Babylon 5 s04e10 Episode Script

Ivanova, good.
I was just about to call you.
I've been going over these reports trying to figure out how we're going to get along with all our supply shipments from Earth cut off by the embargo.
We've got two, maybe three months of reserves.
Then we are going to run out of things.
Small things at first, then more important things.
Something breaks, we may not be able to fix it.
And you can forget the spare parts for the fighters.
We can go black market if we have to.
We will.
Even that's gonna be tough.
The black market survives only so long as the money outweighs the risk.
Now with imprisonment for anyone caught bringing supplies here, l I'll start lining it up.
You sure? - The type of people you'll be dealing with - I'm looking forward to it.
It'll keep your hands clean, give you deniability and take weight off you.
- I appreciate it.
Speaking of which as of now I'm relieving you of command.
Ivanova, your sense of humor has always been on the edge of good taste.
But I'm serious, John.
On what grounds? You haven't taken any personal time in over nine months.
And in that time, we have broken away from Earth, fought a war you've been declared dead and you know how tiring that can be.
- Ivanova - Be sensible.
We still have Earth to deal with and we can't do that until our pieces are in place, so take a day for yourself.
You may not get another break for a while.
There isn't a chance of me winning this argument.
None.
I never give up when I'm right.
- Your only option is surrender.
- Who taught you to negotiate like that? You did.
Well, then I assume this enforced vacation is to begin immediately? It started when I walked in that door.
- Any word from Franklin or Marcus? - No.
They were to break communications after making contact with the Resistance.
- They should be almost to Mars by now.
- Yeah.
L Seven sisters.
Saturn.
Side of the ship.
Stars.
Well, that was easy.
My turn.
Best of five.
I spy with my little eye something beginning with B.
- Boxes.
- Right.
I spy with my little eye something beginning with M.
- More boxes.
- Two in a row.
"And that's when I shot him, Your Honor.
" I spy with my little eye something beginning with E.
- I give up.
- Oh, come on.
This better not be what l Even more boxes.
Marcus, look, you know, don't misunderstand me, all right? You're a nice guy.
I like you.
I respect you, but after being cooped up for two weeks with you l'm about ready to And I really hate when you do that! It would appear we have a spy on our hands, Stephen.
It was the year of fire.
The year of destruction.
The year we took back what was ours.
It was the year of rebirth.
The year of great sadness.
The year of pain.
- And a year of joy.
- It was a new age.
It was the end of history.
It was the year everything changed.
The year is 2261.
The place, Babylon 5.
Who are you and where did you come from? There's an access panel behind the hold over there on that side.
I checked it when we came through.
- It was locked.
- I've got the key.
The pilot's my brother.
He lets me travel around with him.
You know, do a little business.
None of those damned transit forms to fill out.
Why didn't he tell us about you? Probably forgot.
I get forgotten so many times Well, I forget.
Your friend's fast.
Got right up behind me.
Never even heard him.
Me, I'm built for endurance, wit pleasures of the mind, pleasures of the body.
My name's John Demeter but most everybody calls me Captain Jack.
- And you are? - Passing through.
Look, I'll tell you what.
- You see these boxes here? - Right.
Pretend there's a very large dragon on the other side of the cargo hold.
And if you pass this point it will eat you.
You stay on your side and we'll stay on ours.
Right.
Well, as you say.
Far from friendly, but that's no concern of mine.
No, Captain Jack is not the sort to push himself on others when he's not wanted.
I was just gonna offer to share my dinner with you.
You know, brothers of the great space highway have gotta stick together.
We have our own dinner, thank you.
Oh, yes, so I see.
Meal bars, is it? Kind of dry, nasty, kind of mealy things.
Chew them all day, still taste like sand.
Me, I go for insta-heats.
- That's beef and potatoes.
- Yeah.
The least of my inventory.
A tiny taste of home.
I deal in wonders and sensualities.
A thousand delicacies from 100 worlds.
As I said, pleasures of the mind, pleasures of the body.
- Come along, Stephen.
- Well now, we don't want to be rude.
No contact, remember? Entertainment channel unavailable due to jamming.
Movie channel unavailable due to jamming.
