Babylon 5, Season 4: No Surrender, No Retreat

[Opening credits voiceover.]

Lennier:
It was the year of fire…

Zack Allan:
…the year of destruction…

G'Kar:
…the year we took back what was ours.

Lyta Alexander:
It was the year of rebirth…

Vir Cotto:
…the year of great sadness…

Marcus Cole:
…the year of pain…

Delenn:
…and a year of joy.

Londo Mollari:
It was…a new age.

Stephen Franklin:
It was the end of history.

Susan Ivanova:
It was the year everything changed.

Michael Garibaldi:
The year is 2261.

John Sheridan:
The place, Babylon 5.

G'Kar:
It is now seven days since we lost Captain Sheridan and Mr. Garibaldi. In a way I think we have also lost Ivanova. It is as though her heart has been pierced and her spirit has poured out through the wound. She blames herself. It is foolish; it is destructive; it is…human. Ambassador Mollari has returned to Centauri Prime to take up his role as advisor of planetary security. I suppose he is quite happy with his new position. It's what he always wanted: power, title, responsibility. I think he is more alone than anyone else in the universe. Delenn has refused to eat for seven days, fasting, praying, and waiting. Delenn believes; I think she is the only one who does. The Shadows have paused in their pursuit of war and everywhere there is a sense of imminent change. Whether it is a change for good or ill, no one could tell, because no one has answered two very important questions:

Where is Mr. Garibaldi? And what happened to Captain Sheridan at Z'ha'dum?

G'Kar:
Our thoughts form the universe. They always matter.

. . .

[G'Kar observes a picture of Daffy Duck on Garibaldi's wall.]

G'Kar:
I was studying this image. Is it one of his household gods?

Zack Allan:
[chuckles] That's Daf-Yeah, well, in a way I suppose it is. It's sort of the Egyptian god of frustration.

G'Kar:
Most appropriate!

[Lyta pays Ivanova a late-night visit.]

Suasn Ivanova:
Have you ever heard of the hour of the wolf?

Lyta Alexander:
No.

Ivanova:
My father told me about it. It's the time between three and four in the morning. You can't sleep, and all you can see is the troubles and the problems and the ways that your life should've gone but didn't. All you can hear is the sound of your own heart. I've been living in the hour of the wolf for seven days, Lyta. Seven days. The wolf and I are now on a first-name basis. [She sits down and sees that Lyta is still standing.] Ah, please. [She points at a chair, and Lyta gets her drift and sits.] In times like this, my father used to take one large glass of vodka before bed. To keep the wolf away, he said. And then he would take three very small drinks of vodka, just in case she had cubs while she was waiting outside. [takes a drink] It doesn't work.

Ivanova:
Lennier, get us the hell out of here!

Lennier:
Initiating "getting the hell out of here" maneuver.

G'Kar:
Compassion is a rare commodity these days

G'Kar:
[admiring Marcus's (closed) Minbari fighting pike] May I?

[Marcus hands him the pike.]

Marcus Cole:
To open it, you press…

[G'Kar presses the button and opens the pike; it telescopes out, barely missing Marcus and knocking over a crate]

G'Kar:
I like it!

Sheridan:
Personal log, May 14, 2260. We actually had a quiet day today. It's hard to believe with so much going on lately, and now that we've broken away from Earth, everything has hit the fan. It's not what I wanted. Frankly, it scared the hell out of me. But it had to be done. The job now is to turn this around and make it into something positive. My dad always told me that's the only way you deal with pain. You don't surrender, you don't fight it, you turn it into something positive. He used to say, "If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You've got nothing to lose." In a way, I feel the same way about Delenn. I mean, during the war I fought Minbari, I killed Minbari. I saw many of my friends die at Minbari hands. And here I am, in love with one of them. For a long time, I thought about not saying anything, but the moment my heart crossed that line, there wasn't much I could do but see it through. Yeah, I've fallen off one hell of a cliff. When I look in her eyes, I let myself think, maybe I really can fly.

Delenn:
The chances of success are small, but if we stay here and do nothing, they are even smaller. So we go. As a dear friend said to me, "If you're falling of a mountain, you may as well try to fly." Here, at the end, I offer you one final chance to fly.

Lorien:
It's easy to find something worth dying for. Do you have anything worth living for? paraphrased from Wilhelm Stekel, "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."

paraphrased from Wilhelm Stekel, "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."

[Ivanova insists she does not need a translator to command a Minbari-crewed White Star.]

Susan Ivanova:
[in Minbari] Engines at full…high power hatrack ratcatcher to port weapons…brickbat lingerie!

Marcus Cole:
It's…

Delenn:
Um, very good!

Marcus:
Bit of an accent. But yes, very good.

Delenn:
But it is not enough to speak Minbari; you must also think in our language.

Marcus:
It can take a few seconds to translate an order. And we all know a lot can happen in a few seconds: Crash, boom, burn.

Delenn:
Exactly. So Marcus will accompany you.

Ivanova:
[protesting] That's not…

Delenn:
[to Marcus] Do you mind?

Marcus:
Not at all. Love to.

[Ivanova sees she's beaten.]

Ivanova:
All right. Meet me early in the morning, or I'm leaving without you. [She stalks off.]

Marcus:
[calling after her] I'll be there!

Delenn:
Tell the crew that if anyone laughs, they will answer to me personally.

Marcus:
At least a dozen ships have reported seeing something rather godlike in the area, and since neither you nor I were there, it must be one of the First Ones.

