Man: We interrupt our regular evening schedule
to bring you the following special program.
The interstellar network news
presents 36 hours on Babylon 5
with your host Cynthia Torqueman reporting live
from the ISN news center in Geneva.
Good evening. I'm Cynthia Torqueman.
In the hundred or so years
since humanity went to the stars,
we've established outposts and colonies
on over 2 dozen worlds in 14 solar systems.
Out of all those far-flung outposts,
only the Mars colony,
plagued by scattered groups of separatists
who have used acts of terror
to intimidate the Earth-loyal majority,
has proven more controversial
than the Earth Alliance station Babylon 5.
Located in a sector of space
near Epsilon Eridani,
designated neutral territory,
Babylon 5 has defied the odds
and continued to operate as a free port,
a center for diplomacy, and a showpiece
for the Earth Alliance resources and technologies division.
From its highly publicized debut 3 years ago,
recent polls indicate a growing dissatisfaction
with the time, money, and effort consumed
by this space-born community.
So tonight we take you
to the center of the controversy.
An ISN crew and I
recently spent 36 hours aboard Babylon 5
asking hard questions
and on occasion getting in a little over our heads.
In the process of putting this report together,
it didn't take us long to learn
the most important rule of survival aboard Babylon 5--
expect the unexpected.
This footage was shot
from our position on the bridge
of the Earth transport heyerdahl
on final approach to Babylon 5.
The voices you are hearing are the ship's Captain
and b-5 command and control.
Mark.
Ivanova: Confirmed, heyerdahl.
Narn transport natung,
return to your holding position at once.
[Man speaking Narn language]
Centauri vessel malios, break off.
[Man yelling in Narn language]
A terrible explosion,
conspiracy involving several of these individuals,
lies, deception,
and the deaths of hundreds of people--
all this and more
in 36 hours aboard Babylon 5
here on the interstellar network news.
We'll be back with our story right after this break.
Announcer: 36 hours sponsored by...
Exploring the past to create a better future.
The Babylon project was our last best hope for peace--
a self-contained world 5 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...
Captioning made possible by Warner Bros.
30 minutes ago, an armed vessel opened fire
on a Centauri transport
without warning or explanation.
The bodies of the dead and wounded
are being brought to this central docking area
for transfer to various medlab facilities on Babylon 5,
which are already working beyond maximum capacity.
Behind me is Dr. Stephen Franklin,
chief of staff.
Doctor. Dr. Franklin.
Prep for immediate surgery and full cat scan.
Dr. Franklin,
Cynthia Torqueman, ISN news.
What happened here?
Somebody said something about an ambush.
Keep his head elevated 30 degrees minimum
or he'll choke on his own blood.
Look, I'm sorry.
Captain Sheridan,
Cynthia Torqueman, ISN news.
Do you have any comment on what just happened here?
No, no comment at this time. Doctor.
What about the Narn vessel that attacked the transport?
We dispatched a fighter wing to apprehend them.
We won't know anything more
until they're in protective custody.
If you will excuse me, please. Doctor.
This is exactly the kind of behavior
that endangers the very purpose of Babylon 5.
This place is dedicated
to finding peaceful solutions to our problems.
For the Narn to carry their vendetta against our people
into neutral territory like this
is reckless and irresponsible.
And though we mourn our own losses,
we have felt strongly about our friends from Earth
ever since we first encountered your world
a hundred years ago.
To endanger your people
for no reason...
Then the attack on your transport
was completely unprovoked.
Of course.
He's lying.
Then can you tell us why your ship opened fire
on the Centauri transport?
I'll issue a statement
after I've consulted with my government.
Are you saying your government sanctioned this attack?
No.
Do you think attacks of this nature
put everybody aboard Babylon 5 in unnecessary jeopardy?
We are already in far greater jeopardy
than you can possibly imagine.
For all the apparent danger in this part of space,
it seems to have had little effect on travel.
Nearly a quarter of a million humans and aliens are here
at any given moment.
While most are in transit to distant worlds,
many others actually live and work here.
