206: A Spider in the Web

An old friend of Talia's, business executive Taro Isogi, arrives to open negotiations with Amanda Carter of the Mars Provisional Government.  When it appears Isogi's business will help stabilize Mars, a member of the Free Mars movement murders him.  Talia briefly senses an image from the murderer's mind: a memory of being in a spacecraft destroyed by an Earth Alliance heavy cruiser.  After an attempt on Talia, he is attacked himself and seeks Carter's help - she was once a member of the Rebellion.  Garibaldi recognizes the man as Abel Horn, who was supposedly killed during the Mars riots several years before, and along with Carter was a member of the Free Mars movement.  Horn is the subject of an experiment to integrate human minds and computerized prosthetics, and the moment closest to death is the best time to harness the human mind.  Sheridan and Garibaldi track him down as he threatens Talia's life, and manipulates Sheridan into killing him.  Talia gets a mental image of the person who performed the operation - a Psi Cop also believed to be dead.  In secret headquarters in the devastated San Diego, that very Psi Cop - a member of the mysterious organization Bureau 13 - receives a report from her agent on Babylon 5...

Notes: This is the one and only appearance of the mysterious "Bureau 13".  San Diego is mentioned as being destroyed in a nuclear blast in Midnight on the Firing Line.  Once again there is a hint of a relationship between Ivanova and Talia (see Divided Loyalties and Ceremonies of Light and Dark).  This is Jeff Conaway's first appearance as security officer Zack Allen.

This episode was originally entitled A Trick of the Mind.

Guest Cast: Michael Beck (Abel Horn); Adrienne Barbeau (Amanda Carter); James Shigeta (Taro Isogi); Jessica Walters (Senator Elise Voudreau); Anne Grindlay (Psi Cop).