Ivanova:
[smiling] You're having delusions of grandeur again.

Marcus:
Well, if you're gonna have delusions, may as well go for the really satisfying ones.

[Londo attempts to recruit Vir into the conspiracy to assassinate Emperor Cartagia.]

Vir Cotto:
I've never been involved in a conspiracy to kill anyone before, not to mention the Emperor! I thought we were past this centuries ago! I mean, there's got to be another way, Londo! I mean, can't we reason with him or something…

. . .

[after meeting Cartagia and hearing him bemoan G'Kar's refusal to scream, despite being tortured in supremely painful ways]

Vir:
Londo? Remember what I said before about "there must be another way"? I was wrong. Kill him!

Marcus:
Anyone special waiting for you back home?

Ivanova:
No, not anymore. You?

Marcus:
[bashful] Someone. She doesn't know it yet.

Ivanova:
That's a strange way to pursue a relationship.

Marcus:
I suppose so. Ah…I want this thing to go right. I want it to be special.

Ivanova:
Oh. A romantic! I don't think I've felt that way since the first time!

Marcus:
That's what I'm talking about.

[Susan's eyes narrow, get wide, then get wider.]

Ivanova:
You mean you don't…you haven't…

Marcus:
Yes.

Ivanova:
You're a…

Marcus:
Exactly.

Ivanova:
With anyone?

Marcus:
Never met the right person before.

Ivanova:
Wow. I thought the First Ones were rare! Well, I hope she appreciates it.

Marcus:
So do I. It's… [An alarm goes off.] I'm picking something up!

Ivanova:
A unicorn? [he gives her a confused look] Sorry.

[Sheridan, back from Z'ha'dum, interrupts the rabble rousers on the Zocalo.]

Drazi:
Captain…we're sorry…We thought you were dead.

John Sheridan:
[deadpan] I was. I'm better now.

[Ivanova and Garibaldi survey the fleet]

Michael Garibaldi:
That is a hell of a lot of ships.

Susan Ivanova:
And more on the way. The captain wants the biggest fleet in history if we're gonna end this war. The way things are shaping up out there it looks like he just might get it.

Garibaldi:
And then what?

Ivanova:
And then what what?

Garibaldi:
Well if we lose, there is no "then what", and if we win, what next? We're still renegades. I don't think there's anybody left on this side of the galactic core we haven't already honked off. We can't go home. Sometimes I don't know which scares me more, winning or losing.

Ivanova:
God, I thought I was depressing.

[Sheridan proposes to Delenn]

John Sheridan:
I, um…I wanted you to have this. I got it down in the Zocalo. It's not exactly what I had in mind, but, um…It's temporary until I can get you a real engagement ring. Um, it's an Earth custom. See, you give someone you love an engagement ring as kind of down payment for another ring. The kind you exchange when you get married. I don't know when we will be able to get around to that part of it. We may not survive the next two weeks, but I wanted you to have this and to know that whatever time I have left, I want to spend it with you.

Londo Mollari:
Great Maker! Your eye! Cartagia?

G'Kar:
My eye offended him. Doesn't matter. I can see things now that were invisible to me before. An empty eye sees through to an empty heart.[N]

[The War Council has just witnessed the Shadow planet killer in action]

Michael Garibaldi:
Anyone want to tell me how the hell we're supposed to stop that?

[G'Kar is aghast at his people's enthusiasm for more fighting with the departed Centauri.]

G'Lorn:
With you directing us, we will finally destroy the Centauri.

G'Kar:
You have just tossed someone off that throne! Would you put another in his place so quickly? The Kha'Ri spoke with many equal voices, not the one voice of a single leader.

G'Lorn:
We need strength to lead us, fire to forge us. We saw that in the Centauri, learned that from them.

G'Kar:
Then you have learned the wrong lessons. I will not take the throne. If the Kha'Ri is restored, I will take my place among them, but that's all. I did not fight to remove one dictator just to become another myself.

G'Lorn:
But the Centauri-

G'Kar:
Are a lost people! They ought to be pitied! They are already on a course for self-destruction! They do not need help from us. We need to redress our wounds, help our people, rebuild our cities!

Lorien:
I am the last, and…I was the first.

Susan Ivanova:
I have to admit, I'm a little bit skeptical about that.

Lorien:
Skepticism is the language of the mind. What does your heart tell you?

Ivanova:
My heart and I don't speak anymore.

Lorien:
So I've noticed.

. . .

Lorien:
To live on as we have is to leave behind joy, and love, and companionship, because we know it to be transitory, of the moment. We know it will turn to ash. Only those whose lives are brief can imagine that love…is eternal. You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received.

[Londo finds out Morden was behind Adira's poisoning.]

Londo Mollari:
He played me! He played me like a PUPPET!

John Sheridan:
We still can't win, but it's not bad.

Marcus Cole:
We can't win?

Sheridan:
Against the Vorlons and the Shadows? No.

Marcus:
Then what are we doing here?

Sheridan:
Hoping the truth will set us free…before it kills us.

Londo:
Your ships are very impressive in the air, or in space, but at this moment, they are on the ground.

Morden:
Right. They're on the ground. But they can sense an approaching ship miles away. So what're you gonna do, Mollari, huh? Blow up the island?

Londo:
Actually…now that you mention it…

[he produces a small remote detonator]

Morden:
NO!

