Bester, ARTDP "My talent woke up when I hit puberty. The Corps took me in, said I was a P-11, high as you can go before they turn you into a Psi Cop. After two years, they picked another P-11 and said I had to marry him. They wanted to increase the odds of breeding a P-12 or higher. I refused. One night, I woke up, heard voices, something soft over my face, felt hands lifting me out of bed. The next morning they tried to tell me it was all just a dream. Four weeks later I discovered I was pregnant. When she was born, they took her from me. As soon as I could walk, I escaped from the hospital, never saw my baby again." --telepath #2, ARTDP "Don't you think your presence might scare off the guy who's running this operation?" "No, not really, considering I am the guy running this operation." --Sheridan and Franklin, ARTDP "You'll destroy them inch by inch as a lesson to the rest. You want to keep us frightened and isolated, not just from normals, but from each other. That's the real reason we wear gloves, isn't it, to keep us apart? But what happens when the gloves come off?" --Talia to Bester, ARTDP "You had me going for a moment there." "The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. I know where my loyalties lie." --Bester and Talia, ARTDP "We'll of course deny all knowledge of this unfortunate incident." --Bester to Talia, ARTDP "I'm not saying what I'm saying. I'm not saying what I'm thinking. As a matter of fact, I'm not thinking what I'm thinking." --Sheridan to Franklin, ARTDP "You're more than you think you are." "And what am I?" "The future." --telepath and Talia, ARTDP "Captain, either you snore, or last night we had a hell of a breach in the hull!" --Ivanova to Sheridan, ARTDP "I'm deducting 60 credits per week from the budget set aside to maintain combat readiness and applying it against the rent." "On what grounds?" "On the grounds that I'm not ready to fight anybody until I've had a decent night's sleep in my own damn bed. You got a problem with that?" "No, none whatsoever. I rather like the idea of Earth Central paying rent to itself. It has a certain symmetry." --Sheridan and Ivanova, ARTDP "I just wanted to say that you were right and I was wrong, about the Corps." --Talia to Ivanova, ARTDP "So you're going to allow this, even over my objections." "Did I suddenly turn invisible or something? Yes, Ambassador, the Emperor is allowed to come aboard. Now if this bothers you, I suggest you stay in your quarters, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum real loud until it's over, unless you'd like to try something as breathtakingly rational as trying to open up a dialog? G'Kar, you are in a position to negotiate directly with the head of the Centauri Republic, and you're wasting it on a tantrum!" --G'Kar and Sheridan, "The Coming of Shadows" "This conversation makes you uncomfortable?" "Yes, yes it does." "Then for once, we have something in common." --Londo and Vir, TCoS "It is a strange feeling, Kha'Mak, to know suddenly that all the decisions in your life have brought you to this place, that there is no longer doubt or uncertainty. The future now consists of only three possibilities: in the moment that I strike, the Emperor and I will both die, or he will die and I spend my life in prison, or I will fail and be killed. For the first time in my life, the path is clear." --G'Kar, TCoS "It has occurred to me recently that I have never chosen anything. I was born into a role that had been prepared for me. I did everything I was asked to do because it never occurred to me to choose otherwise, and now, at the end of my life, I wonder what might have been." --Centauri Emperor, TCoS "The past tenses, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us, and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." --Centauri Emperor, TCoS "We must do something extraordinary, something unparallelled." "He said, `Just pick a target.'" --Lord Refa and Londo, TCoS "Find Mr. Morden, bring him here." "Londo, don't do this." "I have no choice!" "Yes, you do! Londo, please, please, please, I know you don't listen to me, but I'm asking you just this one time, don't do this! There's no turning back once you start down that road." "Do I have to go find him myself?" "No, no, I'll go. I'll go and I'll bring him back, and someday I'm going to remind you of this conversation, and maybe then, then you'll understand." "I understand just fine. By this time tomorrow we'll be at war with the Narn. May the Great Maker forgive me." --Londo and Vir, TCoS "I was ready. I had prepared myself. I had made my peace with the universe, put all my affairs in order. I had the dagger in my hand, and he has the indecency to start dying on his own! Never in my life have I seen a worse case of timing. Well, you'd think he could have waited a few more minutes before..." "Maybe it's good news. With luck he's feeling better. All they have to do is prop him up for two minutes! I'll call you back." --G'Kar, TCoS "I just came from seeing the Centauri Emperor." "How is the poor fellow? I was so looking forward to meeting him and opening up... a dialogue." "Funny, he was looking forward to meeting you, too. He had a message for you. Given his present condition, he asked me to relay that message for him." "I have no time for threats!" "He wanted to say he's sorry." "What?" "He came all the way out here, risked his health, and endangered his life so that he could stand beside a Narn in neutral territory and apologize for all the things the Centauri have done to your people, for all the things his family did. He said, `We were wrong. The hatred between our people can never end until someone is willing to say I'm sorry and try and find a way to make things right again to atone for our actions.' He said it was the only choice he ever made in his life and now that seems to have been taken away from him." "I had no idea." "No, I'm sure you didn't. Maybe that's the biggest tragedy of the whole damned story." --Franklin and G'Kar, TCoS "Mollari! You! I'm going to get you... a drink." --G'Kar to Londo, TCoS "I never thought I would be saying this, Mollari, but, to the health of your Emperor, and perhaps to your health as well." --G'Kar to Londo, TCoS "There's a great darkness coming, Michael. Some of the Minbari have been waiting for it a long time." --Sinclair's message to Garibaldi, TCoS "The bearer of this message is one of my Rangers. Some are Minbari, most are humans. They've been drawn here, to learn to work together and prepare for the fight ahead." --Sinclair's message to Garibaldi, TCoS "They are my eyes and ears. Where you see them, you see me." --Sinclair's message to Garibaldi, TCoS "Stay close to the Vorlon, and watch out for Shadows. They move when you're not looking at them." --Sinclair's message to Garibaldi, TCoS "They're doing it to us again!" --G'Kar, TCoS "Then you're going to have to decide what's more important to you, G'Kar, revenge or saving the lives of your people." --Sheridan, TCoS "No, leave him alone. Just leave him alone." --Sheridan, TCoS "How will this end?" "In fire." --Centauri Emperor and Kosh, TCoS "What did he say?" "He said, `Continue. Take my people back to the stars.'" "Mollari, what did he say, really?" "He said that we are both damned." "Well, it's a small enough price to pay for immortality." --Lord Refa and Londo, TCoS "Before coming here, I received a communique from my government. For a hundred years, the Centauri occupied our world, devastated it. We swore we would never let that happen again. This attack on our largest civillian colony had inflicted terrible damage and loss of life. They have crossed a line we cannot allow them to cross. As a result, two hours ago my government officially declared war against the Centauri Republic. Our hope for peace is over. We are now at war. We are now at war." --G'Kar to the Council, TCoS "I'm surprised. You could have asked to be named to the royal court. It would have put you in a position to become Emperor yourself some day. That's what you want, isn't it?" "No, I have no desire to be Emperor. No, I prefer to work behind the scenes. The reward is nearly as great, and the risk far, far less." --Vir and Londo, TCoS "What the hell is this?" "EarthForce calls it a classified operation. I call it a nightmare. Briefing's at 0900, if we survive all this." "Leave it to the infantry to ruin a guy's morning." --Garibaldi and Ivanova, GROPOS "You know, if you ask me, I think someone in EarthDome has gone completely mental." --Garibaldi to Ivanova and Sheridan, GROPOS "New weapon systems for your defense grid, the very latest from EarthForce R&D. When they're online, Babylon 5 will have enough firepower to take on a warship!" "Are you sure this is wise? Babylon 5 is supposed to be devoted to peace. If we begin arming heavily..." "The galaxy's changing, Captain, and Babylon 5 must change with it." --General Franklin and Sheridan, GROPOS "What the hell is Earth Central up to?" "Something I hoped we'd never hear again, the rattling of sabers." --Garibaldi and Sheridan, GROPOS "You got some kind of problem there, boy?" "Yeah, I got a