Sports channel unavailable due to jamming.
Adult channel unavailable due to jamming.
ISN available.
- As we continue the rebroadcast of our story covering events aboard Babylon 5 for all our friends and viewers in Grid Epsilon.
Look, don't get me wrong.
I like Sheridan.
I don't know, he's just different since he got back from alien space.
You know, sometimes he thinks he's the Second Coming.
He has like a God complex.
You can't talk to him anymore.
He doesn't listen.
Well, that's not true.
He listens to Delenn, this other alien Lorien who was here for a while.
A few others.
I just wasn't comfortable with the situation anymore.
You know, he thinks he knows what's best for everybody.
Now, maybe that goes with being a CO, but this I just think he's gone over the top.
You think you'll get into trouble for saying this? Yeah, probably.
But somebody's gotta say something.
- Michael, you got a minute? - Yeah, make it quick.
- I've been meaning to talk to you.
- Yeah, the ISN interview.
- I don't work for you anymore.
- I know.
I supported your decision, but Yeah, but now you don't like it because I'm challenging your authority, right? There's a difference between challenging and undermining.
Your opinion Is my opinion.
I'm entitled.
I thought free speech was one of the things you were fighting for.
I'm trying to find out where all this anger is coming from.
- I thought we were friends.
- Yeah, well, maybe we both thought wrong.
We've got everything on the line now.
Clark's propaganda is doing a good job of smearing us without one of us giving it credibility.
Now, what you said about me, I really don't care.
But you're damaging the cause and hurting the station.
It wouldn't be so bad if I at least understood it, but I don't.
- Lf I did something to upset you, l - Look, it would take too long to explain.
I don't have time.
I'm meeting a client in a few minutes.
He doesn't like authority figures in or out of uniform.
So why don't you go back to playing God and let the rest of us mere mortals get back to business.
All right, if that's the way you want it, fine.
I don't know what's gotten into you, but it's not my problem.
I've got a job to do.
And I can't let anyone interfere with that, not even you.
Now, privately you think what you want.
But publicly, I don't want to hear this stuff anymore.
Otherwise I'm gonna have to make things difficult for you.
- I don't want to have to do that, but I will.
- Don't threaten me.
I'm a private citizen now.
With an obligation to keep the oath you gave me and lvanova and the Alliance.
You held a position of authority here.
Because of that people took stock in what you say.
You broke that trust! You knew what was at stake with that interview.
You gave aid and comfort to the enemy, in front of a billion people! - Little criticism, the universe starts falling - Enough! If you've got a legitimate complaint, you make it! But if it's a personal attack in disguise, it stops right here! I didn't make this personal.
You did that by yourself.
- What are you talking about? - The people who work for you they're following you, not the cause.
Ever hear of the cult of personality? It's not about us, about doing what's right it's about you fulfilling prophecy.
How you went to Z'Ha'Dum and came back alive.
You even came back from the dead.
Could we get any more messianic than that? Know what the problem is? You're starting to buy into your publicity.
And maybe it's time somebody punches a hole in that.
- Someone like you? - Yeah.
I don't buy it.
It's just a cheap excuse for crummy behavior.
Bottom line is you're misusing your authority and I won't have it! You want to be mad at me, fine, you be mad at me! But don't hurt everyone else just to get at me! Would you like me to tell you in explicit medical terminology exactly what this tastes like? Now, what have we got here? Beef stroganoff.
What a delicious aroma.
We stay clear of everyone until we meet our contact.
When we can verify the pass phrase, we can Lyta had a little Vorlon, her skin was pale as snow.
And everywhere that Lyta went, her Vorlon was sure to go.
Why didn't you just say that in the first place? I wanted to check you out first.
Captain Jack hasn't lived this long by being stupid, now has he? Go on, have a seat, help yourself.
I got your new Identicards here somewhere.
- Ouch.
It's hot.
- Careful now, that's hot.
It's a good job, really.
I get to handle first contacts for the underground and, well, they let me ride for free.
I can bring in anything I like.
Here we go.
Now, there's just one thing.
We don't usually have people coming through here in pairs.
Most of the Resistance travel light, travel alone.