[Londo blows up the island]

Sheridan:
Morning, gentlemen. This is your wakeup call.

[Sheridan detonates three nuclear devices among the Shadow and Vorlon ships.]

Lyta Alexander:
Captain?

Sheridan:
Hmm?

Lyta:
They're pissed.

[Delenn and Sheridan "negotiate" an end to the Vorlon-Shadow War]

Delenn:
The others have rejected you! How do you have a war when no one will fight for either of you?

Sheridan:
We refuse to take sides in this anymore! And we refuse to let you turn us against one another! We know who we are now. We can find our own way between order and chaos!

Delenn:
You can kill us one by one, and those who follow us, and those who follow them, on and on, every race, every planet. Until there's no one left to kill. You will have failed as guardians. And you will be alone.

Sheridan:
It's over because we've decided it's over. Now get the hell out of our galaxy! Both of you!

[The Vorlons and Shadows hesitate, but Lorien steps in]

Lorien:
As I taught you and stepped aside, now you must do the same. Our age is past. This…belongs to the younger races now. They have learned to stand on their own. They have learned…to understand. Time to let them go.

Shadow:
Will you…come…with us?

Lorien:
I have been here since the beginning. I will not leave you now. I will go with you beyond the Rim, and we will see again all those who went ahead of us, all those who we have missed for so long.

Vorlon:
Then…we will not be alone?

Lorien:
No. Never alone.

[The Vorlons and Shadows disappear, and their respective fleets leave the system]

Marcus:
Did we just win?

Ivanova:
Don't jinx it.

[Lorien turns to address Sheridan and Delenn]

Lorien:
I waited a long time for someone to find me. Now, like the others, I find I hate to leave. But none of us can stay behind this time. That was why it was necessary to find all the remaining First Ones. This…is yours now. And you have an obligation…to do as we have done. To teach the races that will follow you and, when your time comes, as ours has, to step aside and allow them to grow into their own destiny. If your races survive, if you do not kill yourselves, I look forward to the day when your people join us…beyond the Rim.

[he starts dissolving into a ball of light]

Lorien:
We will wait for you…

G'Kar:
I have seen what power does, and I have seen what power costs. The one is never equal to the other.

[Zack is showing some new security guards the ropes at Customs.]

Zack Allan:
When you come on duty always check this display. This is where you get your details on who to hold, and who to let through. Anything unusual gets flagged.

[Londo walks through the gate.]

Londo Mollari:
And would I fall under the category of unusual, Mr. Allen?

Zack:
Well! I didn't think we'd be seeing you again any time soon, ambassador.

Londo:
Yes, I could tell, from the look of unvarnished joy on your face when I came aboard. Perhaps you would like to take a seat before you are overcome with ecstasy?

Zack:
No thanks, I'm fine. So what happened, they get tired of you back home?

Londo:
Tired? No, don't be absurd. Why, the Emperor himself said I would only be allowed to leave over his dead body. I thought, "Well, how strange. Mr. Allan said I would only be allowed back onto Babylon 5 over his dead body." With my busy schedule I'm afraid I can only accommodate so many requests. I'm sorry, Mr. Allan, but I'm afraid you'll simply have to wait your turn! [he leaves]

Zack:
The only reason that guy is still alive is that half the time I don't know what the hell he's talking about. The other half, I wish I didn't. But that's why it's important to check in on customs on a regular basis. [Bester now appears behind him, surrounded by three security guards.] You never know who's gonna walk in that-

Alfred Bester:
Just a guess, Mr. Allan, but I'd suggest the word you're looking for is "door". Now, please notify the Captain that I'm here. I need to meet with him and the rest of the Command staff ASAP. I assume my usual quarters in the brig are available? I've grown so attached to the place.

Zack:
For you, Mr. Bester? Always.

[Bester and his security escort move on.]

Zack:
[sighs] You ever have one of those days?

Lyta Alexander:
Psi Cops are trained to make everyone nervous, but Bester can make even other Psi Cops nervous.

Zack:
Hell, the man can make poison ivy nervous.

Bester:
Ms. Alexander has no business being here. She's a blip! By all rights, I should arrest her and take her back with me.

John Sheridan:
Oh, you could do that. And I could nail your head to the table, set fire to it, and feed your charred remains to the Pak'ma'ra. But…it's an imperfect world, and we never get exactly what we want. So get used to it!

[Bester confronts Lyta about her enhanced telepathic abilities.]

Bester:
You've been keeping me out since I got here. A good question is, why? A better question is, how? I was thinking…I may have spoken rashly before. There may be some value in not turning you over. You're stronger than the last time I saw you.

Lyta:
We all change.

Bester:
Yes, but this is different. I can feel it. Whatever's happened to you, you have a moral obligation to share it with the Corps, Lyta. The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father.

Lyta:
In that case, Mr. Bester…I'm an orphan.

[the White Star arrives at Z'ha'dum]

Bester:
Is that it? It looks like Hell.

Sheridan:
That's about right.

[An ISN crew arrives on the station and is stopped by security.]

Dan Randall:
Hey! That's private proprerty! We have rights here!

Zack Allan:
What you're going to have is my foot sixteen inches up your butt if you don't get the hell out of my way!

[An ISN reporter complains to Sheridan about Ivanova's rough treatment.]

John Sheridan:
Commander! Did you threaten to grab this man by the collar and threaten to throw him out an airlock?

Susan Ivanova:
[chagrined] Yes, I did.