problem. Just give me a minute to find a ladder, and we'll hash it out face-to-face." --Private Large and Keffer, GROPOS "Is that your medical opinion?" --Franklin "No, yours, exactly as stated in the Medical Log." --Ivanova, GROPOS "Nice butt." --Dodger about Garibaldi, GROPOS "The general wasn't kidding when he said we can take on a warship." "Let's just hope we don't have to test that." --Ivanova and Sheridan, GROPOS "Garibaldi, for a security slug, you're a lousy liar." --Dodger, GROPOS "You all right?" "Best thing next to sex." "You're all right." --Garibaldi and Dodger after the barfight, GROPOS "I'll be in and out in an hour. What could go wrong?" --Sheridan to Ivanova, "All Alone in the Night" "This is not a wise thing for you to do." "Probably not." "Have I mentioned recently how much I appreciate you, Lennier?" "Not really, but it will give us something to discuss on our trip." --Delenn and Lennier, AAitN "Your diagnosis, doctor?" --Garibaldi "Well, the patient is confused, delusional, unable to separate his natural sense of loyalty for his home team from the reality that they stink and only got into the playoffs on a technicality!" --Franklin "Yeah, what technicality? The Mars team hit more home runs than any other team on the books!" --Ramirez "Only because Martian gravity is 40% less than Earth normal! All right? The ball travels faster and further, skewing the results. Now once they hit Earth gravity, Hellen Keller could bat better than any one of them!" --Franklin, AAitN "Now, Captain..." "Yes, Commander?" "If you continue in this behavior, you'll just make the other pilots feel inadequate." "Spoil sport." --Ivanova and Sheridan, AAitN "If you're no longer one of us, how can you be one of the nine?" --Hedronn to Delenn, AAitN "You are an affront to the purity of our race! And your belief that you are satisfying prophesy is presumption of the highest order! And yet, it is true that you are now the perfect liason between us and the Earthers. You have no home with either of us. So please, act out your fantasy. Be our go-between. Return to Babylon 5, and stay there!" --Neroon to Delenn, AAitN "The first obligation of a prisoner is to escape. Right? Right? Listen, before, why did you ask me to kill you?" "There is no escape. Better to die." --Sheridan and Narn, AAitN "The Grey Council feels that I can best serve our people by staying on Babylon 5. They feel very... positive about it." --Delenn, AAitN "Where you walk, I will walk. I have sworn myself to your side." "You do not know, you can not know what you're saying." "Yes, I do. Come what may, Delenn, I will not leave you while I am still alive." --Lennier and Delenn, AAitN "Look at me, Lennier. Very soon now, I will be going into darkness, and fire. I do not know if I am fated to walk out again. If it is your choice to come with me, then I could not wish for a better, or braver, companion." --Delenn, AAitN "Shh. Do you know who I am?" --Ivanova "The man in between is searching for you." --Garibaldi "You are the hand." --Ivanova "Why are you here?" --Sheridan to Kosh "We were never away. For the first time, your mind is quiet enough to hear me." --Kosh "Why am I here?" --Sheridan "You have always been here." --Kosh, Sheridan's dream, AAitN "The ship which has taken Captain Sheridan is known to us. They are called the Streibs. Over the years, they have sent out ships to investigate defenses and acquire samples of any lifeforms they encountered. The last expedition was into Minbari space. We tracked them back to their homeworld and made sure they understood the depth of their mistake." --Delenn to Ivanova, AAitN "You have always been here." --Kosh to Sheridan, AAitN "Now we can talk freely. I don't know that the room is bugged, but I don't want to take any chances." "It is about time somebody showed up to debrief me, dammit! I've been waiting here for six months. I'd started feeling like I'd been abandoned." "I'm sorry. But with the death of President Santiago, it's taken a while to sort things through. What have you found out?" "They're all loyal to Earth, if that's what you mean. Ivanova, Garibaldi, Franklin, all the rest of them. They're good people, General. I don't like spying on them." "You're not a spy, more like a trapdoor spider. Santiago understood the importance of Babylon 5. He knew that if anything ever happened to him, President Clark would appoint some hard-nosed jarhead to run this place. Well, we both know you're not that, but from your record, you look like that. If Clark and his friends think you're one of them, they'll leave you alone, which is what we need." "Why?" "Not everyone back home buys the party line that Santiago's death was an accident." "Yeah, well, lately I've been having some real second thoughts about this myself. If Santiago's death was an assassination, we're talking about a military coup here." "Not entirely, though they probably had some support from within the military, the intelligence community, the HomeGuard, but they're not the ones calling the shots." "It's PsiCorps, isn't it?" "Probably. The trick is proving it. We have to proceed very carefully back home. If we go too far too fast, we'll be noticed. Babylon 5, on the other hand, has military, intelligence, and civilian sources to draw upon. Now since they thing you're on their side, they won't be paying as close attention." "You're making an awfully big assumption that I'm on your side. What makes you think I won't turn you in the second you walk out that door?" "A soldier's record tells a lot about a person, not just what he's done, but how he's done it and why. You have an uncommon failing for someone in your position, Captain. You're a patriot. You believe as I do that when we put on this uniform we took a solemn vow to protect Earth from threats from outside and within. Now, it's a difficult decision. You risk losing your entire career if you say yes. Worse still, now that you've had a chance to evaluate your staff, you have to decide if you trust them enough to bring them in on this, knowing that you're putting them in equal jeopardy." "It's not much reward for being trustworthy, is it?" "No, no it's not, but it's time we stopped reacting and started acting. Now in 20 minutes, I'm getting on a ship and heading for Earth. I'll try to feed you as much information as I can, when I can. Your cooperation is essential if we're going to take back our government. So, I need your answer Captain, and I need it now." --General Hague and Captain Sheridan, AAitN "G'Kar, everyone in this room knows too well that the first casualty of war is always the truth." --Sheridan, "Acts of Sacrifice" "The war is young, the Centauri are still in the process of committing their forces, some in their government are unsure about the entire affair. They only need a reason not to fight. If the Minbari intervene, you could provide that reason. You could save hundreds of thousands of lives." "Narn lives." "And Centauri." "But you said many times that you would never rest until the Centauri had been utterly destroyed. Do we help you now, knowing that in a few years, when your force is at full strength, the Centauri will ask us for help against you? You must know that your recent actions in the recent past, the things you've said, make it difficult for anyone to come to your aid now." "I know. But what else could I do? When you have been crushed beneath the wheel for as long as we have, revenge occupies your every waking thought. When everything else had been taken from us, our hatred kept us alive." "And now it may destroy you." --G'Kar and Delenn, AoS "Unless others choose to become involved, we will destroy them or they will destroy us. There is no in-between." --G'Kar to Delenn, AoS "I wanted respect. Instead, I've turned into a wishing well with legs." --Londo, AoS "We can go round and round about this all night long figuring out who started what, and it'll take us back a hundred years before we're done!" --Sheridan to G'Kar, AoS "My job isn't serving evolution, it's serving humanity, even when the patient isn't human." --Franklin to Correlilmurzon, AoS "Let me buy you something. I'll make sure that it's chemically inoffensive." --Londo to Garibaldi, AoS "A moment of joy in a lifetime of suffering. Take it while you can." --Londo to Garibaldi, AoS "I don't know you any more, Londo. None of us do." --Garibaldi, AoS "And now that things are changing and I look around for someone to share my good fortune with, there is no one, except you, my good, close friend Garibaldi." --Londo, AoS "It's good to have friends, is it not?" --Londo, AoS "If you're interested in showing how strong you are, I suggest you return home and join the military. It's easy to talk about being strong here, when there isn't a Centauri ion cannon pointed at your head!" --G'Kar, AoS "There's what we believe, and then there's what we can prove. The time it takes to prove it will give me some room to maneuver. Telling Londo now won't bring this guy back. Not telling him for a while might save a lot of people from getting killed in the riot." --Sheridan to Garibaldi, AoS "We simply can't give the Narn goverment any kind of official help. I feel for them as much as you do, but their people will just have to fend for themselves." --military to Sheridan, AoS "You said these are your own species, yes?" "We call them Lurkers, and yes, humans mostly. They come to Babylon 5 in search of new lives, new opportunities. