Trollheart

1.21: "Chrysalis"

The everpresent threat of war between the Narn and the Centauri is hovering even closer as the two races send forays into each other's territory, the one testing, goading the other, as if in an attempt to provoke war. Sinclair's attempts at mediation fall on deaf ears. It's almost New Year's Eve, 2258, and as the station prepares to celebrate its first year in operation, the president is due to visit as part of his goodwill tour. One of Garibaldi's operatives arrives from Downbelow, badly wounded: dying in fact. He collapses on the dock and tells Garibaldi that he has to stop them; they're going to kill him. But he doesn't mean him, he's talking about someone else. He passes out before Garibaldi can find out who though.

Sinclair proposes to Catherine, while an old "friend" calls on Londo. Delenn has sent Lennier to Kosh, with a question, to which the attache has brought back the answer: yes. She looks terrified. Garibaldi meanwhile goes looking for information on what might have happened to his informant, and turns up the name Deveraux. He meets him at the casino, but doesn't seem too worried when Garibaldi takes him in for questioning. It's now New Year's Eve. Morden meets Londo and tells him that he and his "associates" can "fix his problem" in Quadrant 37. Londo laughs: a heavily-armed Narn military outpost on the borders of Centauri space, an embarrassment and danger to his people, and Morden and his friends are going to fix it? Morden just smiles that knowing smile of his, and tells Londo to advise his government that he personally will take care of the Quadrant 37 problem, then leave it to him. When asked what he wants in return, Morden says that at some point in the future, he may ask Londo for something in return, favour for favour.

Delenn goes to see Kosh personally. She says she has grave doubts, and must see for herself. He opens his encounter suit, and she smiles, satisfied. She bids him farewell. Meanwhile Deveraux disappears from custody, and Garibaldi says he knew there was something weird about him. His PPG sidearm had no serial number, and that usually means Earthforce Special Security, but the guy is not on their files. And now he's missing. Out in Quadrant 37 one of those weird spiderlike ships suddenly appears and attacks the outpost, totally destroying it.

Garibaldi is investigating some cargo which was left behind, out of the shipment Deveraux had the lurkers in Downbelow load. That ship had engine problems, so the freight is still here. He finds out that they're components for transmitters, but are rigged to broadcast nothing but static. He figures out that the location the transmitters are supposed to be, sand it's the transfer point off Io, from where the president is due to give his New Year's Day speech, which is said to announce further relaxation of alien immigration policy. Checking further, he finds that the transmitters are tuned to the frequency for Earth Force One, the president's ship. A horrible realisation dawns on him and he calls Sinclair, telling his second to guard the cargo.

But as he leaves he runs into Deveraux, and is then shot in the back by his own second. Delenn goes to see Sinclair, reawakening his memories of his capture and torture on the Minbari cruiser at the Battle of the Line. She tells him if he comes to her quarters later she will tell him all she can, but warns him not to delay, as she has little time. Garibaldi crawls to an elevator and gets to where he can get help but he is losing blood fast, and finally collapses just as he makes it into the elevator. He is taken to medlab but it does not look good. Na'Toth goes to G'Kar with the news about the obliteration of the outpost at Quadrant 37. She says everything is gone: it's like some great hand reached down from space. G'Kar now realises there are other forces, bigger and mightier than even his implacable enemy the Centauri, involved.

Delenn is building something in her quarters. It looks like a pyramid, about her own height or a little higher. Lennier asks her is there no other way and she says she must do this. She places the triluminary on top and something begins to form in the corner of the room. It's sort of like wool or gauze forming. She hopes Sinclair comes soon, as she will be unable to talk to him in a very short while. Garibaldi gains enough consciousness to warn Sinclair that he believes the president's life is in danger.

But it's already too late.

Earth Force One explodes in a shower of fire and smoke just off the transfer point at Io. If this was an assassination attempt it has been successful. President Santiago is dead. Unwittingly, Sinclair leaves Jack, the man who shot Garibaldi, standing guard over him at Medlab. Morden meets Londo in the garden, and the ambassador is genuinely shocked at the lengths he and his "associates" have gone to to remove the problem. He did not expect this, he says, and Morden shrugs: Londo had a problem, they solved it. What does it matter how many died? He tells Londo that his name has been mentioned at court and they are very impressed. Mollari still finds the price hard to swallow. Perhaps he's beginning to realise that he's made a pact with the devil.

Following the death of the president, Vice President Morgan Clark is sworn in; he was not on board Earth Force One when it exploded, having cried off with flu. He immediately confirms that Earthgov will begin to concentrate more on the needs of humans than aliens. Jack kills his co-conspirators, Deveraux and his henchmen, removing any trace of conspiracy, while Franklin gets to work trying to save Garibaldi's life. Kosh visits Sinclair, reminding him he has an appointment to keep, but by the time the commander gets to Delenn's quarters she is already encased in some sort of cocoon, and cannot speak to him. In fact, she seems in great pain. Lennier is standing watch over her.

