“Messages from Earth” is episode eight of season three of Babylon 5.
Garibaldi is in the mess hall talking to Ivanova and Sheridan. Well, monologuing at them. He says he’s been stuck in this can for three years. He hasn’t taken a vacation – Garibaldi admits that’s his own fault; he had leave coming that he didn’t take. The pay sucks, which he knew before signing up, and there was no guarantee he’d survive the job. But, Garibaldi complains, nowhere in his contract does it say he has to ear the same food for breakfast every day. Sheridan reels off a bunch of official-sounding stuff, about sections and paragraphs, concluding with ‘S.U.A.E.I.’ Which, he and Ivanova inform the chief, means ‘Shut up and eat it.’
A cook brings a covered plate to Ivanova with a message, and Sheridan says he can smell bacon and eggs. Garibaldi says he’s been trying for years to get bacon and eggs out, and how much it costs to get fresh eggs before they spoil. Then he, too, can smell it. Ivanova tells them it’s from Marcus. She did him a favour, by getting him an identicard for the station, and Marcus asked Ivanova what he could do in return. She told him to surprise her. Looks like he has. Ivanova tells the other two that if they want it, it’s theirs. Both reply that it’s Ivanova’s. Not to mind them. They will just there. And watch. Ivanova mutters that she’s going to kill Marcus. After breakfast.
Marcus is currently with a woman and they are running away from some people. Marcus starts fighting several of the men chasing and tells the woman to get out of there. She runs, but a man grabs her from behind. Marcus hears her scream and manages to get there before the attacker can shoot the woman.
On the news is an article about the senate hearings regarding the death of President Santiago. New evidence from now-President Clark’s personal physician at the time has surfaced. This is from Dr Everett, which was recovered in “Hunter, Prey”. This evidence says that the illness that prevented Clark from being on EarthForce 1 when it exploded was not genuine, just a convenient alibi. There are also comments about a new alien race that is a threat to security, with a clip of a Shadow vessel.
Marcus is now in Medlab with the woman he was escorting. Dr Franklin says there’s no internal damage or concussion, and asks who the people chasing Marcus and the woman were. Marcus says that they are businessmen, of a sort. The type of people who specialise in finding names that other people want captured or killed. For the right price. Franklin asks what the woman has done and Marcus tells him nothing. Yet.
G’Kar is still locked up after he attacked Londo in “Dust to Dust”. Garibaldi pops in to see how he is doing. G’Kar replies that two weeks are down and six left to go. He also seems quite cheerful. G’Kar explains that this has given him time to meditate, to think. And to sing. The chief says he knows about the singing; they’ve had a petition. Apparently, from the sound, people think they are torturing G’Kar.
G’Kar asks if Garibaldi is enjoying the Book of G’Quan, which he gave him in “Voices of Authority”. Garibaldi says he is, but he wishes it could be translated into another language. G’Kar insists that it must be read in the mother tongue, but he says this almost jokingly. G’Kar says he is writing his thoughts down; when Garibaldi asks if he can read them, G’Kar says yes, when he is finished. Ivanova contacts Garibaldi, telling him that they have a Code 7R. Their new friend says the package he is waiting for has arrived. Presumably this is the package Marcus was informed about in the previous episode, “Exogenesis”.
As the ‘package’ is being delivered by Marcus, Garibaldi is telling the others that seven years ago he saw something, but he was never able to prove it. People said he was nuts, so the chief kept quiet. Until he could find something to backup his story. The woman from earlier is Dr. Mary Kirkish. Garibaldi heard from the Rangers that she was on the run and asked Marcus to find her. A lot of people want Kirkish dead and, when they hear her story, they will understand why.
Dr Kirkish says she has been working for the past 12 years on interplanetary expeditions, archaeological digs on abandoned worlds to find new technology. New to Earth anyway. Seven years ago she was stationed on Mars. There had been rumours about artefacts that had been buried for thousands of years on Mars for years, and they had a lot of false leads. Then they discovered something not natural, below the surface, deep enough that it had to have been there for a thousand years.
It took a long time to partially excavate it, but when they did, they discovered a ship. A Shadow vessel. EarthGov has been saying that they had never seen anything like the Shadow vessel that Lieutenant Keffer had videoed in “The Fall of Night”. That would appear to be not entirely true. Kirkish says that EarthGov isn’t trying to find out what the ships are; they are trying to find out who else knows about them.
Franklin says that’s a big conclusion to draw from one ship. Then asks if it was just one ship. Kirkish tells them it gets worse. Only a few knew about what she is going to say next, and most of them are either dead or missing. The team told Earth Central what they had uncovered, although something made them nervous about the ship. Then a worker touched it with a bare hand and died instantly, the life sucked out of him. A week later, the expedition was told by Earth Central to pull back to the secondary site. For six days unmarked shuttles went to and from the site. Then they stopped. Then she saw it; another Shadow vessel. It dug the buried one out of the grand and the two flew off.
Garibaldi tells them that, seven years ago, he was piloting a shuttle on Mars. It went down and he and the other person on board (who was probably Sinclair) had to make their way back to civilisation. Garibaldi saw part of what Kirkish described, but when he arrived at the site, everything was gone. Except for one thing. A Psi Corps insignia. Earth has now found another Shadow vessel on Ganymede, but this time they do not want to give it back. They want to study the vessel and learn how to use it. Against other races. And their own people. It’s not a huge surprise that EarthGov and Clark are conspiring with the Shadows; there was evidence of this already. What is surprising is that it’s been going on for so long.
Sheridan has a think about it, and then tells everyone that he isn’t about to let Clark get a Shadow ship. They are going to stop it before it leaves Ganymede. Garibaldi thinks this is great, but asks how. The how is with the White Star. Ivanova is not happy, as she considers this a suicide mission. As soon as the White Star emerges from hyperspace, they will be detected, and Earth will send ships after them. Which means Sheridan could quite well get shot at by his own people. Sheridan has decided though and the others will stay on the station to cover for him.
Zack is told about more Nightwatch meetings. There are getting to be a lot of them. By the sounds of it, the Nightwatch is planning a purge, of those ‘disloyal’ to Earth; i.e., everyone who is against Clark and his cabal. Zack seems to be getting increasingly disillusioned with the Nightwatch, which he largely joined for the extra money, and things on Earth are getting rapidly worse. Of the five major powers, the Centauri are allied with the Shadows, Earth looks to be as well and the Narns have been destroyed as a power.