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, quite often they don't have enough money for a return ticket, so they end up getting small jobs here and there. When those go dry, they end up moving into the undeveloped parts of the station, DownBelow. Anyway, this is something you shouldn't really be seeing." "Most impressive." "Excuse me?" "We have isolated ourselves from inferior species, but you, you have shown the will and the strength to isolate the genetically inferior parts of your own species, as an evolutionary protection." "I don't think you understand, this was not intentional." "Ah, you're too modest, you're too modest, it's a brilliant move, Commander. You see, you isolate the genetic pool, you limit their chances for procreation, you create a work force without a power base to challenge you. This is not something we'd thought of, but it is something we will institute on our world at the first opportunity. You see, alliances" "Alliances are built upon more than tactical advantages, they are built on similarities of culture. And it would appear that we are more similar than I had first suspected. Congratulations, Commander. This more than anything else has convinced me that you are worthy of an alliance. We will go now and discuss the terms of our alliance." "Thank you, but I, uh, this is not, ah hell." --Correlilmurzon and Ivanova, AoS "Ambassador, I've learned the hard way that governments deal in matters of convenience, not conscience. If they fall behind, it is up to the rest of us to make up the difference. If we don't, who will?" --Sheridan and Delenn, AoS "Could this situation possibly get any uglier?" --Garibaldi to Sheridan "This couldn't possibly be any worse!" --Ivanova to Franklin, AoS "But nobody told me this involved having sex with an alien!" --Ivanova, AoS "Well, you could put a bag over his head and do it for Babylon 5. Maybe not." --Franklin to Ivanova, AoS "Boom shubba lubba lubba, boom shubba lubba lubba, hey there, hey there, three bags full. You come here often? Yes, I do. Dinner, shubba lubba lubba, drinks shubba lubba lubba, kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss, get it up! How do you like it so far? I slept with you the other night. You didn't call, you didn't write. I think you did it just for spite! Oh, yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! Tell me about your portfolio! Oh, yes yes yes yes! Lie to me about your family! Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, yes yes yes, yeeeeeees! Oh, god, you're good." "What do I do now?" "Old style, you roll over and go to bed. New style, you go out for pizza and I never see you again." --Ivanova and Correlilmurzon, AoS "Next time, my way." --Correlilmurzon's message to Ivanova, AoS "It is good to have friends, is it not, Mr. Garibaldi, even if maybe only for a little while?" "Even if only for a little while." --Londo and Garibaldi, AoS "Bay 13? Nobody goes to Bay 13." --Garibaldi, "Hunter, Prey" "Sometimes, late at night, I just come here and watch it. If you look carefully, you can actually see the patterns on the skin changing slightly." --Ivanova about Kosh's ship, H,P "You can see why we've had to quarantine this whole area. The last maintenance crew we had in here, wouldn't come back. They kept having dreams about this thing. They said it talked to them in their sleep." --Ivanova to Sheridan, H,P "Not here. I don't want this on the links, and I sure as hell don't want to talk in front of this thing." --Garibaldi to Sheridan, H,P "They authorized extreme sanction against a civilian? My God, what does this guy know?" --Sheridan about Jacobs, H,P "Slow down jump clearances as much as you can. Tell them we're having mechanical problems." "That they'll believe." --Sheridan and Ivanova, H,P "Michael, you ever consider climbing out of the barracks sometime and looking around at the world?" --Franklin "Yeah, I will, when people stop shooting at me." --Garibaldi, H,P "Why?" "You tell me. You're the one who popped in my dream when I was in that alien ship a few weeks ago. It felt like, I don't know, like you called to me." "I sought understanding. I listened to the song. Your thoughts became the song." "Has this ever happened before?" "Once." --Kosh and Sheridan, H,P "These guys are about as subtle as a brick through a glass window." --Garibaldi about Cranston's people, H,P "Just once I'd like to make it through a crisis with a minimum of grief." --Sheridan, H,P "Before President Santiago was killed aboard Earth Force One, Clark got off the ship, claiming he had some kind of virus. Twenty-four hours later, Earth Force One is destroyed in an accident, and Clark assumes the presidency." "Pretty damned convenient illness." --Sarah and Sheridan, H,P "Fine, no problem, you want mayo on that?" --Sheridan to Sarah, H,P "If the other side gets their hands on Jacobs, they'll disappear him." --Sarah to Sheridan, H,P "I don't believe anybody." --Garibaldi, H,P "Captain, one of the ambassadors is asking to see you." "Can it wait until morning?" "I don't know, sir. It's Ambassador Kosh." --comm and Sheridan, H,P "Back then it was like some long, summer night, crazy, innocent, optimistic as hell. And then, I don't know, somewhere along the line we lost something somewhere." "I think we lost interest in the future when all the things we were told were coming finally got here. Wasn't what we thought it was going to be. It's like when you keep bugging your folks for that one special toy for Christmas and when you finally get it, it's not as great as the vids made it look. Just doesn't run right. And you're so disappointed you shove it in the closet and never take it out again." "Maybe somebody should have labelled the future `Some Assembly Required'." --Garibaldi and Franklin, H,P "I don't give out names. It's, uh, it's bad for business." --merchant "Yeah, well so's having your eyeballs spooned out and served on toast. Now make up your mind and make it up fast because it is getting awfully close to my breakfast time." --Garibaldi, H,P "You wanted to see me?" "You wanted to see me." "Well, I guess everybody does. To see what you really are, inside that encounter suit." "They are not ready. They would not understand." "Am I ready?" "No. You do not even understand yourself." "Could you help me to understand you?" "Can you help me to understand you?" "Well, I can try. Is that what you want? An exchange of information? I tell you something about me, and you tell me something about you?" "No. You do not understand. Go." "Dammit, what do you want? What do you want from me? You know, ever since I got here I've had the feeling that, that you've been watching me. The record shows that you hardly ever went to Council meetings until I showed up. When I was captured, it was you who reached out and touched my mind. And now you call me here? Why? Just to throw me out? Are we just toys to you? Huh? What do you want?" "Never ask that question!" "At least I got a response out of you. So what'll it be, Ambassador?" "I will teach you." "About yourself?" "About yourself. Until you are ready." "For what?" "To fight legends." --Sheridan and Kosh, H,P "Very well, perhaps you can answer my question. I want to know why I was not told about the internal scanners before, and how long will it take to interface it with our system, now that I do know?" --Cranston "A, you didn't ask. B, we don't know the systems are compatible. C, assuming they are, 2.3 hours. And D, at an early age, someone should have told you you can attract a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar. Sir." --Ivanova, H,P "He's got a plan, I can tell. He's got that look." --Garibaldi about Sheridan, H,P "You enjoyed that, didn't you?" --Ivanova "Commander, how could you even suggest such a thing?" --Sheridan, H,P "This is strange. While I was asleep, the ship, it sang to me." --Dr. Jacobs, H,P "You've just scored a major victory for the good guys. You should be proud. Until next time, Captain." "There's always a next time, isn't there?" "You'd better pray it stays that way, Captain, because as long as there is a next time, at least there's a chance we'll win, because it this war, Captain, we need all the chances we can get." --Sheridan and Sarah, H,P "Welcome to Babylon 5. The last, best hope for a quick buck. Oh, this is demeaning! We're not some deep space franchise. This station is about something!" --Ivanova to Sheridan, "There All the Honor Lies" "I'm counting on you to focus that hostility with your typical dilligence to make sure that this station and its inhabitants are in no way, as you so correctly put it, demeaned." --Sheridan to Ivanova, TAtHL "You find that Minbari witness I mentioned in my report. He will back me up, I am absolutely sure." "Description?" "Bald, with a bone on his head." "We're