So to get travel permits for the two of you together well, our access to the Transit Bureau is limited to whatever we can steal.
So you're Jim Fennerman and you're Daniel Lane.
A young married couple on holiday to Mars for their honeymoon.
Attention, all passengers, we are about to enter Mars' orbit.
Please stand by to disembark.
Well, shall we go, darling? Evening.
Thought we might have a word about you and your former friend Captain Sheridan.
Couldn't help but notice earlier you and he aren't exactly getting on.
- What's it to you? - You might like to know there are other people who feel the same way.
Who aren't exactly thrilled about one of our own turning against Earth.
It's no good.
It's no good for business.
For the president.
It's no good for anyone.
I thought we could have a word, see what else we have in common.
Besides the both of us sleeping with your sister? You can do better than that, Garibaldi, I know you can because my information on you is very extensive.
Which leads me to wonder, are your objections only halfhearted more form than substance? Well, you wonder all you want.
I got places to be.
There is one other thing that you might want to consider, Mr.
Garibaldi and that is, a man can become a threat to the very cause he professes to believe in.
I don't know what it is, his ambition, his ego his sense of personal destiny gets in the way.
Under other circumstances, he would want somebody to intervene before the wrong people got hurt.
Now, if indeed Sheridan has lost his way, don't you feel obligated to intervene at least for the sake of others? - I won't sell him out.
You're the only one who could clearly see what's going on.
Open up your eyes.
You tell me, can you sleep at night knowing everything could slip away because of one man, huh? You tell me, can you stand by and watch everything you've worked for die right before your eyes knowing you could have done something to stop it? Can you? The others are gonna be real glad to see you, yes, sir.
You wouldn't believe half the stories we've heard about Babylon 5 this last year.
- Such as? - Crazy things.
One story had your lot coming here with an alien fleet to take over the whole operations yourselves.
Then we had a reliable report that said you decided to write off everybody here and hang us out to dry.
The captain's never forgotten about Mars.
We just haven't had a chance to do anything about it till now what with the war and all.
- Right.
Well - What war? - What do you mean, what war? Well, nothing personal, but you gotta understand we don't hear a lot about what's going on out there.
I mean, aliens fighting aliens? - Doesn't really involve us, now, does it? - I should bloody well hope it does! - I don't believe you haven't heard anything! - Well, we get reports, of course.
A few pilots came through here last summer mentioned something was going on.
We figured they was just making up stories to try to impress people.
We've heard some pretty wild things.
Real "end of the world" sort of stuff.
You'd love it.
You gotta remember, we've been embargoed, same as you.
Even longer.
Now, just the other day l - Who won? - We did.
We all did.
Yes, well, good for us.
Just my luck.
First time in my life I'm a war hero and nobody knows about it.
- Worst of all, I'm married to you.
- Well, that's not my idea.
Oh, you say that now.
Tell that to your mother.
She never stopped calling us about it.
"So when's the big day, I've got to pick out patterns.
Your father isn't going to live forever," and on and on and on and on.
I hate this.
I really hate this.
You're just nervous, that's all.
You'll get used to it.
Next thing, he'll be locking himself in the bathroom all night.
Please advise Commander Ivanova we have the cargo she wanted.
Confirmed, shuttle.
We'll have Security standing by.
I realize in the past that we've had our little ups and downs.
I mean, some of you have tried to smuggle in dust weapons, other items on our prohibited list and we've had to come down on you.
That's our job.
Most days, nobody gets hurt.
- Oh, is the arm feeling better now? - Yeah, sure, fine.
Except when it rains it hurts through here where you Since it never rains on Babylon 5, that should encourage you to spend time here.
- But we hardly see any of you anymore.
- Things are different now.
Used to be we get caught, we spend a couple of days in the brig.
Yeah, maybe somebody gets tossed around but nobody gets killed or stuck in prison for life.
If those Earth patrol catch us running shipments into Babylon 5 No.
- No deal.
- Same here.
Dust market's gone down.
And since the war, there's guns all over the place.
Nobody's buying.
Profits are down everywhere.
Perhaps now would be a good time to invest in the future.
- The future.
- Look, here's what I'm offering.