What does it take
to call a place like this home?
Well, it's a job.
I've been in a lot worse places,
let me tell you.
It gets crazy around here sometimes.
You get 50, 60 ships a day coming through here
loading and unloading,
and every last one is a priority job,
at least that's what they tell us.
Hey, watch those crates over there.
Get 'em over to the side.
No, no. The other side.
We had a couple of problems here last year--
tried to hit us with some budget cuts.
You know, same old song, but that's the past.
You got to go along to get along.
Overall, I've found this to be
a good working environment
and a valuable experience.
I've learned a lot while I've been here.
And you've never felt that your safety
has been compromised?
No, ma'am.
So this has been a positive experience for you.
You enjoy working with everyone?
Yes.
It's a calm, pleasant environment.
I don't think
I've ever seen anyone get upset here.
I guess it's the old joke.
You don't have to be crazy to work here,
but it helps.
I suppose there is a certain attraction
to being out here on the edge like this,
a new frontier.
New frontier is right.
When Babylon 5 went on-line in 2257,
oddsmakers from new Vegas
to Lloyd's of London were predicting
it wouldn't last 6 months.
Well, I've never been very much on gambling.
I've never quite found the time for it.
You were originally
a starship Captain, correct?
Yeah.
The agamemnon.
She was a real beauty.
One of the first omega class destroyers
to come off the construction line after the war.
Our job was part military patrol,
part diplomatic mission.
We went around to most of the nonaligned worlds,
put in an appearance, kept the peace,
that sort of thing.
Babylon 5 has been through
some dramatic changes in administration
since it became operational.
Would you attribute these changes
to...bad management?
Or, to quote former Senator Hidoshi,
"is this horse just too big
for anybody to ride?"
Changes are part of the military life.
Everybody goes into this
knowing that tomorrow you could be someplace
that you hadn't even heard of 24 hours ago.
I've been stationed so many places over the years
I can't even remember most of them,
but you're right.
Some days this is one hell of a big horse.
You know what the folks back home don't understand,
the ones who have never left Earth,
is just how dangerous space can be.
Aside from incidents like this,
just the everyday reality
of living your days and nights
in a big tin can surrounded by a vacuum.
I remember my first time on a transport
on the moon-Mars run.
I was just a kid, maybe 17.
A buddy of mine was messing around,
zipping through the halls,
and he hid in one of the airlocks.
I guess he was going to try
to scare us or something.
I don't know.
But just as I got close...
He must have hit the wrong button
because the air doors slammed shut,
the space doors opened,
and he just flew out into space.
And the one thing they never tell you
is that you don't die instantly in a vacuum.
He just hung there against the black
like a puppet with his strings all tangled up...
Or one of those old cartoons
where you run off the edge of the cliff
and your legs keep going.
You could see that he was trying to breathe,
but there was nothing.
The one thing I remember
when they pulled in his body...
His eyes were frozen.
A lot of people make jokes about spacing somebody,
about shoving somebody out an airlock.
I don't think it's funny.
Never will.
Although the airlocks on Babylon 5
are considerably safer,
the last 3 years have shown
that the station itself is anything but secure.
In its first year of operation,
there were half a dozen murders,
3 acts of sabotage,
including a bomb that blew out 2 levels,
and a barely averted attack by the Vorlon empire.
Since then, there have been 50 deaths by violence.
So the question remains...
Given its cost in lives and money,
is Babylon 5 serving any useful purpose
or, as we're about to see,
is the whole thing falling apart at the seams?
I've just been briefed by my government,
and I'm prepared to issue the following statement--
the Centauri ship that was attacked
by one of our vessels
was not simply a commercial transport.
It was secretly transferring weapons of mass destruction
to ships bound for the front lines
where they were to be used
in the war against our people.
They have turned Babylon 5 into a weapons supply post,
and we cannot allow this to continue,
even if it means shutting down Babylon 5 completely.
Announcer: 36 hours on Babylon 5 continues
with Cynthia Torqueman.