gonna need a real big line-up room." --Sheridan and Garibaldi, TAtHL "You do have a suspicious mind! I like that." --Sheridan to Garibaldi, TAtHL "Even in a vacuum, this smells of a setup." --Garibaldi to Sheridan, TAtHL "I answer to other Minbari, not freaks." --Ashan to Delenn, TAtHL "Because we are the same, you may ask your questions, if you can tolerate the answers." --Ashan to Lennier, TAtHL "Minbari do not lie, Captain. It would be a stain upon honor and soul." --Lennier, TAtHL "Take me to Captain Sheridan." "Are you expected?" "No, dreaded." --Guinevere Corey and Zack, TAtHL "Whose side are you on?" --Ashan "We are on the side of the truth. Is there another?" --Lennier, TAtHL "May I ask what you were discussing here?" "The only thing that matters - the truth." "Ah, yes, the favorite song of the legally ignorant." --Corey and Sheridan, TAtHL "I don't appreciate being called ignorant in front of others." "I'm sorry. Is naive better?" "And I don't need a lawyer." "Now we're back to ignorant." --Sheridan and Corey, TAtHL "The lesson." "I know, I sort of forgot. Look, it's been kind of a bad day, and I'm not really in the best frame of mind for any lessons just now." "Precisely the correct time." --Kosh and Sheridan, TAtHL "What's inside there?" "One moment of perfect beauty." --Sheridan and Kosh, TAtHL "Londo, I feel like I'm falling in a pit and there's no way out." --Vir, TAtHL "This was a joke to them. Before I left, my uncle said to me, you and I deserve each other." --Vir and Londo, TAtHL "Everywhere I go, I don't fit in or I'm asked to leave." --Vir, TAtHL "I'm caught between fire and flood, and if there's a way out I sure don't see it." --Vir to Londo, TAtHL "Another lesson? What this time?" "Beauty. In the dark." "Well, it must be working. You're beginning to talk just like a Vorlon." --Ivanova and Sheridan, TAtHL "What do you honor, Ashan? The truth, or the obligations of our clan?" --Lennier, TAtHL "It's a mockery. It doesn't even have any, uh, attributes." --Londo "Attributes?" --Sheridan "Do I have to spell it out for you?" --Londo "Oh, I see, so you feel like you are being symbolically cast... in a bad light." --Ivanova, about the Londo doll, TAtHL "Who said the Minbari don't lie? Oh, never mind. Good day." "Are you saying they do lie?" "Oh, it was nothing important." "Londo, I have a critical situation here hinging on Minbari honesty. Now if you know something...." "A certain Minbari once lied to save a certain Centauri ambassador from embarrassment. Apparently there is honor in helping another save face." "They'd lie to protect someone's honor. The question becomes, who, or what is being protected." --Londo and Sheridan, TAtHL "I never thought there could be anything worse than being all alone in the night." --Sheridan "But there is. Being all alone in a crowd. You feel cut off from your people, from your government, you even begin to doubt yourself. I understand it so well that it cuts to my heart." --Delenn, TAtHL "You must understand, Captain, that there is no greater honor among my people than to serve. They work for generations to create a legacy, a tradition. In the service of their clan, they're ready to sacrifice everything. Their individuality, their blood, their life." "Their honor? Well we've had plenty of that ourselves. Conspiracies of silence because the larger ideals have to be protected. But you can't have larger ideals if the smaller ones get compromised. It's like building a house without a foundation, Delenn, it can't stand." --Delenn and Sheridan, TAtHL "We'll leave Lavell's motives in the attack one more mystery. Around here, who'll notice one more?" --Sheridan to Delenn & Lennier, TAtHL "Your first hangover. Enjoy it. I remember my first hangover. Well, actually that's not true. If I remembered it, it wouldn't be a real hangover." --Londo to Vir, TAtHL "Zeta 1, have you encountered unidentified object? Can you describe it?" "Negative, Babylon Control, I don't think so. Not on a bet." --Babylon Control and Keffer, TAtHL "Then the attack on your transport was completely unprovoked?" "Of course." --Cynthia Torqueman and Londo, "And Now For A Word" "He's lying." --G'Kar about Londo, ANFAW "We are already in far greater jeopardy than you can possibly imagine." --G'Kar to Torqueman, ANFAW "It's a calm, pleasant environment. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get upset here." --Corwin, with Ivanova looking on, ANFAW "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps." --Sheridan, ANFAW "And anybody who thinks we can hold our own against the Minbari, the Centauri, and God forbid the Vorlons, is just plain kidding himself." --Sheridan, ANFAW "Any time you lose a war, you just, you just wait a few years and you'll hear from everyone who thought that we could have won if they had done the fighting." "Except, of course, Captain, we didn't lose the war. The Minbari did surrender." "Of course." --Sheridan and Torqueman, ANFAW "When the Captain is otherwise engaged with diplomatic or business affairs, this place is under the watchful eye of its perky and energetic Commander, Susan Ivan-ova." --Torqueman, ANFAW "Now, Commander, surely there's more to your story than that." "Yes." --Torqueman and Ivanova, ANFAW "I'd love to be bored out of my skull for just 24 hours." --Garibaldi, ANFAW "They are doing what they always do, using details to distract us from doing what must be done!" --G'Kar about the Centauri, ANFAW "Roughly 150 of your years ago, the Centauri came to our world. Narn was a green and fertile place then. We greeted them in peace, and spent the next 100 years in chains. But we never gave up hope. We formed a resistance, learned their secrets, turned their own machines against them and finally drove them from our world." --G'Kar, ANFAW "There are humans for whom the words `Never again' carry special meaning, as they do for us." --G'Kar, ANFAW "When we first met the Narn, they were a primitive people. We gave them technology centuries ahead of their own, took them with us to the stars, taught them laws, civilized them. They repaid us with terror, and death." --Londo, ANFAW "Then you weren't driven off the Narn homeworld?" "The Narn have rewritten history enough, don't you think? If they wanted us gone, we were hardly going to force the issue. But ever since, they have grown more and more irrational, have gone out of their way to harm us, to sieze Centauri territory. Finally, we had to take a stand. They were the ones who declared war, not us. We want only peace." --Torqueman and Londo, ANFAW "We're everywhere, for your convenience." --PsiCop, ANFAW "The Psi Corps is your Friend. Trust the Corps." --ANFAW "I'm only glad you made it out alive, Cynthia. We need all the good reporters we can get." --Senator Ronald Quantrell, ANFAW "Given the danger, at the end of the day, as Mr. Garibaldi said, is it worth it?" --Cynthia Torqueman "Absolutely. Oh, sure, when things get tense out here, we have to be careful. Our search of the Centauri vessels we captured proved they were bringing in weapons of mass destruction, off-loading them outside the station, and sending them on to the front lines. Now that we know that, we can make sure it doesn't happen any more. We learn. That's what humans do." --Garibaldi "Misunderstandings aside, yes, I definitely think it's worth it. We must simply work harder to make sure we communicate with one another, to prevent this sort of tragic situation from ever happening again. A violent attack by Narn forces is an unacceptable response to a peaceful protest by my government. With the intervention of Earth, perhaps we can keep them from making a similar mistake in the future." --Londo "I don't know any more. I used to think so, but now..." --G'Kar "Yes." --Ivanova "Of course it is, for the simple reason that no one else would ever build a place like this. Humans share one unique quality - they build communities. If the Narns or the Centauri or any other race built a station like this, it would be used only by their own people. But everywhere humans go, they create communities out of diverse and sometimes hostile populations. It is a great gift, and a terrible responsibility, one that cannot be abandoned." --Delenn "Well, I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?" --Quantrell "If we weren't here right now, half the people in this room would be dead. Now that should be a good enough answer for anyone." --Franklin "Sure, what are you kidding? I have a retirement pension to make, you know?" --Delvientos "Yes, but not for any of the reasons that you've probably been told. The job of Babylon 5 is not to enforce the peace, it's to create the peace. This place was built on the assumption that we could work out our problems and build a better future, and that to me is the key issue. You see, in the last few years we've stumbled. We've stumbled at the death of the president, the war, and on and on. And when you stumble a lot, you start looking at your feet. We have to make people lift their eyes back to the horizon and see the line of ancestors behind us saying, `Make my life have meaning,' and to our