“Knives” is episode seventeen of season two of Babylon 5.
Sheridan is in the cylinder hitting baseballs and Garibaldi is watching. Sheridan says that he has just had to endure an eight hour session with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds; he’s relieving some tension. Sheridan says that both the Narn and the Centauri may be banned from the Corridor, as there have been incidents. Garibaldi says that at least he didn’t have to spend a day in the triangle. The triangle is Gray Sector; there have been strange lights, weird noises and supposedly people disappearing. Maintenance has nicknamed it the B5 Triangle. Scanners have recently gone haywire in the sector. Garibaldi has never seen anything himself, but he says it is creepy. Sheridan wants to take a look for himself. As a child, he loved going to haunted houses, forbidden paths and Indian burial grounds. It was like candy to him. Garibaldi tells the captain not to go in alone; Sheridan tells him that’s half the fun.
Londo and Vir exit a lift talking about Centauri opera. They differ in opinion but Londo joins in when Vir starts singing an opera. Then a hooded figure grabs Londo from behind by the throat, saying that it’s fitting that he dies with a song on his lips. When the figure calls Londo something, he recognises them, as his friend Urza Jaddo. They have been friends and swordsmen since childhood, and their houses have been allied since the dawn of the Republic. Urza says he has some things to do first, but promises to visit Londo later.
Sheridan is exploring Gray Sector with a torch when he hears something. He finds an alien, a Markab, slumped against a pipe. Sheridan asks the Markab if he’s alright, and rolls him over. The Markab looks extremely dead, as his skull has been caved in. Sheridan starts calling it in to Garibaldi, but there is interference. Then the dead Markab grabs him by the face, and what looks like some type of energy is transferred, before the Markab slumps over again.
Dr Franklin checks out the captain, and tells him he should get some rest. Garibaldi suggest that next time Sheridan might listen to him. The doctor says that the Markab may have just exhibited a post-mortem reaction due to the build-up of gases; the chief suggests a zombie with gas. Franklin says that the Markab appears to have died of massive head trauma, but will do a post-mortem. According to Garibaldi, the Markab came in three days ago with a cargo and was due to leave tomorrow. Sheridan then experiences a problem with his vision, and goes to get some rest.
In his quarters, Sheridan wakes up and hears something. He turns on the lights and sees a rather vicious-looking flying creature, and grabs his PPG and shoots at it. Upon which it promptly vanishes. Garibaldi comes in – he was on the way with the results of the forensics on the Markab – and asks what happened. Sheridan knew the creature, as one had attacked him before. The chief says that maybe it was a nightmare, as there is definitely no creature now. The forensics on the Markab showed that his death was suicide; he bashed his head against the pipe until he died.
In C&C, Sheridan has a vision of the Icarus exploding, and goes to see Franklin again. The doctor can find nothing wrong with him, organically. Sheridan responds with that means he’s nuts. Franklin thinks that anyone willing to command Babylon 5 has to be slightly insane, but says it could just be stress. Sheridan’s visions continue – perhaps that’s why the Markab bashed his own head in – and there may be some type of connection to Babylon 4, or at least where it was.
Londo’s friend Urza tells him that Londo’s star is in the ascendant, as is the Republic’s. Londo makes some comments about how the Narn gave them no choice but to go to war; Urza’s opinion is rather different. He says that the Narn were forced into the conflict by a faction in the midst of the Centauri, the same one that murdered the prime minster after the Emperor’s death (in “The Coming of Shadows”) and put a puppet on the throne. Londo responds that he thought the prime minister killed himself; that is the official story but not the truth.
Urza tells Londo that there is a resolution being brought before the Centarum to have him and his house declared traitors to the Republic. Nowadays, simply the accusation is enough, and Urza wants Londo to stand with him. Londo promises to do so, but hasn’t completely thought things through. The faction that helped instigate the war with the Narn Regime is the one that Londo is allied with – and he was instrumental in starting that conflict himself – and those that are behind Urza being declared a traitor are Londo’s own allies. As a result, Londo ends up regretting some of the choices he made.