According to figures released
by the newly formed office of public morale,
President William Clark has risen
to dramatic new levels of popularity
because of his administration's emphasis
on addressing the needs of Earth.
As a result, recent hearings in Earthdome
have openly questioned how much time and money
should be invested in a project
that seems perpetually bogged down
in nonhuman conflict.
So we took that question to Senator Ronald Quantrell.
Well, obviously, Babylon 5 is something
President Santiago believed in very strongly,
and I think we owe it to his memory
to try and make it work.
That doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement.
Well, clearly we've taken a lot of heat,
and the cost overruns
have been appropriately astronomical,
but let's remember that the Babylon project
was conceived right after the Earth-Minbari war.
At that time, the idea of a diplomatic station
designed to keep anything like that
from happening again was very appealing.
And now?
Now?
Well...it's still too early to tell.
Certainly we've rebuilt our military forces
to a point far in advance
of where they were 14 years ago.
If the Earth-Minbari war started today,
things might have gone a little differently.
So while I'm not sure
how much concrete benefit
we really derive from Babylon 5 any longer,
I suppose it still does keep us
in a highly visible position
with other races,
and, of course, it's very important
to interstellar commerce and trade.
Well, with all due respect to Senator Quantrell,
speaking as someone who did his part
in the front lines,
I'd have to say we still haven't fully recovered
from the Minbari war,
and we haven't anywhere near the level of technology
we would need in the event of another major conflict.
And anybody who thinks that we could hold our own
against the Minbari, the Centauri,
and, god forbid, the Vorlons,
is just plain kidding himself.
You sound angry about it.
No...
I'm not.
It just sounds to me
like jingoism and self-deception
and armchair quarterbacking.
Anytime you lose a war,
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.
Who are the people who run Babylon 5,
and what do they do here?
What are their hopes and dreams?
I'm standing at what's called the observation dome,
or c and c,
short for command and control.
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 Ivanova.
Man: We're all green down here.
Make one more sweep, pulling in whatever you got,
then head for the barn.
Commander Ivanova,
would you mind telling us
what it is you're doing here?
We're investigating Ambassador G'kar's allegations
that the Centauri transport was carrying weapons,
justifying his government's attack.
The hasmat team outside is checking the debris
for any unusual levels of radiation
or trace elements that could indicate the presence
of unauthorized weapons.
While we wait for the analysis,
would you mind telling us a little about yourself...
How you got here?
Well, there's really not much to tell.
I was born in the Russian Consortium,
but spent most of my life at school abroad.
Graduated from o.T.C. 10 years ago.
How did you come to join Earthforce?
After my brother ganya was killed in the war,
I felt that I had to try and finish what he started.
But, of course, as my luck runs,
the war was over before I saw any action.
Now, Commander,
I'm sure there's more to your story than that.
Yes.
What do I hope for?
I hope to get through this interview
without getting myself fired.
How's that for a start?
I don't know. It's one of those questions
I don't think about in words,
maybe because so many times
it seems like if I say what I want,
it never comes.
There must be something.
Yeah.
There are little hopes, I guess.
Every day I get up,
and I hope nothing will happen.
I'd love to be just bored out of my skull for 24 hours,
and, uh... I guess I keep hoping
that someday, somewhere I'll make a difference,
that at the end of the day,
everything that we've gone through here
for the past few years will mean something.
[Beep]
Yeah.
Ivanova: Garibaldi, we just got back the hasmat report.
We've got a problem.
See what I mean? Always something.
So far, we've spent most of our time here
talking to the humans,
but aliens make up roughly 42%
of Babylon 5's population.
Many of them live here
in the so-called alien sector,
which provides alternate atmospheres
for 14 different species.
Ironically, the alien sector
is how the aliens here
refer to the human part of the station,
proving once again that beauty and the beast
are in the eye of the beholder.
Probably the most elusive of all the aliens
is Ambassador Kosh nerannick,
a representative of the Vorlon empire
sent here roughly 2 years ago.
Nothing is known of the Vorlons.
