The warrior caste demands Delenn’s surrender. Bester makes an offer to an increasingly desperate Lyta. Sheridan is compelled to act after receiving horrible news from Ivanova.
####Overview

####Guest Stars

Scott Adams as Mr. Adams. Bart McCarthy as Shakiri. Walter Koenig as Bester. John Vickery as Neroon.
####Lurk

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/080.html
####Plot Points

Delenn has formed a new Grey Council, with the worker caste holding 5 of the 9 positions. The position of leader is reserved for “The One who is to come.”

In the days before Valen, when caste wars erupted, the warring leaders would gather in the temple of Varenni, which is equipped with planetwide broadcast facilities and a device called the Starfire Wheel. The Starfire Wheel would consume the opposing leaders in fire. Whichever one willing was to die for the rightness of their side would remain in the fire until death; that caste would lead.

Unable to find work, Lyta has rejoined the Psi Corps in name only, striking a deal with Bester to give him custody over her body when she dies so he can try to understand what the Vorlons did to her. In exchange, the Corps will list her as a member when potential clients try to do a background check on her.

Bester is directly involved in whatever was done to Garibaldi. Among other things, Bester’s plan is to pull Garibaldi further and further from his former associates, though the ultimate purpose is still unclear.

William Edgars, Garibaldi’s employer, is extremely secretive; though he’s one of the wealthiest men in the Earth Alliance, no pictures of him have ever been published. He also claims to have an intense distrust of telepaths and refuses to let any of his high-level employees work with them.
####Unanswered Questions

Who is The One who is to come? (See Analysis)

What will happen to Shakiri? Does he still lead the warrior caste?

What were Delenn’s instructions to Lennier?

What is Bester’s plan for Garibaldi?

What happened between Zack and Bester after Bester provoked Garibaldi?
####Analysis

The One who is to come may be Sheridan; in [[War Without End part 2]], Zathras referred to him as “The One who will be.” The main thing arguing against it being Sheridan is the generally xenophobic attitude expressed by many Minbari in the past (e.g. Callenn in [[Atonement]].) On the other hand, perhaps such xenophobia is only a disease of the warrior and religious castes; the worker caste might have less trouble accepting a human as their leader.

Another candidate is David, Sheridan and Delenn’s future child ([[War Without End part 2]].) As a direct descendant of all three of The One, and a partial Minbari genetically, he might be more palatable.

She might even have meant Sinclair: in [[Atonement]], she mentioned Valen’s body was never found, and at least one Minbari ritual, the extra placesetting seen in [[Confessions and Lamentations]], indicates a belief in Valen’s eventual return.

It’s also possible Delenn didn’t intend her comment in any sort of prophetic way. She may simply have been referring to the next head of the Grey Council. The Minbari went ten years between leaders after Dukhat’s death; perhaps there will be a similar period of mourning for Neroon, and the new leader won’t be chosen for a while.

Both Sheridan and Delenn have accepted death (Sheridan with Lorien in “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi”?) Will the experience change Delenn as it changed Sheridan? Arguably, this isn’t the first time for Delenn — she accepted at least the possibility of death in [[Confessions and Lamentations]] and gave herself in exchange for Sheridan in [[Comes the Inquisitor]].

Despite Delenn’s denial, the religious caste members on her ship in [[Rumors, Bargains, and Lies]] were at least partially right: her plan did involve surrendering to the warrior caste, if only temporarily. If Lennier’s reaction was at all typical, that must have come as a horrible blow to her caste when they heard about it.

Delenn’s line to Shakiri, “The warrior caste started this war. Now the religious caste has ended it,” echoes the lesson Sheridan learned from his father ([[Severed Dreams]]) — “Never start a fight, but always finish it.”

Neroon’s loyalties at the beginning of the episode were unclear. Shakiri’s contempt for life clearly convinced Neroon that Delenn’s plan was the right way to go. But would he have carried out her plan if Shakiri hadn’t been so fanatical and had been able to provide some valid justification for the war?

Neroon’s sacrifice will probably play much better in the long run than Delenn’s death would have. Shakiri’s fear and actions brought dishonor to the Warrior caste; had they simply lost to the religious caste the resentment and stain of dishonor would have remained.

By sacrificing himself for Delenn, Neroon gave honor back to the warriors, since one of their own remained and died in the Starwheel. His conversion to religious caste assured that the honor would be shared with them as well.

Neroon’s last-minute conversion meant both a religious and a warrior caste member perished on the wheel. Thus, technically, neither caste won, just as Delenn wanted.

Neroon wasn’t the first Minbari to switch castes. His former commander, Branmer, was originally religious caste but switched to warrior caste during the Earth-Minbari War ([[Legacies]].)

