“Racing Mars” is episode ten of season four of Babylon 5.
Sheridan is in his office when Ivanova arrives. He tells her that with the supply ships cut off from Earth they have two, maybe three, months of reserves. Then they will start running out of things. First small things then more important ones. When things break, they won’t get fixed. And as for fighter parts, they can forget it. Ivanova suggests going to the black market if they have to and the captain says they will, but even that will be tough. The black market only operates if the rewards outweigh the risk.
Ivanova says she will look into it, so the captain can keep his hands clean. And take another weight of his shoulders. Speaking of which, Sheridan is relieved of command. And the commander sits in his chair at his desk. The captain thinks she is joking. She is not. Ivanova tells Sheridan he has had no personal time in the last nine months. During which they have broken away from Earth, fought a war and Sheridan has been declared dead at least once. And she knows how tiring that can be. So Sheridan will take a day or two for himself. Sheridan will not win this argument. Before he leaves, he asks if there’s been any word from Marcus and Dr Franklin – in the previous episode, “Atonement”, the two left to make contact with the resistance on Mars. Not as yet; they would only break communication silence after making contact with the resistance but they should be almost to Mars.
Marcus and Franklin are currently in the cargo hold of a ship, playing I-spy. S – stars. B – boxes. M – more boxes. E – even more boxes. Franklin starts complaining; he says that Marcus is a nice guy but, after two weeks of this – and discovers that he’s talking to himself for Marcus has gone. Marcus returns with a man, who claims he came in through an access panel. Which is locked. Apparently the pilot is his brother; he lets the man travel around and do business. The pilot probably forgot to tell Marcus and Franklin. He introduces himself as Captain Jack. Marcus says they will stay apart. Captain Jack offers them a meal. Marcus says they have her own – meal bars. Captain Jack has instaheats. Franklin likes the smell.
Sheridan is in his quarters looking through the channels. All are unavailable due to jamming. With the exception of ISN. So Sheridan watches that and sees Garibaldi’s interview, from “The Illusion of Truth”, in which the former chief laid into the captain. So Sheridan decides to go and see Garibaldi and find out what his problem is. Things go downhill very rapidly. Yes, Garibaldi is entitled to his opinion but Sheridan doesn’t know where Garibaldi’s anger is coming from. He thought they were friends; Garibaldi says they both thought wrong. Sheridan doesn’t mind Garibaldi having his opinions but he’s undermining everything they worked for. Garibaldi claims that Sheridan has built a cult of personality. It degenerates into a shouting match that draws a crowd and is watched by several men.
Back on the ship, Franklin isn’t happy with his meal bar but Marcus says they need to steer clear of everybody until they meet their contact and get the passphrase. Which Captain Jack then speaks. He is their contact. He wanted to check them out first. Jack has new ID for them but as they were travelling together this created a bit of a problem – normally they only need IDs for singletons. So Marcus and Franklin are now a young married couple heading to Mars for their honeymoon. Marcus ends up getting far too into the part.
When they arrive on Mars, Captain Jack explains they haven’t heard anything but rumours. They were coming in with an alien fleet to take over the operation, they had hung everyone out to dry back home. Jack is told that this is the first chance they’ve had, what with the war and all. What war? Mars has been embargoed longer than Babylon 5 and only heard rumours – end of the world nonsense. And what does it matter to them if aliens fight aliens? Captain Jack does ask who won. Things end up getting pretty tense when they meet the resistance.
Garibaldi is approached by the men who watched his fight with Sheridan. They say that others believe the same way Garibaldi does. That one of their own turning against Earth is just wrong. Perhaps they have other things in common. People can become a threat to the cause they profess. If Sheridan has lost his way then it’s an obligation to intervene.
Ivanova meets with a number of smugglers. Sure they have had a few run-ins in the past, when they have tried to smuggle in items on the prohibited list, but nowadays they hardly see any of them. Previously, she is told, they might spend a couple of days in the brig, and maybe somebody would get tossed around. Now they could get killed or sent to prison for life. The smugglers aren’t interested in shipping to Babylon 5. Ivanova is a fan of the carrot and stick method. She suggests it’s an investment in their future – they just need to transport useful items not illegal ones. They don’t believe that the profit outweighs the risk.
Ivanova explains all the benefits they will get. Maintenance, supplies, fighter escorts, their ships fixed and upgraded and even accidental damage fixed, and sooner or later everyone has accidents. That’s the carrot. One of the smugglers says that his pilots don’t have accidents. Ivanova assures him that they will. She will make sure of it. Plus a few have outstanding warrants. That’s the stick. The offer becomes more attractive.
Delenn wants Sheridan to undergo another ritual with her – there may be another 50 to go through. Sheridan doesn’t want yet another ritual. Then Delenn explains (most) of what the ritual will entail. The ritual sounds more pleasing to Sheridan after that. He has another meeting with Garibaldi that goes even worse than the first one. Garibaldi may be claiming Sheridan is out of control but it looks more like he is. Although it’s more than likely actually down to whatever was done to the chief in “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”. It looks like he has been tampered with, probably by Bester and Psi Corps.