112: Chrysalis

G'Kar and Londo are arguing about the disputed territory in Quadrant 37 - but the Centauri have no hope against the Narn military outpost already established there.  Meanwhile, a question Delenn asks of Kosh brings back a significant answer, and Delenn is forced to set certain events into motion. Garibaldi finds one of his informants murdered, and when he tracks down a shady "businessman", Deveraux, he is warned to stay out of events too large for him.  Morden returns to the station to offer Londo a solution to the territory disputes - at no apparent cost, and offering all credit to Londo.  Garibaldi discovers communications jamming equipment, set on Gold Channel frequency - the setting used by Earthforce One, the President's ship.  Vice President Morgan Clark, claiming illness, has already disembarked.  Realizing there is a plot to kill President Santiago, Garibaldi tries to warn Sinclair but is shot in the back by his own aide, involved in the plot.

Quadrant 37 is invaded by alien ships, utterly annihilating all Narn ships present.  Delenn approaches Sinclair to discuss his capture at the Battle of the Line, but his priority is to find Garibaldi.  He finds him too late: Santiago's ship explodes and Vice-President Morgan Clark is sworn into office hours later.  Londo is horrified at Morden for his solution to the Quadrant 37 problem despite now being highly regarded in Centauri society.  Garibaldi's aide, Jack, kills Deveraux and his men to cover his tracks, and closely watches Garibaldi while he lies in a coma.  Sinclair is too late to meet Delenn: she has sealed herself into a chrysalis, her transformation already begun...

Notes: Delenn's question to Kosh is revealed in In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum.  She looks upon Kosh's true form as confirmation of her beliefs: according to Dukhat's advice in In the Beginning.  Part of her transformation device holds the triluminary - the one given to her in Babylon Squared, and the same as or similar to the one used to scan Sinclair in And the Sky Full of Stars (see also War Without End, Part II).  We also see the Shadows themselves for the first time in this episode (albeit in semi-corporeal form).  This is Sinclair and Catherine Sakai's final regular appearances in the series - Sinclair is seen again in The Coming of Shadows and War Without End; he asks Sakai to marry him in this episode - see the novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows to discover her fate.

Had Laurel Takashima become a regular cast member (see The Gathering), it would have been her who shot Garibaldi.

The soundtrack of this episode is available on Babylon 5 Volume One, and also on a separate individual release.

Guest Cast: Gary McGurk makes a brief appearance as new Earth Alliance President, William Morgan Clark.  Macaulay Bruton returns as Garibaldi's Aide, and Ed Wasser returns as Morden.

Kosh: "And so, it begins..."