Neroon’s interaction with Delenn revolves around sacrifice. In [[Grey 17 Is Missing]], he was ready to attack or possibly kill her, but yielded when he saw that Marcus was ready to sacrifice his life for her sake. Here, he himself made that sacrifice. At the end of “Grey 17”, Marcus asked Neroon, “Next time you want a revelation, could you possibly find a way that’s not quite so uncomfortable?” Apparently not.

While Delenn was bringing peace to her people, Sheridan was preparing to go to war with his. What will Delenn think of his decision when she returns?

Ivanova’s broadcast mentioned a Starfury squadron defecting to Proxima 3. How many Earth ships have gone over to the resistance? Presumably the Alexander is still at large ([[Severed Dreams]].) Are there other ships of that caliber, and if so, will they take orders from Sheridan?

Bester implied he’d seen the Voice of the Resistance broadcasts. Does that mean the broadcasts are in fact reaching Earth and/or Mars, or has he simply seen them because he travels a lot in the course of his job?

Bester’s contract says he gets Lyta’s body if she dies of natural causes. Would the telepath disease in [[Conflicts of Interest]] count as natural causes? If so, Bester and the Corps may have a specific reason to want to gain control of the cure. Perhaps Bester was the one responsible for sending the telepaths to try to procure it.

Lyta is slowly lifting the veil of secrecy she’s maintained about the Vorlons and their changes to her. In [[Epiphanies]], she was only willing to obliquely acknowledge the possibility that something might have happened. Here, she tacitly admitted it to Bester, and told Garibaldi in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t a mere P5 any more.

Will Lyta be more willing to scan Garibaldi now that he has, from her point of view, turned against her? If she were to discover evidence of Bester’s involvement in whatever was done to Garibaldi, she’d presumably want to investigate and find out what Bester was up to. Of course, she might still consider Garibaldi’s privacy a more compelling concern, and presumably whatever programming he received would prevent him from agreeing to be scanned.

Sheridan’s insistence that Lyta move to smaller quarters to help the station stay financially afloat is somewhat hypocritical, given his refusal to do the same in [[A Race Through Dark Places]] .Lyta made the same argument Sheridan did against being forcibly moved: her value to the station entitles her to special treatment.

It’s worth noting that Zack said the order came from Station Resources, not from Sheridan himself, but presumably if there were a reasonable chance Sheridan would overturn the order, Zack would have asked him before burdening Lyta with the news.

And given Bester’s presence on the station, was Zack even relaying a real order? Bester might have planted the belief in such an order in Zack’s mind without Zack being any the wiser.

This is the second time Zack has been asked to relay bad news to someone close: first Garibaldi in [[Conflicts of Interest]], and now Lyta, who appears to have warmed up considerably to Zack since he brought her pizza in [[Epiphanies]]. Though Zack is clearly loyal to Sheridan, bearing bad news to friends probably won’t have any positive effect on his attitude.

Zack no longer calls Garibaldi “chief.” Likely he’s given up hope of Garibaldi’s return. Any respect Zack had for Garibaldi was probably destroyed by Garibaldi’s use of a duplicate identicard to get past customs ([[Conflicts of Interest]].)
####Notes

Cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, has a cameo appearance in this episode. A press release about his appearance is available.

Mr. Adams’ lost dog and cat are no doubt a reference to the characters of Dogbert and Catbert from the comic strip. Dogbert is constantly scheming to take over the world.

The new Grey Council (spellings approximate): Dalidi and Burli of the religious caste, Mazik and Shaka of the warrior caste, and Dulann, Katz, Zaca, Nur, and Barenn of the worker caste.

The title of this episode echoes G’Kar’s closing monologue in [[Z’ha’dum]]: “The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.”

The security guard may have been stumped by Bester’s Dickens quote because it wasn’t quite right. In “A Christmas Carol,” Marley’s Ghost said, “Mankind was my business,” not “Humanity is my business.”

Edgars claimed to be available 24 hours a day. The Martian day is closer to 25 Earth hours long. But even now, scientists divide the Martian day into 24 Martian hours, each slightly longer than a terrestrial hour. It’s reasonable to assume that that practice continues into the 23rd century. (More on Mars)

This episode takes place around August 3, 2261. August 3 is a recurring date in the series: August 3, 2258 was the date of the initial mayday from the raiders in [[Signs and Portents]]; August 3, 2260 was the date the Shadows began attacking openly ([[Interludes and Examinations]];) and August 3, 2261 was the date in Bester’s log entry in this episode.

In the original US broadcast, the cruiser firing on the commercial transports was shown as the Agamemnon, Sheridan’s old ship. That was a production slipup (see JMS Speaks) and in later airings, the cruiser was labeled the Pollux.