05x19 - The Wheel of Fire

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HAZMA T team to Cargo Bay 7.

HAZMA T team to Cargo Bay 7.

Ambassador G'Kar.

Welcome back.

Captain Lochley.

Well, this is an honor.

I thought after everything you went through on Centauri Prime you might like to see a friendly face.

- How's Londo?

- I don't know.

Though I mourn for my own people, in all my life I don't think I've ever felt more pity for anyone than I do for him.

Maybe Emperor Mollari has more of a chance at happiness than Ambassador Mollari ever did.



- I doubt it.

At least now things will settle down here for a while.

Maybe.

There are a few of your people waiting to see you in Customs.

Just a few?

Good.

My presence on Centauri Prime during this little w*r has probably cooled their enthusiasm a bit.

I was afraid for a while that this cult of personality was getting out of hand.

What matters is that you came to meet me.

G'Kar, I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

G'Kar.

G'Kar! G'Kar! G'Kar! G'Kar! I better go.

I have a meeting with the president and Mr.

Garibaldi.



- Captain!

- See you.

L Yeah?



- Michael, what's up?



- What's up what?



- Look, the meeting is about to start.



- No, the meeting's at 4:00.

No, the meeting is at 2, Michael.

Now, you better get down here fast.

Sorry, there There was a mix

-up about the time.

It's all right.

Since you're already up, why don't you start.

Well, sure.

Well, there's no secret that the Drazi didn't mind the bombing of Centauri Prime.

Since the Minbari Since the Centauri are the main competitors for trade and

- Mr.

Garibaldi.



- Sir?

You're drunk.

Mr.

President, l Delenn, I need to see you out in the hall.

The rest of you are dismissed.

We will reconvene later.

Michael, stay.

And so it begins.



- There's a hole in your mind.



- What do you want?

No one here is exactly what he appears.

Commander Sinclair is being reassigned.

Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn Homeworld?

I see a great hand reaching out of the stars.

President Clark signed a decree declaring martial law.

These orders have forced us to declare independence.

Unless your people get off their encounter

-suited butts and do something

- You're The One who was.



- lf you go to Z'Ha'Dum, you will die.

Why are you here?

I think of my beautiful city in flames.

Giants in the playground.

Get out of our galaxy! We are here to place President Clark under arrest.

Please, sit.

If you don't mind, I'd rather stand.

Suit yourself.

So when did you start drinking again?

Look, if you're gonna fire me, please just do it.

Get it over with.



- When did you start drinking again?



- I don't know.

Not long ago.

A couple of months.

Yeah.

That's just about what I figured.

You knew?

I suspected.

I worried.

I tried to convince myself that I was reading too much into the meetings where you were late or unprepared.

The recent decline in your performance.

You've been under a great deal of pressure lately.

What we went through at the end of the civil w*r, then coming here without even a break in between.

I tried to tell myself that it was just the strain of the last year or so.

I didn't know for sure until today.

John, you've got every reason to be angry with me I'm not angry with you.

Not now.

I was.

But Delenn has a way of looking at things that No.

No, I'm not angry with you.

But I am very disappointed, Michael.

I'd rather have you yelling at me or angry.

Anything but disappointed.

I know I failed.

I didn't say I was disappointed in you because of your failure.

I'm disappointed because I didn't pick up on this earlier.

Disappointed because you felt that you couldn't come to me about this on your own.

When Stephen had his problem a couple of years ago I didn't offer my help when I should have and he damn near d*ed trying to deal with his problem on his own.

I have made a lot of mistakes, same as everybody else.

But I try not to make the same mistake twice.

So I'm not fired?

I didn't say that.

I can't let this go unanswered.

You know that.

But on your own the only person you have to worry about hurting or helping is yourself.

So, no, you're not fired.

But I am placing you on suspension.

How long?

Until you work this out.

That could take a very long time.

It'll take what it takes.

We've had our problems, Michael but I am still your friend.

