116: Signs and Portents

Raider activity is increasing, and nobody can work out why the raiders are able to make such swift and calculated strikes without the aid of a jumpgate.  Londo Mollari is pleased to take into his possession an ancient Centauri artefact known as the Eye, and Lord Kiros and his aunt, the prophetess Lady Ladira, arrive to claim it.  Ladira has visions of the destruction of Babylon 5, and Kiros has visions of himself on the Emperor's throne now he has the Eye back as a symbol of his family's power.

There is also a new visitor to Babylon 5, the mysterious Mr Morden, who is asking a single question to each of the Ambassadors in turn: "What do you want?".  Morden seems unsatisfied with G'Kar's answer; Delenn realizes what Morden represents; and Kosh simply tells Morden to leave.  Londo, however, seems to provide the most concise answer.  Sinclair sends out a Starfury squadron to intercept an Earthforce ship in danger of another raider attack when he realizes it is a ruse: the raiders have their own mothership, capable of generating its own jumpgate, and they arrive to kidnap Lord Kiros.  However, Kiros had set up a deal with them, although now the raiders want the Eye for themselves.  Suddenly, a huge spider-like alien ship appears and destroys the Raider mothership.  Morden returns the Eye to a very grateful Londo - and promises that he will return.  Lady Ladira presents her vision of Babylon 5's destruction to Sinclair.

Notes: This episode marks the first appearance of Mr Morden, representing his mysterious "associates", and the first appearance of a Shadow vessel.  Morden mentions that he has been "doing some exploration out on the Rim" - see In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum and the novel The Shadow Within for the full story.  Lady Ladira's vision appears to be prefiguring the events of War Without End.  There is a reference in this episode that Kosh's encounter suit was somehow damaged although we did not see how this occurred: presumably the invisible Shadows who always accompany Morden caused it.  Delenn is again seen working on the device she eventually uses in Chrysalis.  The triangle that appears on her forehead when she confronts Morden is the same as the one seen on the Grey Council member in And the Sky Full of Stars.  When she looks at Morden, a shadow passes across his face (see also In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum).  In the episode Point of No Return, Lady Morella mentions "the eye that does not see": this may be a reference to the Centauri Eye seen here.

Sinclair asks Garibaldi to research what he knows about his connection with the Minbari and his "missing" 24 hours during the Battle of the Line (see And the Sky Full of Stars, In the Beginning) - and Garibaldi finds that Sinclair was the first chosen by the Minbari to command the station despite the fact he was quite low down on the list of prospective candidates (see War Without End to find one of the reasons why; see also Eyes).

This episode was originally entitled Raiding Party.

Guest Cast: Fredi Olster (Lady Ladira).  Gerrit Graham (Lord Kiros) appeared as the second Q in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Death Wish, supplied the voice of Franklin Sherman for the animated series The Critic, and was also a regular in the short-lived series Now and Again.  Joshua Cox makes is first semi-regular appearance as a "Tech" in C&C, later named David Corwin (see And Now For a Word).