504: The Paragon of Animals

Sheridan is having difficulty persuading all the races of the new Alliance to sign the Declaration of Principles despite G'Kar's extensive rewrites, and Garibaldi attempts to convince him that he may have to use force, or a show of strength, to bring them round.  On a planet at the edge of Drazi space, raiders are bombarding the Enfeeli, the surviving inhabitants, in order to secure the precious minerals contained there.  A Ranger barely survives a trip to Babylon 5 to tell them of the Enfeelis' plight, and Lyta is forced to enter his mind to retrieve his message - and he passes away while she is still there.  Sheridan reluctantly decides that this may well be the opportunity for the "show of force" Garibaldi insisted upon, and sends the entire White Star fleet to investigate.  The Drazi ambassador organizes a fleet of their own to join the White Star ships.  Garibaldi, having failed to convince the station's telepaths to work for the Alliance as undercover agents, brings in Lyta to recruit them - and Byron finally agrees for Lyta's sake, telling her that he discovered from the Drazi ambassador that the Drazi fleet is going to enter combat with the White Stars as they are in league with the raiders.  Sheridan exposes the Drazi plot when the White Stars establish a blockade on the Enfeeli homeworld before the Drazi fleet can arrive - and the other races are finally convinced to sign the Declaration of Principles (even if G'Kar still wants to revise them).  Lyta, fascinated by Byron's philosophies, seeks his counsel.

Notes: The title of this episode is a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet - mentioned by Byron.  Lyta says that the Psi Cop Bester used to volunteer for "deathbed scans" - a fact explored in the novel Deadly Relations.