In fact, 3 expeditions sent
into Vorlon space over the years
have never returned.
The Vorlon government said they had met with accidents
and suggested no further expeditions.
Even their appearance is a mystery,
compounded by the fact
that Ambassador Kosh can only leave his quarters
in an encounter suit,
which contains his atmosphere
and other life-support equipment.
A few moments ago, while we were setting up this shot,
we got our first glimpse of the Vorlon
as he was leaving his quarters just behind me.
This is an ISN exclusive
presented here for the first time.
It's Ambassador Kosh over here!
Mackey, quick! The camera!
Ambassador Kosh! Ambassador!
Cynthia Torqueman, ISN news.
Can we ask you a few questions?
Ambassador Kosh!
Did we get that? Tell me we got that.
Did we get it?
Second in elusiveness to the Vorlon
is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari federation.
After initially refusing several requests
for an interview,
she finally agreed to talk to us.
Since very few humans
have ever been allowed on Minbar,
perhaps you could start by telling us
a little about your world.
We are the seventh planet from our sun.
Almost one-quarter of Minbari is covered
by our north polar ice cap.
Because our world is rich with crystalline deposits,
many of our cities are cut directly
out of crystal formations.
During the spring,
the patterns of color caused by the light
are breathtaking.
Let's see. What else?
We have 3 basic languages--
Len'a, Feek, and Adronato,
which is the language of the religious caste.
Can you give us an example of Adronato?
[Speaking in Adronato language]
I am your friend in peace.
Your appearance, though,
isn't typical of your people, is it?
No.
According to station records,
you looked quite different a year ago.
I volunteered for this change
in the hope that it would lead
to a better understanding
between our peoples.
Over 1/4 of a million humans were killed
in the war with your people.
How do you think the families of those victims will feel
about your change?
I, uh...
I don't know.
I, uh...
I would hope...
I think they would feel hurt...
Betrayed...
That by assuming a human face,
you are taking a part of us
you're not entitled to.
What would you say to them,
to all the husbands and wives
and children and brothers and sisters
of the people who were killed
in the war with your people
and now see a Minbari with a human face?
I'm, uh...
I'm sorry.
Can we stop this?
Please?
P.A.: Ambassador Delenn,
you're needed in the council chambers.
Ambassador.
Ambassador Delenn.
We've been informed there's been a new development
in the Narn attack.
The Babylon 5 advisory council
and the league of nonaligned worlds
have been convened to hear this update.
We've been given permission to record these proceedings
in the council chambers.
Thanks to Commander Ivanova's investigation,
we have proof of what we've been saying all along.
An inspection of the destroyed Centauri
has found conclusive proof
that she was carrying fusion bombs
and support equipment for ion cannons,
mass drivers, and heavy-energy weapons.
[Shouting]
We have already filed a complaint
with the Centauri government
on the grounds that Babylon 5 is neutral territory
and is not to be used
as a staging ground or a munitions depot.
If I may make an observation--
it is this kind or irresponsible activity
that endangers this station and everyone here!
It will not be tolerated!
Weapons are transferred outside the station,
ship to ship.
The risk to Babylon 5 is minimal.
We've already seen your minimal risk, Ambassador.
Caused by their attack on one of our vessels.
Our ships have the right
to carry any cargo they choose.
We will not surrender our sovereign rights.
Sovereign rights of any race end
when they threaten innocents.
They're doing what they always do,
using details to distract us
from doing what must be done!
There are 7 more Centauri vessels
berthed outside,
and I have reason to believe
that they also carry weapons
of mass destruction
to be used against our people.
My government demands
that these ships be impounded
and their weapons seized!
No, no, no! We will not allow this!
This is Babylon 5 space,
and here we have sovereign rights.
Our ships will defend themselves
against any who try to seize them!
Perhaps if the transports return to Centauri space--
no! We cannot allow those ships
to leave here with their weapons.
They'll just turn right around
and use them against us.
Then how do you intend to--
[rumbling]
What the hell?