inheritors before us saying, `Create the world we will live in.' We're not just holding jobs and having dinner. We are in the process of building the future. That's what Babylon 5 is all about. Only by making people understand that can we hope to create a better world for ourselves and for posterity." --Sheirdan, ANFAW "Mr. Morden." "Vir. I was expecting Ambassador Mollari." "He was recalled to Centauri Prime for consultations about the war effort." "And how is your war going?" "Why do you ask me questions when you already know the answers?" "Just making conversation. Here, sit. Sit. You don't like me, do you Vir? I find this surprising. After all, my associates and I are doing everything we can to help your people reclaim their place in the galaxy. I should think you'd be grateful." "Is there a reason you sent for me?" "I sent for Ambassador Mollari. But you're here, he's not, and it will wait. If restoring the Centauri Republic means nothing, what does? What do you want?" "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next 10 generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up at your lifeless eyes and wave, like this." "Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?" "Here is the information Ambassador Mollari asked for. Give it to him when he arrives. You can go now." "Mr. Morden!" --Vir and Morden, "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" "He's supposed to be dead!" --Sheridan about Morden, ItSoZ "Nice shoes." --Morden to Sheridan, ItSoZ "I'll admit my knowledge of the law is somewhat limited, but I believe it is tradition if you're gonna hold someone you should at least charge him with something." --Morden to Sheridan, ItSoZ "You're a damned liar." --Sheridan to Morden, ItSoZ "You can't do this." --Morden "Watch me." --Sheridan, ItSoZ "You're playing a very dangerous game, Captain. It could cost you your command." --Morden "One hundred and thirty-nine people died on board the Icarus, Mr. Morden, including my wife, and here you sit, not a scratch. Now something here doesn't add up. I intend to find out what happened, what really happened. If necessary, you will sit here for the next hour, the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year, the next five hundred years, but you will not leave here until I know the truth." --Sheridan, ItSoZ "You know, when a patient starts to slip away, when he looks at you, and his eyes grab onto you the way a drowning man grabs hold of anything to keep from sinking, afraid, so afraid, and then just at the last, it's as if they look past you to something else, and the look on their face, it's like nothing you can describe. And then, just as they look past you, the moment that they look past you, you can't help but meet their gaze, and just for an instant, you see God reflected in their eyes. I've seen a lot of reflected Gods today, Susan, and I'm wondering how we can keep believing in them when they've stopped believing in us." --Franklin to Ivanova, ItSoZ "Captain, we have to speak to you, about Mr. Morden. You must release him at once." "You too? The both of you? Who is this guy? Why is everyone so interested in him?" "You will simply have to trust us, Captain. If you do not release him quickly, everyone here is in terrible danger." "No, not until I get some answers once and for all." "If this is the only way, then we will give you those answers, but be warned, once you know his secret, once you know what we have known for the last three years, you will never sleep well again. Come, Captain. The greatest nightmare of our times is waiting for you." --Delenn and Sheridan, ItSoZ "There are beings in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. Once, long ago, they walked among the stars like giants, vast and timeless. They taught the younger races, explored beyond the Rim, created a great empire. But to all things there is an end. Slowly, over a million years, the First Ones went away. Some passed beyond the stars, never to return. Some simply disappeared." "Delenn, I'm sure this is all very interesting, but what does any of this have to do with Morden?" "Not all of the First Ones have gone away. A few stayed behind, hidden or asleep, waiting for the day when they may be needed, when the Shadows come again." "Shadows?" "We have no other name for them. The Shadows were old when even the ancients were young. They battled one another over and over across a million years. The last great war against the Shadows was 10,000 years ago. It was the last time the ancients walked openly among us. But the Shadows were only defeated, not destroyed. A thousand years ago, the Shadows returned to their places of power, rebuilt them, and began to stretch forth their hand. Before they could strike, they were defeated by an alliance of worlds, including the Minbari, and the few remaining First Ones who had not yet passed beyond the veil. When they had finished, the First Ones went away, all but one." "There's still one of them left. Where?" "That is why Kosh cannot leave his encounter suit. He would be recognized." "Recognized? By whom?" "Everyone." --Kosh, Delenn, Sheridan, ItSoZ "The Icarus. Your wife's ship. Sent to investigate the ruins of an ancient race no one has ever heard of before." --Delenn to Sheridan, ItSoZ "Anna. The Icarus. They found something. They woke something up." "Yes. Once awakened, the Shadows could not allow them to leave, in case they would warn others. Those who would not serve were killed." "But were they all killed? Delenn, maybe some of them were kept alive as prisoners. Anna might still be alive. Morden..." "must be released." "But after what you just showed me, how can you ask me to let him go?" "Because right now they do not know how much we know. Last time, the Shadows lost because they moved too quickly. Now they are being careful, gathering their forces slowly. If you push Morden, sooner or later, he will tell you what happened, and then he will be killed, and you will be killed, and the Shadows will move now, before we are ready for them." "How are they going to know?" "Because Morden is never alone. Listen to me. Aside from the Vorlons, we do not have the First Ones to help us this time. We are on our own. We will have only one chance to stop them, and if we fail, billions will die. There comes a moment when each of us must pledge himself to something greater than himself. You told G'Kar he had to decide between revenge and the good of his own people. Now you must make the same decision, Captain. It will be the most important decision of your life." --Sheridan and Delenn, ItSoZ "Have you ever studied ancient history, 20th century, World War II?" "Well, not really. I always used to fall asleep in history class." --Sheridan and Zack, ItSoZ "How many lives is a secret worth?" --Zack to Sheridan, ItSoZ "If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die." --Kosh to Sheridan, ItSoZ "How fitting you should die with a song on your lips, Mollari." --"Knives" "I've been attacked by aliens before, but never by dead ones." --Sheridan "Maybe next time you'll listen when I tell you not to do something." --Garibaldi, Knives "You know, Vir, you have what the Earthers call a negative personality." "No I don't." "There, you see!" --Londo and Vir, Knives "I once saw a whole chorus line of purple wombats doing show tunes in my bathtub. 'Course, I was pretty drunk at the time." --Garibaldi, Knives "It ended as all love does. Badly." --Londo, about Adira, Knives "The Narn did not start this conflict. They were forced into it by a faction within our own midst, the same faction who murdered Prime Minister Malachi and put that infantile puppet Cartagia on the throne." --Urza Jaddo to Londo, Knives "A resolution is about to be brought before the Centaurum, declaring me and my house traitors to the Republic." "No, you are joking. They could never prove such a thing." "These days, the mere accusation is enough." --Urza and Londo, Knives "Commander. Everything in order?" "Remarkably so. And it's beginning to worry me." "Do you always worry when things are going well?" "I don't have time to worry when they're not." --Sheridan & Ivanova, Knives "Babylon 4? I thought that was destroyed!" "So did we, until we got a signal from it." "Now wait a second. I never read anything about this in the station logs." "Well, that's because Earth Force decided to confiscate all the records for their investigation." --Sheridan and Garibaldi, Knives "A month ago he would have grown horns rather than speak to me." "He still may." --Londo and Urza, Knives "You would fight me to the death, Urza?" "Yes, to save my honor and my family from your new friends, or have you become as cowardly as they?" "I take your gift, and your challenge, in the spirit in which they are offered." "Go. Make your peace with the gods, and return here in two hours." --Londo and Urza, Knives "Since you helped it, do you think we might be able to contact it again?" --Franklin "Ah, no thanks. I prefer to be only slightly insane." --Sheridan "Don't we all?" --Garibaldi, Knives "I have made many choices lately, Vir, and today for the first time, I'm not