Sheridan:
I'm shocked! Shocked and dismayed.

[The reporter nods, mollified.]

Sheridan:
May I remind you that we are short on supplies here? We can't afford to take perfectly good clothing and throw it out into space! Always take the jacket off first-I've told you that before!

[Ivanova nods meekly.]

Sheridan:
Sorry. She meant to say, "stripped naked and thrown out of an airlock". I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Londo Mollari:
When I said my quarters were cold, I did not mean, 'Oh, I think it's a little chilly in here, perhaps I'll throw a blanket on the bed.' No, I said it was cold, as in 'Oh, my left arm has snapped off like an icicle and shattered on the floor!' This is highly inappropriate, Captain!

Sheridan:
[smirking] You're right. There are several other parts of your body I'd much rather see snapped off.

[Zack is being fitted for his new Uniform as Chief of Security.]

Zack Allan:
Oh yeah, I should listen to a Minbari about fashion. I mean, robes? Hoods? No offense, but I've seen Vorlons with more fashion sense.

[The Minbari tailor stabs Zack with the needle.]

Zack:
She did that on purpose.

Lennier:
Yes, I believe she did. I will deal with this.

Lennier:
[in Minbari] Good work. Give me a moment with the Human, and next time…use a bigger needle.

Zack:
Yeah, and don't you forget it!

[A hungover and limping Ivanova stumbles out of a transport tube after a Drazi religious celebration, much to Sheridan's surprise.]

John Sheridan:
What the…?

Susan Ivanova:
Don't. Even. Ask.

[After Dukhat compels Delenn to speak before the Grey council]

Dukhat:
You look as if you've been terrified into another and better incarnation.

...

[During the Dreaming, Delenn recalls a conversation with her mentor Dukhat.]

Dukhat:
Authority should never be used as a club, Delenn.

...

Dukhat:
When others do a foolish thing, you should tell them it is a foolish thing. They can still continue to do it, but at least the truth is where it needs to be.

[Lennier brings to Delenn some ancient records after retrieving them from their guardians.]

Lennier:
I managed to…explain matters to them. They will recover, in time.

[Franklin gets testy with Marcus on their cargo shuttle trip to Mars.]

Stephen Franklin:
Is this really the best ship you could find?

Marcus Cole:
Yes. [he flicks his pike open, then closes it just as quickly]

Franklin:
Smells like the inside of a Martian pleasure dome on Sunday morning.

Marcus:
Wouldn't know about that.

Franklin:
Don't make me come over there and [flick] take that thing from you.

Marcus:
Helps me relax.

Franklin:
Marcus, this is the kind of conversation that can only end with a gunshot!

Marcus:
Would you like me to sing instead?

Franklin:
No.

Marcus:
You haven't heard me!

Franklin:
Marcus, please!

[the episode ends with Marcus singing the Major-General's Song by Gilbert and Sullivan]

[Marcus and Franklin are killing time in a cargo hold filled with crates.]

Marcus Cole:
I spy with my little eye…something beginning with "B."

Stephen Franklin:
[annoyed] Boxes.

Marcus:
Fine! I spy with my little eye something beginning with "M."

Franklin:
More boxes.

Marcus:
Two in a row.

Franklin:
[deadpan] "And that's when I shot him, Your Honor."

Marcus:
I spy with my little eye something beginning with "E."

Franklin:
I-I give up.

Marcus:
Oh come on.

Franklin:
This better not be what I-

Marcus and Franklin:
[in unison] Even MORE boxes!

[Ivanova tries to sell smugglers on running EarthGov's blockade.]

Susan Ivanova:
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.

Smuggler #1:
My pilots don't have accidents.

Ivanova:
They will. I'll see to it.

Smuggler #1:
You wouldn't!

Ivanova:
Really? I've got a 200-megawatt pulse cannon in the forward cargo bay that says otherwise.

[Sheridan praises Ivanova for her telecasts during the Shadow war.]

John Sheridan:
You have a face people trust.

Susan Ivanova:
I'd rather have a face people fear.

Sheridan:
That too.

Sheridan:
Why not come up with a way to turn the war room into…I don't know…The Voice of the Resistance! Susan, during World War II, the French Resistance used to go on the air for one hour a night, always from a different location, broadcasting the real news about the war. Providing intelligence for the resistance fighters, encouraging Germans to defect. Well, why can't we do the same thing here?

Ivanova:
Why do I get the ugly suspicion that you're volunteering me for this job?

Sheridan:
I accept your offer!

Marcus Cole:
Touch passion when it comes your way, Stephen. It's rare enough as it is. Don't walk away when it calls you by name.

Delenn:
Before the war, Dukhat wanted to know more about your people, so I began studying your history. I came to the conclusion that of all the races we had encountered, humans were the most dangerous. Because humans form communities. And from that diversity comes a strength that no single race can withstand. That is your strength. And it is that which makes you dangerous.

Sheridan:
I'm tired, Delenn. Sometimes I feel as if I've been carrying this station on my back and crawling through broken glass for three years.

[After Garibaldi reunites a client with his missing daughter, the man is surprised by the invoice Garibaldi hands him.]

Client:
It's one-third your fee!

Michael Garibaldi:
It is? [looking] Yeah, it is. Well, I am going to have to take this up with Bookkeeping. I mean, this hardly even covers my expenses. I-well, now that I think about it, I am the Bookkeeping Department. I'll tell you what. I don't wanna get me into trouble over this, so…why don't we just let it go at 30%?