Instead of the usual destructive crap you guys bring in I want you to start transporting useful things.
Those food items that we can't grow here, medicines we can't fabricate spare parts for fighters and shuttles and other ships.
- Did I say something funny? - Get real, lvanova.
There's no profit in that.
Not enough to justify the risk.
That's where you're wrong.
First, if you cooperate we provide fighter escorts to protect your ships as far away as four jumps.
That should cut down on your risk factor.
Second, as long as you're operating on our behalf we will take care of your ships.
We've got the best mechanics in the Sector.
Maintenance, fuel, you name it.
No cost.
We'll upgrade your data systems and supercharge your engines and if you have an accident, we'll repair your ships.
And sooner or later, your ships will have accidents.
- My pilots don't have accidents.
- They will.
I'll see to it.
- You wouldn't.
- I got a 200-megawatt pulse cannon on the forward cargo bay that says otherwise.
The odds of you having such an accident are greatly reduced once you sign on with us.
Since we'll maintain your ships, it's in your best interest to keep us supplied with fresh parts.
You're not gonna get rich, but take my word you're going to make a profit.
Finally, I don't want to name names or anything but we did a little checking around and some of you are wanted by Earthgov on charges ranging from trespassing to arms smuggling to assault on Earth property.
Now, once all of this is over, we are willing to overlook all of that.
Everyone's entitled to a fresh start.
You're willing to forget about that business? Yes, even though it did make Mr.
Garibaldi's hair fall out.
You had no way of knowing what was in that bottle.
That's my story.
I'm sticking to it in case he asks.
You only bring in what we tell you to bring in.
No weapons, no dust, no more illegal or dangerous items.
You play it clean and we'll work with you.
Look, you'll have more money, your ships will be in perfect running order and you'll have an investment in the future.
What more could you ask for? You seeing anybody, lvanova? Once you've been cleared, they'll call in other big shots of the Resistance so you can talk with them.
Here we go.
No, this way.
You sure you know where you're going? A Resistance cell isn't exactly gonna be on a map in the Martian Tourist Bureau, now is it? We had to move into these old mining tunnels.
Only way we could guard against a frontal assault.
Trust Captain Jack.
He'll get you where you wanna go.
I don't trust anyone who talks of themselves in the third person.
Right, here we are.
Right up through there.
That's far enough.
Move, you die instantly.
Just take it slow and easy, nobody gets hurt.
Up against the wall.
Over there.
Look, I don't understand.
You were told to expect us.
We're expecting people.
Whether you're one of them or not we'll have to see.
Now up against it! - Good job, Jack.
- All part of the service.
- Where's Number? - Not now.
Check this out.
I've seen these before.
Took one off a dead Minbari during the war.
Not the sort of thing I'd expect to see one of us carrying around.
- I'm a Ranger.
- That so? Well, you a long way from Texas, son.
And, that ain't the right accent.
Let's go.
Jack.
Look, can we talk to somebody in charge? That'd be me.
I'm Number Two around here.
- Can we talk to Number One? - That's what I'm trying to decide.
We got word a hit squad was being sent to take out the head of Mars Resistance.
Said they might come from one of the outer sectors and here you two come in right on cue.
Well, you can't believe You'd be surprised the things I can believe.
See, around here, we only got two types.
The suspicious and the dead.
I trust the people I know and nobody else.
I don't understand.
This should've been cleared before we got here.
They've been jamming our transmissions for six months.
Now, we only got a partial message saying someone's coming in from Babylon 5.
Never got a clear ID.
Tell you what, since I don't wanna appear inhospitable give me your Identicards.
The real ones.
Now, we'll check the DNA code on here against your blood type.
That'll tell me if they really belong to you.
Then we'll pull a partial ID code, see if we get a clear signal to Babylon 5 try for a match on the rest.
Anyone on the outside, look like a frequency check.
If it matches, we'll talk.
If it doesn't, you two are gonna leave here feet first.
Now, let's have them.
I've finished my work.
I'd like to give my regards to Number - No, you better wait.
- What? You're their contact.
A friendly voice might help calm them down a bit.
This'll take a few hours so you may as well get comfortable.