sure those choices were right." "Perhaps some good has come out of this tragedy. It's not too late to make some new choices." "No. The blood is already on my hands. Right or wrong, I must follow the path to its end." --Londo and Vir, Knives "Good hunting." --Ivanova to Zeta Squadron, "Confessions and Lamentations" "Captain? Captain Sheridan?" --Delenn "In the memory of the Nine and the One... What?" --Sheridan "Uh, you were, uh, you were asleep." --Delenn "No, no, I wasn't asleep. I was meditating." --Sheridan "The sound you were making was part of human meditation?" --Lennier "I don't snore." --Sheridan, C&L "They don't even want to talk about it, as if the very subject makes them dirty." --Dr. Lazaaren about the plague, C&L "How do I know this isn't a conspiracy on the part of your world to destroy my people? For all I know, this disease was planted in our drinking water, our food. None of this happened until we began coming here. Perhaps it is your own immorality that has contaminated us." --Markab ambassador, C&L "All life is transitory, a dream. We all come together in the same place, at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall." --Delenn to Sheridan, C&L "Faith manages." --Confessions and Lamentations "Sometimes the test is not to find the answer, it's to see how you react when you realize there is no answer." --Dr. Lazaaren to Franklin, C&L "Now I want a complete biogenic comparison of these two groups in an hour or by God you're gonna have something a hell of a lot worse than the plague to worry about!" --Franklin, C&L "When I was a child, I once visited the city with my family and became separated from my parents. The more I looked for them, the more lost I became. The streets became smaller, narrower, darker. I was so afraid. Then, I found myself in an old temple, and I thought, 'I will wait here. I will be safe here. They will come. They will come for me.'" "Did they?" "Not at first. Hours passed. The temple was cold and deserted. I fell asleep. When I woke up, there was someone standing over me. He looked down and smiled, and my fear went away. He stood there, bright against the darkness, and he said that I was going to be all right, and if I believed that my parents will come for me, and he said 'I will not alarm to come to my little ones here in my great house.' Just then, the door opened, and my parents came running in." --Delenn and child, C&L "Hey! What do you call 2 billion dead Markabs? Planetary redecorating. Hah hah hah. News. News gives me the creeps. You know, I heard it was the Vorlons that poisoned that place. You know how they are." --bartender "Nothing changes." --Franklin, C&L "I find this notion of 'the press' a fascinating, sometimes troubling concept." --Delenn "Join the club." --Sheridan "Back home, if there is something you need to know, you are told just what is required and no more. It is tradition." --Delenn, Divided Loyalties "'Eye on Minbari'?" --Sheridan "It is good to know what your people are thinking and saying about my people. And I often learn things about my own world before I am told what I need to know and know more." --Delenn, DL "It's hard to believe it's taken us so long to get to this point. Two years." "Well, you didn't exactly make it easy." "Me? How about you." "I'll have you know I've been nothing but compassionate and understanding. I mean, all you had to do was admit that you were wrong and I was right, and everything would have been fine." --Talia and Ivanova, DL "This place is important to a lot of people. More important than you could possibly know." --Lyta to command staff, DL "They wanted to know what I saw in Kosh's mind. There wasn't anything more than what I reported, but they didn't want to believe me. There was just the memory of his attack, and a feeling." --Lyta "What kind of feeling?" --Franklin "It's not something I can put into words. I've tried for two years, and I still can't do it. They wouldn't accept that. Finally, six months ago, I escaped the Psi Corps on a shuttle bound for Mars. Since that time, I've been trying to get into Vorlon space." --Lyta "Vorlons don't allow anyone inside their borders. Those who try, don't come back." --Garibaldi "I know. But ever since I touched Ambassador Kosh, I've been drawn there. Sooner or later, I'm gonna make it. And they'll let me in, I know it." --Lyta, DL "Comments, anyone?" --Sheridan "Does the phrase, 'No way in hell,' ring a bell?" --Ivanova, DL "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine. No, actually I'm not fine. This has been one hell of a day, Ambassador." "Do you wish to talk about it?" "No. Why is it, every time you finally get things calmed down, and everything is going great, life decides to kick you in the butt?" "But what?" "What?" "You said that life decides to kick you, but...?" "No, no, it's a part of the body. It's, uh, oh, you have the damnedest gaps in your vocabulary." "In preparing to come here, I was not taught the more, um, colorful aspects of your language. It was considered inappropriate for one of the religious caste." "Yeah, well, you're missing out on a whole lot." "So I gather. Butt. Butt? I butt, you butt, he or she butts." "No, no, it's, uh," "Butt butt. Butt butt?" "You sound like a motor boat." "Motor butt? I do not think I like the sound of that." "Well, I don't blame you. I'm against the whole idea." "Then we are in agreement." "Abso-fraggin-lutely." "There, you see." "What?" "Something has gone your way today. It is the way the universe works. Wait just a little while, and the wheel turns." "Thank you." --Delenn and Sheridan, DL "That's one cabinet that will never threaten us again." --Talia to Ivanova, DL "Are you in some kind of trouble?" --Delenn "Ambassador, I think I'm in just about every kind of trouble there is." --Lyta, DL "Things are changing so quickly." --Ivanova, DL "We all have secrets." --Talia "Yes, but mine might come back and haunt me." --Ivanova, DL "I let myself in. You should change your lock code more often." "You okay?" "I'm sorry, I thought I was ready for this." "Ready for what?" "I can't have Lyta or any other telepath in my mind, ever." "I understand your feelings." "No, you don't understand. You can't, 'cause I haven't told you." "Told me what?" "I told you that my mother was a telepath, and that since I was born, she could slip into my thoughts, in a way that I could never even describe to you. But what I didn't tell you, is that I learned how to keep her out when I wanted to, and that every once in a while, I was the one who touched her mind. I'm a latent telepath." --Ivanova and Sheridan, DL "For as long as I can remember, my mother drilled three words into my head: 'Tell no one.' She taught me how to fool the tests given at school, transferred me from one school to another, always staying one step ahead of the Psi Corps. I'm probably not even a P1. I've never been able to read anyone except my mother. I can pick up on feelings some times. I can block a casual scan, and I know instantly if someone's doing it. But nothing more. But that's enough for the Psi Corps to come pull you in." --Ivanova to Sheridan, DL "Garibaldi believes her." "Garibaldi doesn't believe anyone." "Exactly." --Sheridan and Ivanova, DL "With all this nonsense lately, some days I don't even know who I am any more." --Ivanova to Sheridan, DL "Boo! Gotcha!" --Garibaldi, DL "I suggest you move those eyes somewhere else, while you still have them." --Ivanova to Lyta, DL "I guess it wouldn't be a good time to suggest we all join hands and sing 'Kumbayah'?" --Garibaldi, DL "She's clean. I'm sorry." --Lyta "Go to hell." --Ivanova, DL "You blew my cover. You're dead. You hear me, your dead! The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father. You're dead, Lyta Alexander. We'll find you. The Corps'll find you!" --Talia, DL "We have one advantage. We know about their sleeper program. Now they don't want that revealed any more than we want our side to get out." --Franklin "That sounds like an old-fashioned Mexican stand-off to me." --Sheridan, DL "You don't know what it's like living only in the shadows of her mind, watching, laughing at all of you out here, foolish, petty, stupid. There I was, trapped inside, able to come out only at night when she was asleep, her invisible sister. And you believed everything she said to you, all the things you wanted to hear, all the words I whispered in her thoughts while she lay sleeping, the words that would get her closer to you, and to what you knew. You should see the look on your face, my good and dear friend Susan." --Talia to Ivanova, DL "I never told them. I never told anyone. I hid it all away in the smallest, tiniest corner of my mind. They could have killed me and they still wouldn't have found it. Only at night, alone, would I open that small door in my mind where I kept the memory of you, and listen to your voice, listen to you sing me to sleep. I hope that I can come back again. But I don't know. Until then, Kosh, I want to see you again, just one more time before I go." --Lyta, DL "Refa! The emperor?" "He is out among his people, basking in their