John Sheridan:
If you're going to wait for the universe to start making sense, you'll have a long wait ahead of you.

[Ivanova is trying to get help from the Great Machine in setting up the Voice of the Resistance.]

Susan Ivanova:
I'm trying to put together a facility to broadcast messages back home and to the other colonies. We've got all of the pieces we need, but-

Zathras:
But not having enough power to reach far places! Yes, Zathras understand. Everyone always coming to Zathras with problems. Big responsibility but Zathras does not mind. Zathras trained in crisis management.

Ivanova:
That's great, but-

Zathras:
But only Zathras have no one to talk to. No one manages poor Zathras, you see. So Zathras talks to dirt. Or to walls, or talks to ceilings. But dirt is closer. Dirt is used to everyone walking on it. Just like Zathras. But we have come to like it. It is our role. It is our destiny in the universe. So, you see, sometimes dirt has insects in it. And Zathras likes insects. Not so good for conversation, but much protein for diet. Hmmm, huh, huh, very good! - Zathras fix now. Come, this way.

[Delenn meets with Neroon to discuss their castes' open war.]

Delenn:
Yes, we've disagreed, even fought, but I would rather have someone who opposed me out of an honest belief in the rightness of his cause than someone who is always on my side because it was expected and required.

[Sheridan is speaking with the Drazi ambassador about White Star ships on the borders of Centauri and Narn space.]

Sheridan:
I can't confirm that.

Drazi Ambassador:
But you're not denying it either.

Sheridan:
But not denying it doesn't make it true any more than not confirming it makes it false. - Are you with me so far?

Drazi Ambassador:
I'm not sure.

Sheridan:
Ambassador, there are so many things in the universe that are and so many things that aren't. If I were to take the time to deny all the things that aren't, we'd be here for centuries, wouldn't we?

[Upon arrival, Bester finds his literary quip completely lost on a B5 security guard.]

Alfred Bester:
Well, it's good to see they're continuing the fine tradition of hiring from the shallow end of the gene pool.

[Bester works on Lyta's feelings of being ignored by the B5 staff.]

Bester:
I mean, being a freedom fighter, a…a force for good, it's…it's a wonderful thing. You get to make your own hours, looks good on a resume, but the pay…sucks.

[his dying words as the Starfire Wheel consumes him]

Neroon:
I was born Warrior Caste! But I see now, the calling of my heart is RELIGIOUS! The war is over! Listen to her! Listen!

[Vir is surprised at Garibaldi's disapproval of Sheridan's crusade against EarthGov.]

Vir Cotto:
I don't always like the way Londo does things, and…well, me and most civilized worlds, but…you know, sometimes he's right. So I force myself to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Ivanova issues careful orders to B5 fighters for avoiding order-spoofing from EarthGov.]

David Corwin:
So from now on, I guess the operational phrase is "trust no one".

Susan Ivanova:
No. Trust Ivanova, trust yourself. Anybody else, shoot 'em!

[At Proxima 3, Marcus notes the approach of half the blockading destroyers.]

John Sheridan:
The hostiles might be splitting up so they can be with both groups, to keep them in line.

Marcus Cole:
Unless they're all hostile, and some are just more hostile than others.

Sheridan:
Thank you for the ray of sunshine, Marcus. Next time I feel the need to be depressed, I'll remember to give you a call.

[Monitored by a telepath, Garibaldi tells Edgars of his suspicions about his employment.]

Michael Garibaldi:
Everybody lies.

William Edgars:
That's a very sad view of the universe, Mr. Garibaldi.

Garibaldi:
Yeah, well, it's the only one I got. And it works for me.

Edgars:
Do you know how the ancient Greeks defined happiness?

Garibaldi:
Not off-hand, but I'd be willing to bet it involved three goats and a jug of wine.

Edgars:
"Happiness", they said, was "the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence, in a life affording them scope".

William Edgars:
The truth will be revealed in a couple of days. How many people can say that?

Michael Garibaldi:
I don't know. But I think the last guy got thirty pieces of silver for the same job.

Lyta Alexander:
Somewhere on Beta Colony there is an institution. In one room of the institution there is a man who spends his days and nights screaming at things that only he can see. Things we planted in his mind. They have to keep him in a straitjacket 24 hours a day or he'll claw his own eyes out just to make it stop. When it was over I transferred over to commercial work. I wanted out. The Corps took me in when I was just a few years old. They taught me what a telepath was, what we could do. Until that time I'd never been afraid of who we were. Until that day. When we did what we had to do…because no one else would.

Susan Ivanova:
What's going on? You all look like a Pak'ma'ra just ate your cat.

[Sheridan tries to encourage an imprisoned Drazi.]

John Sheridan:
You just have to say "no, I won't" one more time than they can say "yes, you will".

[The interrogator leaves Sheridan in the room, with a recorded voice repeating over and over.]

Recording:
You will cooperate with the state, for the good of the state and your own survival. You will confess to the crimes of which you have been accused. You will be released and returned to society a productive citizen if you cooperate. Resistance will be punished. Cooperation will be rewarded.

John Sheridan:
You know, it's funny, I was thinking about what you said, that the preeminent truth of our age is that you cannot fight the system. But if, as you say, the truth is fluid, that the truth is subjective, then maybe you can fight the system. As long as just one person refuses to be broken, refuses to bow down.

