“A Day in the Strife” is episode three of season three of Babylon 5.
A transport contacts Babylon 5 C&C and asks what’s happening as they’ve been waiting for over an hour. Babylon 5 Control responds and tells them that they have new policies on screening for weapons and that Captain Sheridan and Commander Ivanova are meeting with the Transport Pilots Association at that moment. And that they are sure there won’t be a problem.
Sheridan and Ivanova are meeting the association, but, going by the amount of shouting going one, there is a problem. Ivanova finally manages to get herself heard and says that she understands their complaints but the new regs will only mean it will take 10-15% longer to get their material through customs. They could get it down to 5% by appointing more inspectors, but that would mean that docking fees would have to be raised.
One of the association members says that it’s just to keep any guns out of their hands, and that Sheridan is a coward. Without his armed guards to back him up, he has nothing. The man says that all they have is what they have, using a tool in a rather threatening manner as he does. So Sheridan takes a PPG from one of the guards and leaves the podium, walking over to the man. He puts the PPG in the man’s pocket and takes the tool out of his hands. Now that the captain has called his bluff, the man is not so confident, and backs down.
When Sheridan returns to his seat Ivanova asks him if he’s stupid. Then notices the captain has something in his hand; it’s the energy cap from the PPG he handed over. He palmed the cap. Ivanova is still not happy and Sheridan promises that next time he will give a live gun instead. Now Ivanova is really not happy.
Two Narns approach and one tells Sheridan that he is Councillor Na’Far, here to replace Citizen G’Kar as the Narn representative on Babylon 5. Na’Far is a representative of the new government, the one set up by the Centauri. Sheridan says that G’Kar was given sanctuary and Na’Far says that he is the only one of the Kha’Ri still free. And that G’Kar is fomenting trouble on Narn. Sheridan asks Na’Far if he doesn’t want Narn free of the Centauri and Na’Far says that his concern is for all Narns. The time for action is later. Sheridan tells the councillor that he won’t interfere in Narn internal affairs and he won’t make G’Kar go anywhere he doesn’t want to go.
Garibaldi and Dr Franklin are sitting at a table and the doctor looks more than a little tired. A woman glances over as she passes and Garibaldi tells Franklin he should ask her for a dance. Franklin says he’s too tired. Ivanova arrives and tells the doctor he looks tired and he inquires about the captain as he seems a lot more hardass. Then Franklin gets a message from Medlab saying that another doctor has called in sick and there is no-one else to cover. So Franklin will do so, but first excuses himself.
Whilst Franklin is away from the table, Garibaldi tells the commander that he looked at the captain’s file before he arrived. Ivanova says that’s off limits, but the chief says he likes to know who he’s dealing with. Anyway, Garibaldi says that Sheridan is a good tactical thinker who is capable of winning with an inferior force, and is possibly the best chance they have of coming through this alive. When Franklin returns to the table, he is full of life again. Too full of life, which makes Garibaldi concerned. So he confronts the doctor later. Franklin says he doesn’t have a problem but it looks like he may be lying to himself. Which is something addicts do.
Na’Far visits Londo, saying he was asked to report to the ambassador before seeing G’Kar. Londo says that he was thinking of visiting Narn, as last time he went he didn’t get a good look (given that he was on a ship that was performing a kinetic energy weapon bombardment of the planet in “The Long, Twilight Struggle”, that’s not surprising). Londo wants to know if it would be safe. Na’Far says yes, quite safe. Londo wants to know if the streets would be clear of troublemakers and Na’Far tells him that the surviving streets are quite empty. Londo then asks how other matters, such as the work gangs, camps and executions are going. When he is informed that they are all going well, Londo says to Vir that progress is a beautiful thing to behold.
Vir looks as if he doesn’t agree with this sentiment and, once Na’Far leaves, asks why Londo did it. Vir says that the Narns have nothing left but Londo says they have; they still have their pride. Vir wants to know why beating the Narns is not enough, why they have to break them. Londo tells him it is so the republic doesn’t have to go through the same thing again in a hundred years.
C&C detects an alien craft in Babylon 5 space. It’s of a design that hasn’t been seen before, suggesting a first contact situation. When the vessel comes to a stop near the station, it appears to be a probe. It then starts sending messages, assumed to be alphabet and language codes, but complex ones that will take some time to break.
Londo meets with Delenn, and says that he feels he has lost a friend. Delenn tells him that he has lost much more than that. Londo says that Delenn said to him once that if he needed a favour, he had only to ask. Londo is now asking, but he assures her that the favour isn’t for him, or the republic, but for Vir. The Centauri diplomatic mission on Minbar has been closed for several years and Londo thinks that Vir would be the perfect replacement. He wouldn’t even spy on the Minbari, because he would think that was rude. Delenn wants to know why Londo wants this. After evading the question, Londo admits that, to his surprise, over the last two years he has become very fond of Vir. Londo thinks that Vir would be better off away from the station, away from what must be done. Delenn believes that Londo needs Vir. Vir, as it turns out, essentially believes the same thing.
Na’Far’s bodyguard asks to see Sheridan and he agrees, for the bodyguard is Ta’Lon, whose life Sheridan saved in “All Alone in the Night”. Ta’Lon never had a chance to thank Sheridan and now he does. He also says that he owes Sheridan. Sheridan doesn’t know what Earth would say if he took a Narn bodyguard; Ta’Lon responds that they would say there is a man who will live for a hundred and fifty years.
When the probe’s message is finally decoded, it says that it has been sent to find other lifeforms, and give them an intelligence test to see if they are intelligent enough to contact. If they pass, they will be given advanced technology and cures for every known disease. If, however, they do not provide all the correct answers – and they are on a wide range of subjects, some at the very edge of Earth’s knowledge – the probe will self-destruct with a force of 500,000 megatons. A really big bang. Enough to reduce the station to microscopic pieces. So, no pressure.
As Na’Far tries to convince G’Kar that now is not the time for armed resistance the crew of the station is rushing around trying to find the answers to all the questions posed by the probe.