You have to understand that your problem is not between you and me you and your job, or any of that.

Your problem is between you and you.

And when you've worked this out we'll be here.

No, thank you.

I appreciate it, but no.

Alrighty.

Thank you.

Go away! G'Kar, it's Dr.

Franklin.

I need to speak with you for a moment, please.

Enter.

Quite a line you got out there, G'Kar.

I thought I had a big waiting room.

I've stopped trying to count them.

And more come by the hour.

By the minute.



- I don't understand it.



- Well, I do.

Your government's been trying to get ahold of you ever since you got back but you're not taking calls.

It seemed a simpler way of achieving a little peace than hanging myself.

But why did the Kha'Ri call you?

Doctors are supposed to get involved in errands of mercy and that's how they pitched it to me.

They want me to tell you that your Homeworld is up in arms, G'Kar.

Half of them want you to take charge of the whole place.

I've told them no before.

My decision stands.

Please.

Thank you.

What do the other half want?

For you to come back long enough to give them your blessing and let them run Narn on your behalf.

Your popularity back home has kicked into high gear.

On what basis?

Apparently your people believe that your presence on Centauri Prime allowed them to att*ck without retribution.

You came through it alive, which they're considering another not

-so

-minor miracle and you don't want the power.

People love giving power to those they believe don't want it.

This is insane.

Yeah, well, that's as good a word as any.

I spoke with the captain.

She says that more ships are arriving from Narn every hour bringing more pilgrims who want to learn from me.

If I stay here, we'll be flooded with my people.

If I go home, they'll make me into Into this.

That doesn't leave a lot of options, now, does it?

None at all.

I've never understood that.

Why does the universe give us puzzles with no answers?

Payback, maybe.

Evening up the scales a little.

The other day I was thinking about what you said about God a few weeks ago and I remembered an old human saying: "Can God make a rock so big that even he can't lift it?

" Yes, I've heard it, but I wonder if that's the wrong question.

I wonder if the right question is: "Can God create a puzzle so difficult, a riddle so complex that even he can't solve it?

" What if that's us?

Maybe a problem like this is God's way of doing to us a little of what we do to him.



- Captain?



- Yes, Zack, what is it?

I've got an emergency transmission from Earth Security HQ standing by.

I figured you should be in on it.

Captain, good.

I was just telling Mr.

Allan that we've got a serious problem on our hands.

During the last month, there have been a dozen more att*cks on Psi Corps property.

Bombings, sabotage, you name it.

Now, we believe those responsible are amateurs but they're making up for it with resources.

High

-tech weapons, munitions, com systems, they've got it all.

You have my sympathy, but I really don't see what you expect us to do about it.



- This is an internal matter

- That runs right through your office.

Point one: At the site of every bombing we've found the words "Remember Byron" painted on the walls.

Didn't you have a telepath named Byron come through Babylon 5 lately

- leading a group of rogue telepaths?



- Yes, ma'am, but that was Point two: We've traced the money used to purchase the weapons used in these att*cks through several shell companies.

The money trail ends at Babylon 5.

Lyta.

Now, you are under orders to detain Lyta Alexander for questioning arrest her if necessary and return her to Earth for a full inquiry into her involvement in these t*rror1st att*cks.

Yeah, open.

Mr.

Garibaldi.

Just thought I'd come by and see how you're doing.

Me?

I am screwed up one side and down the other.

This must be a really great day for you, captain.

You got what you wanted.

I'm history.

The president told me you were suspended, not fired.

Same difference.

We both know I'm not getting my job back anytime soon.

Not after all this.

If that's what you've decided, then that's what's gonna happen.

But you do have the option to choose otherwise.

Thanks for the fortune

-cookie wisdom.



- Anything else?



- No, not really.

I just thought I'd come by, offer any help I can and tell you that I understand.

You understand.

And you wanna help.

You?

Even after we've locked horns from day one?

That's right.

What makes you think that you understand?

What makes you think you know what I'm going through?