Interrogator:
But can you win?

John Sheridan:
Every time I say "no."

[Threatened by the Mars Resistance, Garibaldi begs Lyta to force her way past his memory blocks.]

Lyta Alexander:
Michael, if I do a deep scan, it could damage you.

Michael Garibaldi:
And if you don't, they're gonna kill me. Now, a headache I can get over. I'm not sure I'm gonna get over being dead anytime soon.

. . .

[after she breaks the blocks and sees Garibaldi's memories]

Lyta:
It's true. What he told us, it's all true.

Number One:
Like that means a damn! How do we know that anything you say is the truth? You could be saying whatever the hell you want-

Lyta:
What do YOU know about Hell? Hmm? [she turns to face Number One, her eyes completely black] Would you like me to show it to you? Mine and his?

[she telepathically projects Garibaldi's memories into Number One]

Number One:
[recoils] It's true. Damned, it's true!

Garibaldi:
Okay, who gulped? Somebody gulped. We have got a long way to go. We're supposed to sip, not gulp.

Franklin:
I didn't gulp.

Lyta:
I sipped.

Garibaldi:
[to Lyta] You I believe.

Franklin:
[chagrined] What? Why do you believe her and not me?

Garibaldi:
Because when you lie, it's all over your face. She's a better liar than you are.

Lyta:
Thank you. [pause] Wait a minute! [...] What do you mean I'm a good liar?

[Garibaldi tries to use his ISN fame to get past Sheridan's guard.]

Guard:
[in a monotone] I don't watch TV. It's a cultural wasteland filled with inappropriate metaphors and an unrealistic portrayal of life created by the liberal media elite.

Lyta:
Pain... [whispered into a guard's ear; he then howls in agony and drops to the floor in a heap]

Susan Ivanova:
This is the White Star fleet. Negative on the surrender. We will not stand down.

Captain Thomson, Earthforce:
Who is this? Identify yourself!

Ivanova:
Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am Death Incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.

Marcus Cole:
We've all been through six kinds of hell in the last few years.

[Sheridan's telepath gambit has disabled General Lefcourt's ship, along with the rest of the loyalist fleet.]

General Lefcourt:
Engineering, this is General Lefcourt. In case you didn't notice, the enemy just pulled our shorts up over our head and tied them into a knot. You will get the ship under control ASAP, or I will come down there and skin the hide off every last one of you.

[Sheridan's liberation fleet finally confronts Earth itself.]

John Sheridan:
This is Captain John Sheridan. We are here on the authority of a multi-planetary force, that can no longer stand by and watch one of their greatest allies falling into darkness and despair. We are here on behalf of the thousands of civilians murdered under orders from the current administration, who have no one else to speak for them, and on behalf of the EarthForce units that have joined us to oppose the tyranny that has darkened Earth, ever since President Santiago was assassinated three years ago. We are here to place President Clark under arrest, to disband Nightwatch, and return our government to the hands of her people. We know that many in the government have wanted to act, but have been intimidated by threats of retaliation against your families, your friends. You are not alone anymore. We call upon you to rise up and do what's right! We have drawn their forces away from Earth and disabled them. The time to act is now! This is not the voice of treason. These are your sons, your daughters, whose loyalties have never wavered, whose beliefs in this alliance has [sic] forced us to take extraordinary means! For justice, for peace, for the future…we have come home!

John Sheridan:
[over radio] We need you, Delenn.

Delenn:
[commanding the League's fleet] We are there.

Marcus:
[as he's giving up his life energy to save Ivanova] I love you…

[Franklin comforts Ivanova in her grief over Marcus's sacrifice.]

Susan Ivanova:
All love is unrequited, Stephen. All of it.

Earth President Susanna Luchenko:
Well, Captain, you caused quite a stir. Half of EarthForce wants to give you a kiss on the cheek and the Medal of Honor. The other half wants you taken out and shot. As a politician you learn how to compromise. Which by all right means I should give you the Medal of Honor, then have you shot. I confess the idea had a certain appeal when I mentioned it to the Joint Chiefs two hours ago. […] The bitch of it is that you probably did the right thing. But you did it in the wrong way, in the inconvenient way. Now you have to pay the penalty for that. I know it stinks, but that's the way it is.

John Sheridan:
I find it amazing that you think that threats still mean anything to me. 'Do this or you're a dead man.' Death! Been there, done that.

[Londo and G'Kar watch the ISN report on the new Interstellar Alliance.]

Londo Mollari:
So, how does it feel to make history, hmm?

G'Kar:
You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it.

Delenn:
It was the end of the Earth year 2261, and it was the dawn of a new age…for all of us. It was end of one chapter, and the beginning of another. The next twenty years would see great changes, great joy, and great sorrow. The Telepath War, and the Drakh War. The new Alliance would waver, and crack…but in the end, it would hold. Because what is built endures, and what is loved endures…and Babylon 5…Babylon 5 endures.

[Londo and G'Kar's arrive on Babylon 5 during a celebration.]

Londo Mollari:
So Doctor…who died?

Stephen Franklin:
[confused] What are you talking about?

Londo Mollari:
Among my people this is how we celebrate state funerals. Our marriage ceremonies are solemn, sober. Moments of reflection…also regret, disagreement, argument and mutual recrimination. Once you know it can't get any worse you can sit back and enjoy the marriage. But to start with something like this? No, it is a very bad sign for the future.

