“Hunter, Prey” is episode thirteen of season two of Babylon 5.
Garibaldi arrives in C&C looking for Captain Sheridan to be told that Sheridan is with Ivanova in Bay 13. No-one goes to Bay 13.
Bay 13 is where Ambassador Kosh’s ship is docked. Sheridan and Ivanova are staring at it and he says that it’s beautiful. Ivanova tells the captain that they don’t know much about the ship, as it’s probed impossible to properly scan. Since Kosh arrived two years previously, the ship has mostly remained in the bay, except when the ambassador takes a trip back to the Vorlon homeworld. They still don’t know much about the Vorlons.
Sheridan tells Ivanova he would give a year’s pay to see inside the ship, as the Vorlons must be at least a thousand years in advance of them, and raises his hand. Part of the ship’s hull deforms and a protuberance forms, which projects a beam of light onto Sheridan. Ivanova tells him to back away from the ship, which he does and the protuberance sinks back into the vessel. Ivanova says that’s why they’ve had to quarantine the bay; the last maintenance crew refused to come back in. Sheridan wants to know more about Kosh and the Vorlons.
Garibaldi enters the bay and tells Sheridan that he has something important to tell them both. He wasn’t going to tell them over the link and Garibaldi is certainly not going to do it in front of the Vorlon ship. When they leave, Kosh appears from somewhere and seems to talk to the ship. Which appears to form words on its hull.
Garibaldi tells Sheridan and Ivanova that they have received a message from Earthforce Special Intelligence. There’s a systemwide alert for a Dr Everett Jacobs, part of the president’s staff and his personal physician. The doctor has apparently stolen classified material, that could tear Earth Alliance apart. There are instructions to kill Jacobs if necessary, and people are being sent to coordinate the search. If Jacobs shows the slightest resistance, they are to shoot to kill.
Agent Cranston (Bernie Casey, who played Calvin Hudson in the Deep Space Nine episodes The Maquis: Part 1 & Part 2) arrives and tells Sheridan that Dr Jacobs used his clearance to steal a whole bunch of secret stuff, that could send the Alliance into chaos and ruin agreements with half the non-aligned worlds. Sheridan agrees to put the station’s security at Cranston’s disposal, and sends Ivanova off with him. Once Cranston leaves, Garibaldi says he doesn’t trust him, because he’s not telling them everything. Sheridan replies that Cranston’s type never does. Both agree that Cranston is genuinely worried about something.
Garibaldi goes to see Dr Franklin first, as Jacobs and Franklin know each other. Franklin tells Garibaldi that he spent two years studying under Jacobs at Harvard, and that he’s a good person. Garibaldi points out that the last time that Franklin vouched for someone, in “Infection”, they had multiple deaths and an alien killing machine roaming the ship. The doctor tells the chief that the Jacobs he knew would never sell out Earth.
Dr Jacobs is attempting to buy an identicard, but not having any luck. The man he approaches says that Jacobs wants it too badly; this means he’s either working for security or has some bad people after him. Someone else is taking an interest in this conversation too.
Sheridan speaks to Kosh again; when the captain was captured by an alien race in “All Alone in the Night”, Kosh came to him in a dream. Then, when Sheridan saw Kosh outside the dream, the ambassador said the exact same words.
Sheridan also gets a signal indicating that someone wants to talk to him. This is a representative of General Hague, who tells Sheridan that Jacobs is not a traitor. Special Intelligence is one of the few parts of Earthforce that is directly under President Clark’s control. Jacobs knew that then Vice-President Clark’s illness – which resulted in him getting off Earthforce One a day before it exploded in an ‘accident’ in “Chrysalis”, killing President Santiago – was not genuine. Hague’s people were helping Jacobs escape, as his testimony would be useful in defeating Clark.
So, with Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi and Franklin being the only people on the station who know about General Hague’s cabal, they are going to have to work against Garibaldi’s entire security force, and Cranston’s people. Ambassador Kosh is also behaving oddly – as in, differently oddly to normal. He’s asking to speak to Sheridan, and speaking more than he ever has. Kosh is still not speaking plainly, but he is speaking. It seems Kosh wants something from Sheridan.