almost-sincere adulation. He has left things here in the hands of his court, which can function just as well without him as with him. Sometimes better." "A point that I'm sure has not been lost on him." "I will only say that he appreciates his position, and ours. And yours. You have been much in our thoughts lately. We know this has been a hard time for you. Our work here... " "Has cost me the life of one friend already. How many more do you have lined up?" "What has happened in the past is unfortunate, Londo. But for the sake of our people, we must learn from our mistakes and move on." "Lord Refa, I have come a long way, and I am tired. Is there a reason I have been summoned here, now?" "Indeed there is. I have good news. The war which began six months is about to end, sooner than any of us could have hoped. And you, Londo Mollari, will be the architect of our victory." --Londo and Refa, "The Long, Twilight Struggle" "You don't have any idea who I am, do you?" "Unless there's another Minbari who could do what you just did, you're the Minbari who took custody of the planet we're orbiting." "Ah, Captain, you do not take custody of a planet, the planet takes custody of you." --Draal and Sheridan, TLTS "I'm here to invite you down for a visit." "A visit? Well, yes, I suppose. When?" "Whenever is most convenient for you. And whenever is most convenient for you is as soon as possible. Trust me." "Wait! What about your planet's defenses? And how do I contact you?" "Details. Details! Oh, and you can bring one other. You'll know who." --Draal and Sheridan, TLTS "There's always hope. At least, that's what I tell myself when I awaken in the middle of the night and the only sound I can hear is the beating of my own desperate heart." --G'Sten to G'Kar, TLTS "In the final analysis, your work here could be more important than a fleet of ships." --G'Sten to G'Kar, TLTS "And you are sure that your information is correct, hmm?" "Of course. We intercepted a coded transmission from the Narn strategic command to one of their flag ships. They intend to strike at Gorash 7." "It could be misinformation, an attempt to draw off our main force while they strike elsehwere." "Yes, I have heard this from others in the Centaurum, but I don't think so. It has just the right ring of desperation to be true." --Londo and Refa, TLTS "Refa, any force invading Narn would be up to its neck in blood. Its own." "We have no intention of invading Narn. Flattening it, yes, but invading it? We will be using mass drivers. By the time we are done, their cities will be in ruins. We can move in at our leisure." "Mass drivers? They have been outlawed by every civilized planet!" "These are uncivilized times." "We have treaties!" "Ink on a page. This one move will end the war in days instead of months, and save thousands of Centauri lives. We only require your assistance and that of your allies!" "Listen to me, Refa. My allies have begun to worry me. Reports I've received. Their sheer strength." "Yes, they are very powerful, which is what we need. I don't understand your reluctance, Londo." "I am not reluctant. I just feel that things move too quickly. They threaten to spin out of control!" "We know exactly what we are doing, and now is not the time for doubts, Mollari. We are here because of you. It's a little late to back out now." --Londo and Refa, TLTS "You're sure you know where you're going?" "Of course. I have an excellent memory." "Positive?" "Abso-fragging-lutely, dammit." --Sheridan and Delenn, TLTS "You've changed! I like it." --Draal to Delenn, TLTS "Captain, I have watched you since your arrival. At first I wasn't sure about you, but your decisions have been wise, your attitudes commendable, and your patience vaster than mine would have been under similar circumstances." --Draal to Sheridan, TLTS "This has been a hard and trying year for you, Captain Sheridan. It might be helpful for you to know that you are not alone. And in the long, twilight struggle that lies ahead of us, there is the possibility of hope." --Draal, TLTS "We got an early relay from an Earth listening post. But word's gonna be hitting the station any time now. When that happens, it's going to be blood and rioting in the streets." --Ivanova to Garibaldi, TLTS "This is it, Michael. The balloon's going up." --Ivanova, TLTS "They say the Centauri are using mass drivers. I can't believe they'd resort to planetary bombardment." --Ivanova "Well, right now, I'd believe just about anything." --Sheridan, TLTS "To quote Senator Ronald Quantrell, 'They're being bombed back into the Stone Age.'" --ISN reporter, TLTS "No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against the power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. And though it take a thousand years, we will be free." --G'Kar, TLTS "While government spokesmen insist they do not have any expansionist plans beyond retaking the Narn homeworld, others in Earthdome are less sure." --ISN reporter about the Centauri, TLTS "The last time I offered someone my hand, we were at war 24 hours later." --G'Kar to Sheridan, TLTS "Tell the other Rangers, the ambassadors, everyone in this Army of Light, that Babylon 5 stands with you. Tell them, tell them that from this place we will deliver notice to the parliaments of conquerors that a line has been drawn against the darkness. And we will hold that line, no matter the cost." --Sheridan, TLTS "Are you willing to sacrifice all that you are, to keep all that you have?" --G'kar, "Comes the Inquisitor" "If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, the work becomes corrupted, impure, and ultimately self-destructive. Ambassador Kosh wishes confirmation that the right people are in the right place at the right time." --Lennier, CtI "I thought the war was over." --Mr. Chase "You were misinformed." --G'Kar, CtI "Mr. Chase. The money to buy these weapons comes from the life savings of those Narn who were able to escape the Centauri occupation. It is a limited resource, purchased with blood. If it should be squandered, or stolen, be assured that while they might one day find your body, it could never be identified from what's left." --G'Kar, CtI "Nothing changes. Corruption, immorality, chaos." --Sebastian, CtI "The truth? You're not ready for the truth. The facts? If that is the only way to get to my work, yes, the Vorlons have been to Earth. The Vorlons have been everywhere. The Vorlons are. My name is Sebastian. I resided at 14B Heresford Lane in London, in the year of our Lord 1888. I was found by the Vorlons, taken, trasported, and brought into their service. They told me everything about everything, and the scales fell from my eyes, and they were opened to a universe of majesty and terror that you could never imagine. They call upon me when I am needed, and preserve me when I am not. And they have called upon me now for this interrogation. You will allow me to finish the work that has brought me here, or you will let me leave, because either way, I have told you all that I intend to." --Sebastian to Sheridan, CtI "Mr. Garibaldi, I have been on this station long enough to know that you don't ask leading questions unless you already know the answers, so why don't we just pretend that I have lied about it, you have caught me in your web of irreductable logic, and cut to the point?" --G'Kar, CtI "We are already, as you so quaintly put it, going straight to hell. We cannot escape what's coming." "Well, maybe not, but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start, huh? I mean it, G'Kar. I appreciate what you're going through, but don't go up against me on this. You'll lose." --G'Kar and Garibaldi, CtI "Like you said, I never start a conversation unless I know where it's going, but I always leave a little room for someone to disappoint me. Thanks for not doing it." --Garibaldi to G'Kar, CtI "Who are you?" --Sebastian, CtI "I am the Ambassador from Minbar." "Unacceptable. That is only your title, what other people call you when you choose to hide behind formality." --Delenn and Sebastian, CtI "What a sad thing you are, unable to answer such a simple question without falling back on references and geneologies and what other people call you. Have you nothing of your own, nothing to stand on that is not provided, defined, delineated, stamped, sanctioned, numbered and approved by others? How can you be expected to fight for someone else when you haven't the fairest idea of who you are? Do you know how many have stood before me as you stand now, proud, defiant, full of their own bloated self-importance, confident they are chosen, special, favored of God? All of them have broken. And better for everyone that they did. Better to spare others the illusion of false hope. You have the audacity to presume that you are on a mission from God, embarked on a holy cause. I don't believe it. And by the time you leave here, neither will you. It is even possible that you may die here." "What purpose will be served by killing me?" "Oh, I would not kill you. You can remove the manacles at any time. But that would mean admitting your error, admitting that you are not worthy