Captain, we need you in c and c.
We've got a shooting war going on out here.
The sounds you hear are heavy weapons
on the Narn and Centauri vessels
doing battle just outside Babylon 5.
The station is on a priority 1 alert,
and people are being evacuated to shelters.
We're en route to c and c to try and cover the battle.
As we speak, our vid systems are being plugged
into the station's external cameras
and communications systems, and we should be seeing--
man: Coming in, reading 5.
Repeat 5 incoming hostiles.
No reply.
Got the beacon targeting systems on-line.
Man: Delta leader to hostile vessels.
You are ordered to cease fire at once.
Do you copy?
You are ordered to surrender,
or we will open fire.
Damage report.
Levels brown 90 through 92 report damage.
Hull breech in blue 70. Dropping pressure doors!
Get a repair crew down there stat.
Any reply yet? Negative.
Hostile forces continue to fire at each other.
They've started targeting our ships.
Man: Delta squad requesting permission to fire.
Ambassadors Londo and G'kar
say if we open fire on their vessels,
they'll consider it an act of war.
Screw them.
We have a quarter million people here to defend.
If they won't stop this, we will.
All fighters, open fire. Fire at will.
Roger, Babylon control.
Delta squad, open fire.
Target engines and navigation if possible,
but if you have to take them out, do it.
Roger, leader.
Come on.
Heaters lit.
Come to papa.
Got it.
Bombs away.
This is 7. Target's splashed.
Woman: On red 14.
Man: React, team 12.
2 Narn vessels destroyed.
2 damaged and out of the fight.
Remaining Centauri vessels
are offering to surrender.
Pick them up, bring them in,
and throw them in the brig.
I want every one of those ships
scanned for weapons.
Tell Ambassadors G'kar and Londo
I want to see them in chambers now.
What if they refuse?
Then you can throw them in the--
ahem.
Man: Security, there is a major riot
going on at the entrance...
Then invite them again
as firmly and as politely as you can.
This nonsense has gone far enough.
Man: Main generator is down.
We are backed up.
The nonsense Captain Sheridan referred to
is the Narn-Centauri war,
which, over the past several months,
has grown into a conflict
which threatens to spill into other systems
and lead to an escalation of hostilities.
Prior to the battle we just witnessed,
ISN spoke with representatives from both sides
in order to better understand
the history of this conflict.
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.
How did you become involved with the resistance?
[Sighs]
My family lived in g'kamizad,
one of the larger cities on Narn.
My father served in a Centauri household
during the last years of the rebellion.
I was barely a pouchling at the time.
My mother was ill,
unable to escape through the underground,
so we all stayed.
It was a difficult time.
We were striking deep into Centauri resources.
Things were tense.
One day, my father spilled a cup of hot jala
on the mistress of the house, and...
And she had him killed.
They took him out, tied his hands together,
and hung him from a jawa tree for 3 days.
I came to him the last night,
against my mother's orders,
and he looked down at me.
He said he was proud and to go and fight
and be all the things he never was,
then he died.
The next morning, I ran away
and killed my first Centauri.
Why do you think they invaded back then?
Ah!
Why does any advanced civilization
seek to destroy a less advanced one?
Because the land is strategically valuable,
because there are resources
that can be cultivated and exploited,
but most of all, simply because they can.
You have experienced much the same
on your own world.
There are humans for whom the words "never again"
carry special meaning as they do for us.
How do you respond to reports
that your military has lost 6
out of the last 7 engagements
with the Centauri forces,
and now the war consists mainly of
holding actions and forced retreats?
Centauri propaganda.
We will never fall back. We will never surrender!
When we first met the Narn,
they were, what, 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.
You're saying the Centauri
originally came to help the Narn?
Of course,
and at considerable expense, I might add,
which is why we finally left.
We wished them well, but the cost, you see.
You weren't driven off the Narn homeworld?
Please. 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 seize entire territory.
Finally, we had to take a stand.
They were the ones who declared war, remember...
Not us.
We want only peace.