[Franklin and Garabaldi walk off.]

Londo Mollari:
Perhaps it is something I said?

G'Kar:
Perhaps it is everything you say.

[500 years later, during a holographic simulation]

Delenn:
What we are isn't a matter of flesh, it's a matter of will.

[1000 years later, in a future primitive Earth, Brother Alwyn advises the doubting Brother Michael.]

Brother Alwyn:
Faith sustains us in the hour when reason tells us that we cannot continue, that the whole of our lives is without meaning.

Brother Michael:
Then why were we born able to reason, if reason's useless?

Brother Alwyn:
Not useless. But it's also not enough. Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet! You can travel further with both than you can with just one.

Brother Alwyn:
That is all that faith requires: that we surrender ourselves to the possibility of hope.

[The man from 1 million years hence prepares to leave the doomed Earth to the imminent Solar nova.]

Exeter:
This is how the world ends, swallowed in fire, but not in darkness. You will live on. The voice of all our ancestors, the voice of our fathers and our mothers to the last generation. We created the world we think you would've wished for us. And now we leave the cradle for the last time.[N]

[last lines of the season]

John Sheridan:
…and I was wondering if they will remember us in hundred years from now or a thousand. And I figure probably not.

Delenn:
But it does not matter. We did what we did because it was right and not to be remembered. And history will attend to itself. It always does.

[G'Kar and Marcus Cole take shelter after a bar brawl]

G'Kar:
I was doing fine until you showed up with that… [gesticulates mockingly] thing in hand.

Marcus Cole:
It's a Minbari fighting pike, several hundred years old. [points and smiles] You're just jealous because you don't have one. Bad case of pikal envy, if you ask me.

[later]

G'Kar:
[admiring Marcus's (closed) Minbari fighting pike] May I?

[Marcus hands him the pike.]

Marcus Cole:
To open it, you press…

[G'Kar presses the button and opens the pike; it telescopes out, barely missing Marcus and knocking over a crate. G'Kar looks at him like a child with a new favorite toy.]

G'Kar:
I like it!

[G'Kar has been taken prisoner by the Centauri, tortured, and now languishes in an underground cell. Londo Mollari steps in to visit him, asking for his help in removing the emperor. Just before he leaves, G'Kar rebuts.]

G'Kar:
You didn't ask the price…for my cooperation.

Londo Mollari:
[incredulous] You are not exactly in a position to bargain, G'Kar.

G'Kar:
Neither are you. You want my help…for the sake of your people. I will give it…for the sake of my own. If I remove the monster from your throne, you will remove the monster…from my world. Leave Narn! Set my world free! Promise me this, and I will do as you ask.

[Mollari thinks about this for a moment, then realizes he has no choice and agrees.]

Mollari:
You have my word.

[He is let out of the cell by the guard, allowing the bright light to stream in from outside. G'Kar lies back against the wall of his cell, basking in the glow, joyful tears in his eyes.]

[In his quarters, Ambassador Ulkesh removes the last vestiges of his consciousness from Lyta Alexander's mind. The energy streams disconnect from her with a pop and her head snaps back like she has been struck.]

Lyta Alexander:
You didn't have to pull out so suddenly. You hurt me.

[The Vorlon's encounter suit closes without response.]

Lyta Alexander:
While I was carrying you, you felt cold, hard. What are you hiding from me?

Ulkesh:
[ignoring her once more] Your work for now is done here. Go. Sleep.

Lyta Alexander:
I have a right to know. I've done everything you asked. I let your people modify me, enhance my telepathic abilities so I'd be more suited to carry a Vorlon around in my head, because I believed. Kosh—the real Kosh—wasn't like this. I think on some level he cared about us…about me. With you it's as if I'm being used and then thrown away when I'm not needed anymore. [explodes with anger] Dammit! I have earned some respect! [straightens] And I have earned some answers.

[The eye-sensor on the encounter suit head narrows]

Ulkesh:
Respect? From whom?

[Lyta's mouth drops open in shock. In her anger, she tries to scan him, but a wave of energy shoots out and knocks her back into the wall. The Vorlon advances on her, the eye-sensor widening and glowing red.]

Ulkesh:
[angrily] Would you know my thoughts? Would you?

[A sound indicating an intense mind-probe. Lyta screams, and the scene goes black.]

[After being treated with reverence by a group in the docking bay, John Sheridan walks with Lorien down the corridor. As they leave, they overhear one woman asking about the captain's so-called resurrection.]

Lorien:
You heard?

John Sheridan:
I heard.

Lorien:
They need to believe.

Sheridan:
Not in me.

Lorien:
You can't save them all.

Sheridan:
I'll try.

Lorien:
You'll fail.

Sheridan:
We'll see.

[After G'Kar breaks free from his chains and starts a riot]

Cartagia:
Completely irresponsible! The chains weren't properly secured, I can't have it getting out. They'll have to be killed!

Londo:
Majesty—

Cartagia:
All of them, killed! Incompetent behavior! Absolutely incompetent!

Londo:
Be quiet!

Cartagia:
"Quiet"?! [strikes Londo, making him drop Vir Cotto's poisoned needle] You would tell the stars to darken on a whim?! What, would you tear down the mountains because their height offends you?! Who are you?! [seizes Londo] Where were you?! Where were you when my destiny was written in those stars? Where were you when the gods themselves shined down upon me? Huh? You dare to speak to me?! No, you can burn. You can burn with Centauri Prime. You can burn with the rest. Burn with the cities, burn with the temples, burn with all of them!