Na'Toth gets to G'Kar's quarters to find he has gone back to homeworld; he says he has suspicions as to what happened at Quadrant 37. He will be in touch. We see Morden sitting in his quarters, and surrounded by weird, half-glimpsed shapes that look like insects. He looks pleased.

IMPORTANT PLOT ARC POINTS
This is where it all comes together for the grand finale of season one. A lot of things begin to make sense, some terrible sense, and of course, more questions are raised.

THE SPIDER SHIPS
Arc Level: Red
What happened at Quadrant 37? We've seen one of these ships destroy the raider vessel that was stealing The Eye, but one ship not only took out three Narn heavy cruisers, but completely annihilated the entire outpost by itself? What are these ships, and who is sending them? And why? As season two develops, we'll begin to find out.

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
Arc level: Red
Was it an assassination of the Earth president that took place on New Year's Day? And if so, who orchestrated it? Santiago was rumoured to have been about to give a speech detailing his plans to foster further integration of humans and aliens on Earth, and people like Homeguard would not have liked this. Were they involved? Have they the clout and financial backing to pull this off by themselves? And what about the vice president, now president? Why was he really not on the ship? Was that just coincidence? Things are about to take a serious turn for the worse. The fact that he has already essentially repealed his predecessor's alien-friendly agenda is a warning of things to come.

TRAITORS
Arc level: Orange
Why did Jack shoot Garibaldi? Obviously he was working with whoever was behind the assassination plot, but he knows Garibaldi did not die, as intended, and if or when he regains consciousness his guilt could be established if Garibaldi remembers who shot him. Then again, his back was to the traitor when he was shot. Will Jack decide to try to finish the job? And is he the only traitor on the station, or had he help? One of the other guards, when they find Deveraux and his men dead, and Jack says he fired in self-defence, notes that the dead man's PPG is cold. If it were fired it should be warm. But he lets it slide. Is he in on it too? Or just afraid of Jack?

MORDEN
Arc level: Red
What is Morden's role in all of this? He seems to have some very strange "associates", but they would appear to be very powerful too. But why did they help Mollari? Obviously they are making sure he owes them, but what possible favour can he do them in return? It must be a very important one, for them to just wipe out ten thousand beings like that. As the series develops into season two we will find out a lot about Mr. Morden.

DELENN
Arc Level: Orange
What is the odd cocoon that Delenn has gone into, or that has grown around her? What is its purpose? It's obviously painful for her, so not something she does lightly. And how is it related to her promise to Kosh? And what did she see when Kosh opened his encounter suit, that so quelled her doubts and strengthened her resolve?

QUOTES
G'Kar: "Our patrols are necessary for Narn planetary security."
Londo: "Keep this up, G'Kar, and soon you won't have a planet to protect!" (Remember that warning...)

Londo: "Vir, how many gods are there in our pantheon? I've lost count since the last emperor was elevated to godhood."
Vir: "Er, 48 -- no, 49! Well, 50 if you count Zoot, but I never thought he should ---"
Londo: "All right! Let's say 50. Out of those fifty, how many of those gods do you think I must have offended, to have ended up with G'Kar's teeth buried so deeply in my throat that I can barely breathe?"
Vir: "Er, all of them?"
Londo: "Sounds about right. This is like being nibbled to death by, eh, what do you call those Earth creatures? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet, go quack?"
Vir: "Cats."
Londo: "Cats! Like being nibbled to death by cats!"

Morden, to Londo: "My associates believe that you're a person of great potential, trapped in a position where your skills are unseen and unappreciated. They'd like to change that." (Another one to take note of.)

Delenn to Kosh: "I will keep the promise now. Goodbye. You will not see me again as I am now." (A very important one. This is almost literally what will happen.)

Sinclair: "G'Kar, you once told me that before the Centauri Narn was a peaceful world, an agrarian society, but in order to be free you had to learn how to fight. Nobody questions that. But you've overcompensated: you're like abused children who've grown big enough to do the same thing to someone else, as if that will somehow balance the scales. If you let your anger cloud your judgement it will destroy you."
G'Kar: "We know what we're doing. Anything else, Commander?"
Sinclair: "Just that I've had this feeling lately that we're standing at a crossroads, and I don't like where we're going. But there's still time to choose another path. You can be part of that process, G'Kar. Choose wisely. Not just for the Centauri but for the good of your own people as well. "
G'Kar: "We all do what we have to do."

Sinclair: "We need you to do a job for us."
Garibaldi: "No problem. Give me the guy's name and I'll lean on him."
Sinclair: "Not that kind of job! I think the official title is Best Man."

Londo: "But you killed ten thousand Narns!"
Morden: "I didn't know you cared. Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million: what's the differencer? They're Narns, Ambassador. Your sworn enemy."

Kosh: "And so it begins."

Morden: "No, he suspects nothing. When the time is right, Ambassador Mollari will do exactly as we wish. Destiny is on our side."

G'Kar: "Tell the Commander he was right: we were at a crossroads, and there is no turning back now."

Sinclair: "Nothing's the same anymore."

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