We want only peace--
both sides say the same thing,
but as we've just seen,
the reality is anything but peaceful.
With the skirmish outside concluded
and the captured Centauri vessels
about to undergo a complete search,
things seem to have calmed down a bit.
What is it?
Jump point forming in sector 7.
Are they crazy?
That's practically on top of us!
[Explosion]
Reading one Centauri battle cruiser.
Do we still have a feed from the external monitors?
I've got Ambassador Mollari on the link.
Put him through.
Ambassador Mollari,
what the hell is going on here?
I'm sorry this has come
as such a surprise, Commander,
but I warned you not to interfere.
You have no right
to search or detain our ships.
If we don't act in our own defense,
we invite the same from others.
Centauri cruiser is arming weapons,
opening her gun ports.
The cruiser will blockade Babylon 5
until our ships are returned
to Centauri custody intact and unopened.
Any ship attempting to enter or leave Babylon 5
will be fired upon, boarded, and sent back.
We will use the minimum possible level of force,
but if provoked,
we are prepared to use deadly force,
even against Babylon 5 itself.
Announcer: ISN--the galaxy's most important network.
John, why aren't you outside
playing with the other kids?
They hate me.
Now, John--
it's true.
I'm just...
I'm different, mom.
I can feel what they think about me,
and they know I can.
I called one of them a liar
because I knew he wasn't telling the truth somehow,
and he just kept hitting me until I said I was the liar.
I don't know what to do anymore.
Don't worry, Johnny.
We'll take care of it from here.
Look, a psi-cop.
That's right, Johnny.
You know, there are a lot of other kids
who feel just the same way you do.
They're confused and afraid,
but they don't have to be.
The problem isn't that other kids don't like you.
It's that they don't understand you,
but we do.
You're special.
You're a latent telepath about to come into full bloom.
My Johnny, a telepath?
Probably, but to be sure, take him down
to the Psi-Corps testing center first thing tomorrow.
How do I find one?
We're everywhere, for your convenience.
We have offices in schools, in children's hospitals.
We even have mobile testing centers
that travel the country,
and if he qualifies,
we'll give him an education, a job, a purpose,
and we'll pay all his bills for life.
Oh, my.
Heh heh.
Oh, John, I can't believe it.
You've come so far. Just look at you.
We're all so proud.
And I'm proud to be part of the Psi-Corps.
So remember,
if you know someone who might be a telepath,
or think you might be one yourself,
help them get the help they need.
Call the corps.
Announcer: Call government information
for more on a Psi-Corps center near you.
This message brought to you
by the ministry for public information
and your local Psi-Corps recruitment office.
As we enter our 30th hour aboard Babylon 5,
the Centauri-Narn crisis has not diminished.
The various parties to the dispute
have gathered in council chambers behind me
in closed session to discuss the crisis.
Meanwhile, all traffic in or out of Babylon 5
has come to a halt, due to the Centauri blockade.
Captain, any progress in the negotiations?
All sides are still talking.
That's all I can say for now.
Well, is it true that some of the senate
have suggested you accommodate the Centauri
by releasing their vessels without further searches?
As the Commander of record on Babylon 5,
I doubt that the senate would attempt
to undermine my position in these negotiations
by armchair quarterbacking.
Ambassador G'kar, do you have anything to say?
Only that this should prove once and for all
that the Centauri are a menace
to more than just our world.
This kind of thing cannot be allowed,
and we'll take whatever steps necessary
to make that perfectly clear to them.
Well, what does that mean?
A-Ambassador G'kar?
Certainly the events on Babylon 5
which took place during your recent visit
are emblematic of what many of us on Earthdome
have been worried about for some time.
By placing an Earth installation
between warring factions,
we risk being drawn into a conflict
that has nothing to do with us
or Earth interests.
If we'd not been in that place at that time,
a terrible loss of life might have been avoided.
On the other hand, Senator,
they are at war with one another.
People die in war.
Yes, but it wouldn't have happened in our backyard.
