105: Each Night I Dream of Home

Senator Redway comes aboard to direct the Excalibur on a secretive new mission.  His companion, the civilian David Williams, informs Dr Chambers that he wants to be deliberately infected with the Drakh virus so he can be with his fiancée on Earth.  Despite Redway's insistence, Gideon refuses to ignore a distress beacon and retrieves a barely-conscious Captain Elizabeth Lochley from a battle-damaged Starfury after a Raider attack.  The ship heads to Earth - where it takes aboard a passenger whom they keep confined in isolation in Med-bay.  It is Dr Stephen Franklin, head of Xenobiological Research, who wants to monitor Williams as he is infected by the virus to learn more about it and its interaction and proliferation within the human body.  Williams breaks the communication blackout to contact his fiancée - which attracts the attention of the Drakh, who move to intercept the ship.  When the experiment is conducted, they discover that the virus acts quickly to spread to only the critical areas of the body; it is a nanotech virus, with its own central intelligence.  The Drakh attack, and Lochley volunteers to lead a Starfury squad to counter them.  Franklin helps Williams escape from his section of Med-bay before an automated sterilization system kills him.  Forcing the Drakh mothership to jump into hyperspace, they follow and destroy it before it releases more fighters.  Williams is returned to Earth, as is Franklin who shares his fears with Dr Chambers that the virus may well have a "hive mind" behind it, and therefore it won't be easy combating or controlling it.  Lochley is returned to Babylon 5, and Gideon reflects that, despite the circumstances, "life goes on".

Notes: The newly-constructed Warlock-class destroyer makes its debut: it is possibly the result of the shared technology of the Alliance (B5: Rising Star).  Mention is made of the nano-technolgy found in The Memory of War.

Guest Cast: Richard Biggs (Dr Stephen Franklin), Lance Legault (Senator Jacob Redway), Timothy Williams (David Williams).