“A Distant Star” is episode four of season two of Babylon 5.
The EAS Cortez is getting ready to depart and the captain asks for a message to be sent, exactly as he says it, to Captain John Sheridan on Babylon 5. Ivanova, who is still using a stick thanks to the events of the previous episode, “Geometry of Shadows”, is in Babylon 5 C&C and she tells Sheridan that he has a message from Captain Jack Maynard, smiling as she does. And that it’s a little rude; apparently Sheridan is being addressed as ‘Swamp Rat.’
The Cortez is coming to B5 for resupply; she’s been out for five years. Sheridan asks if Ivanova has ever seen an Explorer-class ship; she says one has never visited the station before. The Cortez arrives through the gate, and it looks to be a big ship, a significant chunk of the station’s length, if not as big in other dimensions.
The Cortez has spent two years out on the Rim mapping Sector 900. Captain Maynard had heard that Sheridan was in command of the station as they were called in to repair the Euphrates jump gates. As Sheridan is speaking to Maynard, Ambassador Delenn approaches and asks for a meeting to discuss a situation. Maynard is more than a little surprised by the ambassador’s appearance; for, when she finally emerged from the cocoon she had entered in “Chrysalis” in “Revelations”, Delenn had an appearance that was substantially more human. And genetically so as well. Maynard wants to know what’s going on, but Sheridan isn’t sure himself yet.
Garibaldi is being checked out by Dr. Franklin who wants to change the chief’s diet. Thanks to the injury he sustained from being shot by a PPG, Garibaldi is not in the best of health. Franklin gives Garibaldi a list of foods to avoid. Which is pretty much everything he likes. He is also given a list of foods to eat. The doctor says that this will allow him to adjust Ivanova and Sheridan’s diets as well; neither are terribly happy about this when he does.
Maynard, when speaking to Sheridan privately, says he thought Sheridan wanted an Explorer ship too; being tied to a desk is something that Sheridan isn’t trained for, nor what he wanted. This causes Sheridan to think about his new position, which includes being a politician (a type of being he considers to be a mark against the whole idea of evolution), getting a bit short with Garibaldi as a result and venting his frustrations on Ivanova.
During a conversation between Maynard and Babylon 5’s senior officers, Maynard is asked if he has ever seen things in hyperspace. Whether there is anything living out there. Maynard says he did see something once; later, he tells Sheridan he briefly saw something blot out the stars in normal space, then disappear. Which sounds rather familiar. When the Cortez departs the station, it runs into trouble in hyperspace and Babylon 5 has to mount a risky rescue operation to try and get the ship to safety. There’s something else in hyperspace too.
Delenn is having some problems with the other Minbari on the station. They are concerned and want to understand what has happened to her. She tells their representative that they do not need to understand, all they have to be is obedient to one of their own kind. Which is the root of the problem; the other Minbari are no longer certain that Delenn is of their own kinds.
Garibaldi is trying to smuggle something onto the station that sounds as if it will contravene Dr. Franklin’s new food plan.