[Cartagia throws Londo away and turns—only to have Vir run him through with the needle.]

Cartagia:
No! [grabs Vir, but starts to weaken as Londo holds him up] I was to be a god, you understand…a god…

[The White Star joins with the rest of the fleet, heading toward the final battleground of the war.]

John Sheridan:
Win or lose, we'll go down fighting. [issuing orders to Lennier] Pour it on, Mr. Lennier. Take us into the fire.

[As Sheridan and Delenn evetually figured out the true purpose behind the Vorlon-Shadow War]

Sheridan:
You're trying to force us to decide which of you is right. You're like a couple of parents arguing in front of their kids, manipulating them, trying to get them to take sides! Not for their benefit, but for yours! But what if the right choice... is not to choose at all?

Sheridan:
The Vorlons ask only one question, over and over: "Who are you?". [points to Shadow emissary] And you, for you the question is: "What do you want?". I have never heard you answer that question. [Points, respectively, to the Vorlon and then the Shadow for each following question] Who are you? What do you want?

Sheridan:
We are all alone now, just the younger races. We can't blame anyone else from now on. It's a new age, Delenn. A third age!

Delenn:
Why third?

Sheridan:
We began in chaos, too primitive to make our own decisions. Then we were manipulated from outside by forces that thought they knew what was best for us. And now? Now we are finally standing on our own. Lorien was right, it's a great responsibility. This is ours now.

Delenn:
Strange. The galaxy seems somehow smaller now that the First Ones are gone forever.

Sheridan:
It feels like the magic's gone now.

Delenn:
No, not gone. Now we make our own magic. Now we create our own legends. Now we build the future. Now we stop…

Sheridan …being afraid of shadows.

[After discussing recent events with Captain Sheridan, Commander Ivanova walks around his desk and sits in his chair.]

Susan Ivanova:
Speaking of which, as of now I'm relieving you of command.

John Sheridan:
[slightly amused] Ivanova, your sense of humor has always been on the edge of good taste, but—

Ivanova:
I'm serious, John.

Sheridan:
[defensively] On what grounds?

Ivanova:
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 have been declared dead at least once, and you know how tiring that can be.

Sheridan:
There isn't much chance of me winning this argument, is there?

Ivanova:
None whatsoever. I never give up when I'm right. Your only option is to surrender.

Sheridan:
Who taught you to negotiate like that?

Ivanova:
You did.

Sheridan:
[impressed and defeated] Oh. Well, then I assume this enforced vacation is to begin immediately.

[Ivanova has already picked up papers from the desk and gotten to work.]

Ivanova:
Started when I walked in that door.

[When Sheridan is faced with the possibility of Delenn heading into what could be a war zone.]

John Sheridan:
Can't you send out Lennier? It might be dangerous.

Delenn:
[smiles in amusement] John! It pleases me that you care for what I have become. [seriously] But never forget who I was, what I am, and what I can do.

[Delenn meets with Neroon to discuss their castes' open war.]

Delenn:
Yes, we've disagreed, even fought, but I would rather have someone who opposed me out of an honest belief in the rightness of his cause than someone who is always on my side because it was expected and required. I've questioned your judgment, your wisdom, your temperament, but never your loyalty.

Neroon:
Was that a compliment?

Delenn:
After a fashion.

Neroon:
Then you trust me?

Delenn:
After a fashion.

. . .

[later, after two attempts on their lives are foiled]

Neroon:
Dukhat chose you above all to follow him. Slowly, dimly, I begin to understand why. I do not know what lies ahead of us, Delenn. But I do know that it is right that we are here together.

Delenn:
Was that a compliment, Neroon?

Neroon:
[smiling wryly] After a fashion.

[After Ivanova has been told to "plant" a story on the Voice of the Resistance.]

Susan Ivanova:
First, one brief announcement. I just wanted to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing whatsoever happened today in sector 83-by-9-by-12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm.[N]

Bester:
Well, there is just no delicate way to say this. [beat] I want your body.

Lyta Alexander:
WHAT?! Are you out of your mind?!

[last lines:
Sheridan and Ivanova have viewed video of Earthforce ships destroying civilian transports carrying refugees from rebel planets]

John Sheridan:
This madness has gone on long enough. I don't care if we're not ready. I don't care if we're outnumbered and outgunned. I don't care what ISN says about us. This stops, and it stops now! Now if Earth wants to declare war on us, then it is time we took that war to Clark. You tell the others. Starting right now, we fight back and we fight back hard!

Susan Ivanova:
I thought you were looking for some other way than firing at our own ships. They were following orders.

Sheridan:
Any crew that executes an order like that is guilty of war crimes, and they deserve whatever they get. No, we're riding in, Susan. Anybody who wants to defect and join us? Fine. If they get in our way, we will knock them down. If they kill one of our ships, we'll kill three of theirs. And we keep going. We never slow down, and we won't stop. We're going after the colonies, then Mars, then Earth…and God help anybody who gets in our way.

John Sheridan:
Captain's personal log, September 2nd, 2261. Enough is enough.

[after the reveal that the new Interstellar Alliance has selected him as their first President]

Sheridan:
Funny thing about retiring. You no sooner pick out the places you want to go on vacation then someone comes at you with another job offer.

Garibaldi:
This little lab of yours...this isn't by any chance located on a military base, is it?