enough or strong enough for the task ahead, and pride will prevent you from doing that. If you believe you are the chosen, then you must risk everything on the premise that the universe will not let you die. Unless you're wrong, and here, now, together, we will find out, once, and for all." Sebastian and Delenn, CtI "Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. How do you apologize to all of them?" "I can't." "Then I cannot forgive." --G'kar and Vir, CtI "You don't like it here, do you? You'd rather you were back in your quarters, asleep, dreaming dreams of glory." "I will go where I must." "And why not? You are Delenn, the Chosen. You tolerate all this only by your whim. At a word from you, all the hosts of heaven would descend to carry you up, away from harm, away from this place, because you have a destiny." "We all have a destiny." "Really? How magnanimous of you." "Sometimes we do not see it because we have been taught to believe that we are not important." "Taught by people like me? Perhaps. But are we destroyers of dreams, or protectors of the public good? Call out, Delenn. Call out to the universe. If it hears you, surely it will respond. Call out! Ahh, yes, now there we are. Let us see if the universe responds. Silence. A silence as profound as when the whale swallowed Jonah." --Sebastian and Delenn, CtI "If I believe I'm here, now, for a reason..." "And if the world says otherwise?" "Then the world is wrong." "And Delenn is right? Or perhaps the world is right and Delenn is wrong. Have you ever considered that? Have you?" "Yes. Sometimes." "Then there may yet be hope for you." --Delenn and Sebastian, CtI "Do you know what your problem is, Delenn? You are the piece of the machine that thinks it is the whole of the machine. The flute that believes itself the symphony. You have malfunctioned. Admit it, and you will feel better. Your only destiny is to be the nail that gets hammered down. Bang, bang, bang. You're being a fool." "Then I am a fool. But it's better to be what I am than what you are." "And what am I? Please, tell me." "You are a creature that has received pain, and given pain, and taken too much joy in its application. You have aspired to dreams, and been disappointed, because you were not strong enough, or worthy enough, or right enough. So you lash out at anyone who believes they can make a difference because it reminds you of your own failure. You have to prove they are just as bad, just as flawed as you are. Am I close, Mr. Sebastian?" "Bang." --Sebastian and Delenn, CtI "Be a nice Minbari. Conform. Be quiet. Admit you are inadequate." --Sebastian, CtI "Go to hell." --Sheridan "This is hell, Captain, and you are its cheif damned soul." --Sebastian, CtI "Well, well. A mutual admiration and sacrificial society." --Sebastian, CtI "This is my cause. Life. One life or a billion, it's all the same." --Delenn, CtI "You will die alone, and unremarked, and forgotten." --Sebastian "This body is only a shell. You cannot touch me. You cannot harm me. I am not afraid." --Delenn, CtI "How do you know the chosen ones? No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother, not for millions, not for glory, not for fame, for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see. I have been in the service of the Vorlons for centuries, looking for you, Diogenes with his lamp, looking for an honest man willing to die for all the wrong reasons. At last, my job is finished. Yours is just beginning. When the darkness comes, know this: you are the right people, in the right place, at the right time." --Sebastian to Delenn and Sheridan "The city was drowning in decay, chaos, immorality. A message needed to be sent, etched in blood, for all the world to see. A warning. In the pursuit of my holy cause, I did things. Terrible things. Unspeakable things. The world condemned me. But it didn't matter, because I believed I was right and the world was wrong. I believed I was the divine messenger. I believed I was - " "Chosen?" "I was found by the Vorlons. They showed me the terrible depth of my mistake, my crime, my presumption. I have done 400 years of penance in their service, a job for which they said I was ideally suited. Now, perhaps, they will finally let me die." "I think that might be wise." "Good luck to you in your holy cause, Captain Sheridan. May your choices have better results than mine, remembered not as a messenger, remembered not as a reformer, not as a prophet, not as a hero, not even as Sebastian. Remembered only as Jack." --Sebastian and Sheridan, CtI "Sometimes, I get so close, and yet it seems I'm shut out of the important things." --Lennier "It's a useless feeling. The ambassador is definitely going through some changes. He even looks different." --Vir "Indeed. And with the military starting to stampeed over everyone and everything," "People coming and going, and secret meetings," "You never know what it's all about, until later, when it's too late." "And they never listen to us." "Makes me nervous." --together "Same time tomorrow?" --Vir "Sure." --Lennier, "The Fall of Night" "And if they don't get any better, I'll start issuing live ammo. That should have a very inspirational effect." --Ivanova, TFoN "What's wrong? Bombing the Narn back to the Stone Age wasn't enough for you?" --Sheridan to Londo, TFoN "Londo, everything is falling apart, and the Centauri are at the center of it all. Can't your people see that? Can't you see that?" --Sheridan "I do not have to listen to this. Your authority ends at Babylon 5, Captain. Do not start getting delusions of grandeur. You will not survive them." --Londo, TFoN "He's not the Londo I used to know any more. It used to be you could talk to the guy, you could reason with him. Okay, he was a pain in the butt, but he was our pain in the butt." --Garibaldi to Sheridan, TFoN "How many grandchildren do you have?" "Does it show?" "In the dark." --Ivanova and Lantz, TFoN "My hands are clean. Are yours?" --Ivanova to Welles, TFoN "Sedition comes in small packages as well as large." --Welles, TFoN "Don't thank me. You go out looking for that thing, you're looking for death." --TFoN "I am here to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Centauri. Before I leave here, there will be an Earth-Centauri alliance that will guarantee peace for Earth. We will, at last, know peace in our time." --Lantz, TFoN "I can't believe it. A non-aggression treaty with the Centauri? That's like trying to make nice with a pirahna. Sooner or later, it's going to turn around and bite you." "All this does is get us out of the way so the Centauri can move in on the other worlds. Earth wants peace, and they're willing to sacrifice everybody else in order to get it." "You know, I remember the first time I put on this uniform. I felt ten feet tall, like I could take on the whole galaxy before breakfast. Now I look at it, it's just cloth. I don't know what it means any more, what it stands for." --Sheridan and Ivanova, TFoN "The way things are going, I figured it might be nice to have a reminder that the impossible, is possible." --Ivanova to Sheridan, TFoN "You destroyed a Centauri warship!" --Lantz "You're damned straight! And if I hadn't, you and I wouldn't be here to have this conversation." --Sheridan, TFoN "Apologize for doing my job? Like hell!" --Sheridan, TFoN "I suppose this apology is already written?" --Sheridan, "No need. You can phrase the apology any way you see fit. As with everything else, it's the thought that counts." --Welles, TFoN "I apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry we had to defend ourselves against an unwarranted attack. I'm sorry that your crew was stupid enough to fire on a station filled with a quarter-million civilians, including your own people. And I'm sorry I waited as long as I did before I blew them straight to hell... As with everything else, it's the thought that counts." --Sheridan, TFoN "The whole station is talking about what happened. Every race that was in the garden saw something different, yet the same. A being of light." --Sheridan to Delenn, TFoN "It was G'Lon. I saw it with my own eyes. He swooped down as was told in the old stories." --Narn "No, not G'Lon. Droshalla, whose light fills the world." --Drazi "Doesn't matter. It was a good sign for the coming year. This place has been blessed." --Narn "And you, Ambassador Mollari? What did you see?" --Drazi "Nothing. I saw nothing." --Londo, TFoN "It was the end of the Earth year 2259, and the war was upon us. As anticipated, a few days after the Earth-Centauri treaty was announced, the Centauri widened their war to include many of the Non-Aligned Worlds. And there was another war brewing closer to home, a personal one whose cost would be higher than any of us could imagine. We came to this place because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. By the end of 2259, we knew that it had failed. But in so doing, it became something greater. As the war expanded, it became our last, best hope for victory, because sometimes peace is another word for surrender, and because secrets have a way of getting out." --Ivanova, TFoN