Please tell me, because I could use a good laugh.

All right.



- You're angry.



- Bravo, Miss Holmes.

A masterpiece of investigative work.

Please, go on.

Because you feel like you're alone, you need that anger to push away anybody whose compassion might contradict you.

Because you feel like you're not in control hey, you may as well go even further out of control.

And because you can't hurt the people who hurt you, like Bester you've gotta lash out at everybody else.

See, the drinking gives a control freak like you permission to let it go.

To be angry, to lash out, to lose it.

Did you get that out of a book?

Was it a psychology text, or was it one of those pop

-up books?

Mr.

Garibaldi my father was an alcoholic.



- I am not an When he was drunk, he used to lash out at us like you're lashing out at me right now.

He wasn't mad at us.

He was mad at himself at what he was, at the walls that were closing in around him.

And because he was career m*llitary he thought he had to keep it buttoned up.

Shirts pressed, chin up, "Yes, sir.

No, sir," nothing in between.

Doesn't matter what you feel.

You keep it down.

See, the alcohol gave him permission to let go.

And what was he angry about?

At the time, I didn't know.

I was just a kid, how was I supposed to understand any of this?

I figured it was It was my fault somehow.

So I was always trying to fix whatever it was.

Nothing worked.

And after a while, I got so frustrated so hurt, that I ran away from home.

Which just confirmed his suspicions.

Same ones you've got.



- And what are those?



- That you're a failure.

You're not good enough to handle the job and you got no business here.

I'll tell you what, captain.

I've got a few things to do around here, so why don't you just leave.



- Not until I'm finished.



- Get out!

- No!

- Fine! Then I'm gonna leave.

What's wrong with you?

Can't you take a hint?

I'm not finished.

Besides, you're just walking away to see if I'll follow.

Why don't you stop trying to tell me what I think?

Okay.

Then I'll tell you a little more about my father.

Green 2! After my mother d*ed, I had to go through the house and figure out what to sell, what to keep.

While I was going through the attic I came across some paintings.

Landscapes, portraits.

Beautiful work.

I looked at the signature and they'd been painted by my father.

It was the one thing he loved, almost as much as he loved my mother.

He never wanted to be in the m*llitary.

He just did it because everybody expected him to.

Like his father, and his father before that.

He stopped painting the day he enlisted.

But he wanted to paint.

He was good at it.

And it was k*lling him not to one drink at a time.

He didn't see any way out of his life, any way to change it.

But the door's always there, Michael.

You just have to open it.

Okay, fine.

So you had a hard life and your old man had some real life problems.

But that doesn't mean that you understand what I'm going through.

In all the time you've been here, I've never seen you drink.

No, you haven't because I've got the same exact damn problem you've got.



- I didn't

- No, no, of course you didn't.

You see children of alcoholics usually end up one of two ways.

Either they try to help everybody else because they couldn't help themselves or they become alcoholics.

I couldn't stop what was happening to my father so I became the very thing I hated.

Oh, if it could be swallowed, sh*t or smoked, oh, I did it until somebody very close to me d*ed.

Then I realized what I was doing.

After that I tried to get better.

And it hasn't been easy.

Every day is a struggle.

So if you think I don't know what you're feeling, mister, you're wrong.

You're dead wrong.

Maybe that's why we didn't get along from day one.

Maybe we recognized too much of ourselves in the other person.

I couldn't help my father.

And I couldn't help myself at the time but maybe I can help you, the only way I know how.

By telling you all that.

At least you know you're not alone.

Everything else is up to you.



- Sorry to be late.

Sheridan here?



- No, not yet.

He said he wanted to be here when we arrested her.

We can't wait forever.

Where is she?

Over there.

The guy she's talking to is Wolfgang Schneider, an arms dealer.

Works with the Narns a lot, but strictly freelance.

Pretty blatant, meeting out in the open like this.

Probably means she's not worried about interference from us.

If that doesn't worry you, it scares the hell out of me.