You get the blood sample.
And if they do anything you don't like shoot to kill.
If you could look anymore unhappy, please do not tell me.
There are some things I would rather not know.
I'm just mad at myself.
I went to Michael today, I figured we could talk this through.
Well, we ended up going around and around and I got hot, then he got hot, and then I stormed out.
He's like a complete stranger.
A few months ago I would have trusted him with my life.
But now I don't know.
Sometimes feel like l'm better at fighting wars than relationships.
You know, I keep thinking I can turn him around if I could just figure out the right words.
He has to find his own way.
And so do you.
In the past, those two paths have crossed.
Now perhaps they don't.
- It is the way of things.
- I know.
Doesn't make it any easier.
Anyway, I didn't mean to get so morose.
You came looking for me for a reason.
Ivanova tells me that you have taken the day off.
- At gunpoint.
- Then this may be a good time.
As you know, when Minbari become close as we have become close - Not another ritual.
- It is our tradition.
- I'm just about ritualed out.
- John How many more of these rituals are there? Depending on the length of time we take before fully committing to one another which clan is in dominance at the time the types and amounts of offerings made at temple as many as 47.
- No, no, no, 50.
- Fifty? Fifty.
Anyone ever elope on your world? It has happened, but it is always a great disgrace A disgrace to the family, the caste, the clan.
Got it.
That's why Minbari do not have problems with relationships.
We have a ritual for everything.
For being together, for being apart, for meeting for saying goodbye, for solving disputes All right, all right, all right.
Which is this one? It is called shan-fall.
The third movement of preparation and mutual understanding.
Oh, that old one, yeah.
In a little while, you come to my quarters where we spend the night together discovering one another's centers of pleasure.
It is done with great deliberation prayerfully, with respect and meditation.
It is good for us to know all we can about one another should we continue the joining of our hearts and our blood.
So you can meet me there.
Unless, of course you can find something of equal value sitting here and staring at plants while feeling guilty about things you cannot change.
Nope.
Damn, it's hot down here.
How can you stand it in that coat? It's fine, fine.
Guess you get used to it after a while.
You eating another one of those things, Jack? Thought you were on a diet.
Yes, well, important people have larger appetites.
Look, I'm sorry about what happened.
You wanna see something? All right.
- That's my daughter Elysha.
- Yeah? Just turned 18 two days ago.
Can't send her a birthday greeting though, not with this embargo and all.
- But I think she understands.
- She's gorgeous.
Yeah.
She's the alpha and omega of my soul.
First thing I think about in the morning last thing I think about at night.
I've been doing most of my business for her.
You know, a little security from her old man.
Give her something to be proud of.
- Is this her address on the back? - Yeah.
Yeah, I kept forgetting it so I finally had to write it down.
Block this, subsection that, city district something.
Whatever happened to good old addresses? I'd like to know.
Have you ever met Number One before? Many times.
We're very close.
I wanted to bring her back something but I couldn't find anything on my last run.
But that's always the way it is at Deneb 4.
Nothing there.
Yeah, but I thought that All right, up.
Hands behind your heads.
Move! What? What's wrong? Well, the ID numbers you gave us didn't check out.
And the DNA didn't match.
That's what's wrong.
- Impossible.
- What'd you do with our contacts? - You got 30 seconds.
- We didn't do anything.
Wrong answer! Twenty seconds.
First, we kill him, then you.
Make it two minutes.
- You shouldn't be here.
- I want to see them for myself.
- You're exposing yourself to risk.
- That's the nature of the job.
- I want to know what they're up to.
- Marcus.
I see it.
Get down! Let's go.
- What the hell was that? - I don't know.
- I've never seen anything like it.
- Whatever it was, it was on Captain Jack.
Where is he? We found your real Identicards.
Jack must've switched them for the fakes when you were handing them over.
I don't understand.
Why'd he do it? He's been with us for years.
- Well, he may not have had a choice.
- How so? The skin of this thing is covered with microfibers that dig into the skin and hook into the neural system.
The whole thing is built like a series of synaptic relays with a symbiotic English, doc.
This entity can cut into the neural pathways and override them.
