“Acts of Sacrifice” is episode twelve of season two of Babylon 5.
A battle is being fought between the Narn and the Centauri, and the Narn are losing. The captain of the Narn G’Quan heavy cruiser asks if they can still leave and is told yes – but only if they leave now. As the ship creates a jump point, it receives a messages that one of the evacuation vessels didn’t make it out. The transport holds 700 Narn women and children; the captain decides to keep the jump point open as long as possible and has his ship move between the attacking Centauri war cruisers and the civilian vessel. The transport successfully jumps out; the cruiser does not.
G’Kar is showing a video of this to Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi and Dr. Franklin. G’Kar says that 5,000 Narn civilians died, despite the Centauri promising not to attack civilian targets. Londo, who hasn’t shown, has sent a message from his government claiming that the Narn had deliberately placed military targets where they would be shielded by civilians and that the escaping transport contained weapons. G’Kar rebuts this and Sheridan tells him that everyone there knows that the first casualty of war is the truth. G’Kar realises that Sheridan and the others believe him, and asks if Earth can intervene. Sheridan promises to talk to his government, which is all that G’Kar wants.
Sheridan then gets informed that the ship he was expecting is arriving through the jump gate. The ship belongs to a new species, the Lumati. Sheridan hopes to get them to either become a direct ally of Earth Alliance, or to at least join the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Because Sheridan has his hands full with the Narn-Centauri situation, he wants Ivanova to deal with the Lumati as part of her education in the fine art of diplomacy. Something the commander still does not really appear suited for.
G’Kar also shows the video of the attack to Delenn. Although she was removed from the Grey Council in the previous episode, “All Alone in the Night”, Delenn was allowed to keep her position as ambassador. Delenn is upset by the video and tells G’Kar that there is no excuse for the deliberate killing of civilians. G’Kar wants to know if the Minbari will come in, as it is still early in the war and there are still Centauri who would be happy to stop it, if given a good enough reason.
Delenn points out that G’Kar has repeatedly stated that he will never rest until the Centauri are utterly destroyed, and that if the Minbari intervene now in a few years time it will be the other way around, with the Centauri asking for help against the Narn. Delenn also mentions that G’Kar’s actions in the recent past make it difficult for anyone to come to his aid. Something he admits. Delenn tells him that she was there when the war against Earth started and how the Minbari nearly exterminated an entire species as a result. Her people are tired of war, but the Advisory Council can still act. G’Kar says that it’s too late for that; unless others intervene; either they will destroy the Centauri or vice versa.
Elsewhere, drunken Centauri are provoking a couple of Narns. Security breaks it up before it gets out of hand, but the two groups encounter each other again later and one of the Narn is killed by security during the scuffle. G’Kar is not happy about this but neither is Sheridan. He tells G’Kar that if he cannot control his people, Sheridan will have them all thrown off the station. G’Kar is also facing challenges from within his own people.
Londo has got some of what he wished for, and now he’s regretting it. He has friends he never even knew existed now – friends who six months earlier never even acknowledge him. Londo feels like a wishing well with legs. He tries to speak to Garibaldi about it, as he feels that people are acting afraid of him. Garibaldi tells Londo that they are – and that he feels he doesn’t know Londo anymore.
Ivanova greets the representatives of the Lumati. The one who speaks to her, Taq, is of a different race to the other, Correlimurzon. Taq is speaking for Correlimurzon; he is a servitor and Correlimurzon would lose face if he spoke to an inferior race. Before speaking to Ivanova, Correlimurzon needs to evaluate whether she’s worthy. Many species are inferior and not worthy of help. Ivanova finds Correlimurzon to be a massive pain – and Franklin probably finds him to be worse – but she is saddled with showing Correlimurzon around the station to prove her worth. Things get a little unexpected for her.
Sheridan and Delenn are trying to see if they can work together to help the Narns. Although G’Kar would prefer if they helped with weapons, fighters and great big ships.