- All right, everybody in place?



- Yeah, parked and ready to go.



- Let's go.



- All right, follow us in.

Lyta, we need to talk to you.

Go ahead.

I'll catch up with you later.

We'd like you to come with us.



- Am I under arrest, Zack?



- We need you to answer some questions.

Now, we can do this any way you like.

But if we have to arrest you, that's what we'll do.

What's the charge?

Aiding and abetting t*rror1st activities back home.

There's no reason to make a scene here.

Just come with us.

What if I don't want to go?

I don't think you have a lot of choice.

Are you sure about that, captain?

Lyta.

I'm tired of being pushed around, captain.

I do not choose to be arrested.

I've done a lot for this place.

Just once, I think a little gratitude would be in order, don't you?



- Lyta, don't force us to

- To what?

Zack.

You cannot harm me.

You cannot stop someone who's been touched by Vorlons.

You're not the only one that's been touched by the Vorlons.

Let them go.

Let them go or I'll blow the back of your skull off.

You can't be everywhere, Mr.

President.

Good point.

Get her out of here and put her in Level 1 lockup.

I hate myself for saying this but maybe you should've pulled the trigger while you could.

We may not get another chance.

Captain.

Captain, I've been looking for you.

I heard about what happened with Lyta.

Yeah.

What the hell's going on with her, anyway?

Her attitude and her abilities, getting more destructive every day.

Maybe they're linked somehow.

The angrier she gets, the more her abilities increase?

Maybe the other way around.

She's been through hell lately and maybe just hit the end of the road.

Great.

So now what do I do with her?

I can't keep her locked up indefinitely.

And if I try to send her home it'll be a bloodbath.

I'm glad you're here.

There's something you should see.

Before we do that the reason that I was looking for you was Well, I just want to say I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier.

I know how hard that must've been for you and I appreciate what you said and why you said it.

I don't know what I'm gonna do about it yet, but I just wanted to say thanks.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay, I'll bite.

What am I looking for?

Michael! Lise!

- I came as soon as I got your message.



- My?

There's nothing like the love of a good woman to keep your spirits up, is there?

What part of my message did you get?

We've had trouble with the com system.

The most important part.

The part that said, "I need you.

"

- And you came here just on that?



- What more is there?

Oh, it's good to see you.

I just heard the news.

Is that her?

Yeah.

We put her in the brig furthest away from any human contact and put the system on auto

-maintenance.

Now, that should make it harder for her to influence anyone to let her out.

Water?



- No.

No, thanks.



- I just don't understand it, Stephen.

What could make her turn like this?

Well, let's see.

She was adjusted by the Vorlons dumped by the Vorlons, used as a w*apon, quit the Corps lost the only man she ever loved and dedicated herself to finishing his work.

Pick one or all of the above and, let's face it, she's pissed.

Massively.

No, there's something more going on here.

Something that pushed her over the edge.

I mean, first Londo, then Garibaldi, and now this.

I tell you, the next person who acts irrationally l'm gonna sh**t myself in the head.

Bastards!

- Did she just?



- She did.



- I'll get the g*n.



- Delenn, are you?



- Bastards!

- Yeah, we got that part.

The Narn government says they're going to boycott our ships until G'Kar comes home.

Well, that's not our choice.

He doesn't want to go home.

They say he's staying here out of a sense of obligation.

And that if we tell him to go home, he will.



- They're insane.



- I know! And I just I don't think I can l Delenn?

Franklin to Medlab 1.

We need a trauma team, Sheridan's office, stat.

The bottom line is, I'm suspended indefinitely till I can get it worked out.

It doesn't matter.

You were gonna leave at the end of the year anyway.

At least, that's what you told me.

Did you mean it?

Of course I meant it.

That doesn't change anything.

I messed up, Lise.

I messed up more than I've ever messed anything up in my life and I don't know what to do about it.

I'm gonna try and sober up.

I know I can do it.

May take a while.

May take a long while.