Now, some of the microfibers are fresh so my guess is that its control over a given host grows as it does.
A parasite.
I hate parasites.
Nasty little buggers.
- This was controlling him the whole time? - Yeah, mostly.
Wouldn't let him warn us.
Didn't notice the small things he kept doing, though.
He kept trying to tell me something was wrong without actually saying it.
He kept his coat on even though he was sweaty.
Saying there's nothing on Deneb worth buying when it's the biggest colony market in the area.
And giving me his daughter's address contact her in case he didn't survive this.
We lost him when he got topside and hopped a tube.
- Does he still have his comset? - I didn't find it anywhere.
But we did find something else.
He broke into a weapons case.
Took a thermal grenade.
Jack? Jack, it's me.
- Yes.
- What happened wasn't your fault.
Come on back.
It's okay.
Nobody got hurt.
I can't do that.
They knew who I was.
They found me in the middle of the night and they put that thing on me.
In me.
I wanted to warn you but I couldn't say anything.
It wouldn't let me.
- Now it's too late.
- No.
It's not.
We killed the thing.
You killed a part of it.
But see, you can't remove the whole thing.
The thing of it is the damn thing of it is they grow back.
They always grow back.
Jack, listen to me.
Don't do anything stupid.
They say these tunnels can withstand just about anything.
And I've always wondered if that was true or not.
I guess I'll finally find out what my tax money's been doing all these years.
Jack, don't be a - Thank you.
- Okay.
Michael.
Look I wanna apologize for losing my temper earlier.
I think we should try this again.
You're him.
You're Sheridan.
Yes, I am.
I'm sorry, I don't have the You went to Z'Ha'Dum, died and returned with knowledge of good and evil.
- You understand.
- It's not what you think.
- You got that right.
- Just a blessing, please.
- No, I'm sorry.
- Come on! He's not the pope.
- He doesn't look anything like her! - Let me go.
- You've seen the truth.
- Leave her alone.
- Let me go! - You like this? Is that it? - No, you're hurting her! - He's not what he appears to be! - Let me go! - I said, let her go! It's all right.
It's all right.
It's all right.
Now, because of everything we've been through before you get that one free.
Next one, I'll take your head off.
Come on.
Damn it! - Yes? - It's me.
Delenn, you wouldn't believe the kind of day I've Yes? I thought we were going to be alone.
I mean, what are they? They're here for the ritual.
While we discover one another's pleasure centers they wait outside to pray and meditate and ensure that things do not go too far.
It is our tradition.
- They're going to be out here? - Yes.
- While we're in there? - Yes.
I can't.
- Delenn, I can't in front of other - John.
No, no, no, no.
John, it matters to me that we do this properly.
In keeping with the values and traditions of our people.
As the engagement ring meant so much to you our ceremonies mean just as much to us.
Please stay.
"Woo-hoo"? I heard back from the other leaders in the Resistance.
They're on their way.
But it'll take a couple of days.
- It looks like you're stuck here for a while.
- Typical.
Nothing on this trip has been easy.
I don't suppose there's any place around here we could stay.
I hot-linked your fake Identicards to a hotel I know.
They don't ask questions and don't see what we don't want them to see.
Meanwhile, I was going to go out and get some dinner.
If you'd like to join me.
Why don't you two go on ahead, and I'll meet you at the hotel later.
- Are you sure? - Positive.
- Where will I find you? - The Red Planet Hotel.
For some reason they gave you two the honeymoon suite.
Right.
Fine.
I'll remind you of this when we decide on custody of the children.
Hear you were looking for me.
Yeah.
Also hear that you had a little dustup with Sheridan.
Yeah.
Look I think he's lost it.
He's starting to believe the things everybody's saying about him and buying into this hero-worship stuff.
It's become about him, not what we've been saying not what we've been fighting for.
And if he could see straight, he'd agree with me but in the end we'll lose everything we worked for because of one man.
That's what happens.
It's exactly what happens when one man begins to matter more than the cause.
- Are you with us? - I won't hurt him.
No one's asking you to.
You give him to us when we tell you to.
We'll see to it that he gets the help that he needs.
Are you with us? I'm with you.