106: And the Sky Full of Stars

Two Knights come aboard the station after blackmailing a security guard, bringing with them some very powerful equipment.  Benson, a security officer with a big casino debt, helps them acquire an energy pack to pay off his gambling.  The Knights kidnap Sinclair and connect him into a virtual reality cybernet, where he is interrogated by one of the Knights about his missing 24 hours during the Battle of the Line.  Sinclair resists at first, but piece by piece the memories return to him: the destruction of his fighter squadron, his capture by a Minbari battle cruiser, and interrogation by the Grey Council - one of whom was Delenn.

Through Benson's involvement and upon the discovery of his dead body, Garibaldi determines Sinclair's location - but Sinclair has already managed to escape, and in a delusional state believes himself to still be a captive of the Minbari.   Delenn finds him and brings him out of his hallucination, and he shoots down one of the Knights.  The other is escorted away, his mind wiped by the cybernet.  Sinclair lies to Delenn, telling her he remembers nothing of the experience, which is just as well as another Grey Council member visits Delenn and instructs her that Sinclair must be killed should he ever discover the truth.

Notes: Sinclair's missing 24 hours was first mentioned in The Gathering.  This episode elaborates on the Sinclair/Minbari connection that is ultimately revealed in Points of Departure.  Franklin tells Delenn he refused to provide his notes of Minbari physiology to EarthGov during the Earth-Minbari War (see In the Beginning), and Delenn eludes his question about her whereabouts at the time (we see in Atonement and In the Beginning why this is so).

Headlines seen on the copy of Universe Today read by Garibaldi: "PSI CORPS IN ELECTION TANGLE: Did Psi Corps violate its charter by endorsing Vice President?" (see Chrysalis); "IS THERE SOMETHING LIVING IN HYPERSPACE?" (see A Distant Star and The Fall of Night).  There is also a story about the radiation levels in San Diego being too unsafe for occupancy (see Midnight on the Firing Line, A Spider in the Web).

Guest Cast: Knight Two was originally to have been played by Walter Koenig (see Mind War), and then by Patrick McGoohan (Danger Man (aka Secret Agent), The Prisoner) who wished to take part but was unavailable at the time. The role finally went to Christopher Neame, whose genre credits include the untransmitted Doctor Who story Shada, and episodes of Blake's 7 and Star Trek: Voyager. Knight One was played by Judson Scott, who appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the television series of V.  Macaulay Bruton appears again as Garibaldi's Aide (see Mind War, Chrysalis).

With thanks to Mike Griffin for pointing out that Patrick McGoohan is indeed not Patrick MacNee of The Avengers!