What happened next came
with the reluctant support of Earthdome
and, uh... Hundreds of deaths.
I don't see how we can support that sort of thing.
I'm only glad you made it out alive, Cynthia.
We need all the good reporters we can get.
10 minutes ago, Captain Sheridan
received a coded transmission
from Earthdome on the current crisis.
After considerable negotiations,
we've been allowed back in to c and c...
Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5,
to Centauri cruiser.
My government has rejected your demand
that we release your ships.
We will not consider any demand
made under terrorist threat.
We have activated our defense grid
and are prepared to defend
all ships coming through here.
Any hostile action taken by you
against ships entering or leaving this station
will be considered an attack on Babylon 5 itself,
and we will respond accordingly.
If they send back a reply, don't acknowledge it.
Aye, Captain.
We'll let them sweat for a while.
I hope this works.
A defense grid can probably hold them off,
but the repercussions--
ah, they're bluffing.
I can't believe
they'd take on the whole station.
That would bring Earth on the side of Narn's.
The last thing the Centauri want
is a war on 2 fronts.
Docking bay 9 just linked in.
The transport's ready to go.
Bring her up. Activate autopilot.
We'll run the transport from here,
make sure no one gets hurt.
That's just in case they're not bluffing.
Bring the maintenance bots around for a closer look.
Woman: Move secure cam 23 to high overhead
and maintbot 9-14 at 12 click intervals...
You realize if they do attack the transport,
they'll turn around and fire on us next,
figuring we'll have to retaliate.
I know.
Man: Transport, maintain approach...
All tracking stations...
If you see their weapons targeting us...
Open fire.
Any reply from the cruiser?
Man: Negative, sir. No response.
Their weapons system is still armed.
I don't like this.
Well, the transport's through.
We called their bluff.
Man: Getting a signal from
the Centauri cruiser.
They want to talk.
Open a channel. Let's be gracious about this.
Captain, any thoughts on the---
second jump point forming
in sector 10.
Looks like a Narn. Oh, hell.
Babylon control to Narn cruiser.
We do not--repeat--
we do not require assistance.
Do not interfere.
We have the situation under control.
Man: Narn cruiser
powering up weapons systems.
No. Listen to me.
We do not need--
Man: Firing.
Back again.
A Centauri hit.
All civilians to the shelters.
Get me that cruiser,
and I don't care how you do it.
Man: Aye, sir.
Heavy damage.
Close blast doors now!
[Explosion]
Ah!
Narns have destroyed the Centauri cruiser.
They're trying to open a jump point.
Ivanova: Can they make it?
I don't think so. They're hit bad.
Jump engines are malfunctioning.
As journalists, we would be remiss in our responsibilities
if we suggested that events
such as those you've just witnessed
were typical of the situation on Babylon 5.
Like anyone else, they have good days and bad days,
but there is no question that it is a flash point
that can only grow hotter as time passes.
And yet growth only comes through pain and struggle,
so perhaps we should allow Babylon 5 time to realize
or, one day, even exceed the dreams
we have invested in it.
We'll be back with some concluding thoughts
right after this message.
After the crisis was over,
the debris cleared, and the bodies counted,
we asked the people involved in this story one question--
given the danger,
at the end of the day, as Mr. Garibaldi said,
is it worth it?
Absolutely. Sure, when things get tense,
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 anymore.
We learned. That's what humans do.
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,
and with the intervention of Earth,
perhaps we can keep them
from making a similar mistake in the future.
I don't know anymore.
I used to think so, but now...
Yes.
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.
Well...
[Sighs]
I guess we'll just have to see...
Won't we?
All right. Med 2. Go. Go!
If we weren't here right now,
half the people in this room would be dead.
That should be a good enough answer for anyone.
Sure. What are you, kidding?
I have a retirement pension to make.
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,
and 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.
See, in the last few years...
We've stumbled.
We stumbled at the death of the President, the war,
and on and on...
And when you stumble a lot,
you--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."
I mean, 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 our posterity.
I'm Cynthia Torqueman, ISN news.
Good night.