What am I supposed to do in the meantime?



- Come back to Mars with me.



- No, no, I can't do that not until I get my act together, not until I get it all right.

Well, then, you may as well give up, because nobody gets it 100 percent right.

I just wanna give you a normal life.

There is no normal life, Michael.

There's just life.

I know you have a problem, but we can work through it together.

The hell with this job, Michael.

I need you.

I'm still trying to get a handle on running Edgars Industries.

There's a lot going on a lot I don't understand, a lot I don't want to understand.

You can be a huge help to me, and I can help you.

That's what married couples do.

You You still wanna go through with this?

More than anything in my entire life.

I lost you twice, Michael.

I have no intention of losing you again.

I'm offering you love and passion and co

-ownership of one of the biggest corporations on Mars.

What do you say?

I'd say that the president just got outbid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

One of the biggest corporations on Mars.

Michael, where are you going?

To k*ll two teeps with one stone.



- Well, how is she?



- She's stable for now.

Only time will tell if her system can adjust to the stress she's putting on it.

That's why she just shut down like that.

Look, you have to understand, she's a Minbari

-human hybrid.



- Things aren't gonna work the same.



- Wait.

What are you talking about?

What is wrong with her?

She's pregnant.

Pregnant! I didn't even know if she could.

I thought you said that the blood tests were inconclusive.

No, I said that I didn't know if the two of you could ever have children.

We're in uncharted terrain, John.

No, I figured the odds were 100

-to

-1 against which, I guess, goes to show you I wasn't born to gamble.

Do you want the child?

Will she be okay?

You said this is putting a terrible strain on her system.

Will she be able to carry it full term and survive?

I don't know.

She's young.

She's in good shape.

She's strong

-willed, that's for sure.

If you're asking for a yes or no answer, I can't give you one.

The odds are good.

But as we just saw, I have been wrong before.

If I have to choose between the baby and her it's her.

But if I can have both I want both.

I know she'd want it.

Hello, Lyta.

Just want to stop by and see how you were doing.

In case you're wondering, I don't have any access codes.

I don't have any way to get you out of here so we might as well just both relax.

All right?

I'm I'm just gonna sit over here and we can talk, okay?

They tell me that you're having problems back home.

I know you think you can fight your way out of it but you're not gonna do any good if they keep you drugged for the trip home.

Once they got you back l'd hate to visit Psi Corps headquarters and see bits of you floating around in jars of formaldehyde.

I think I can help you, Lyta.

I can help you, and And you can help me.

I'll try and get us transferred to a cell where we can talk privately without having that camera watch over us the whole time.

What camera?

Right.

Okay.

Okay, here's my proposition.

We know you've been funneling money to the underground and, in turn, hitting the Psi Corps.

You're doing it because you don't like what they've done to you and other telepaths.

Well, we've got something in common because I don't like what they've done to me.

They messed with my mind, and Bester planted a neural block in my head that keeps me from nailing that sucker's head to the wall.

That and a few other things that have happened lately have caused me a few problems.



- You're drinking again.



- Yeah.

I can't help you.

Even I can't get rid of an addiction.



- There's no easy solutions.



- I know.

Believe me, I do.

But there is one thing that you can do.

You can take out Bester's neural block.

That's when all my problems started to happen again.

If you give me the freedom to get back at him then I might have a chance to get a little control over my life again.

And in return?

I can have a very influential corporation talk to Earth on your behalf to drop the charges.

But I'd have to leave Babylon 5 and not come back.

That would have to be the deal.

It's not enough.

How much is your revenge worth to you, Michael?

I told you.

This isn't about revenge.

I am just trying to get back in control of my life again.

Of course.

In that case, I have a counterproposal for you.

We wouldn't be in this situation if G'Kar hadn't given Lyta a hell of a lot of money in exchange for her giving the Narns telepath DNA.

Well, that's still only a rumor, Michael.

And even if it's true Narn internal affairs are strictly off

-limits to the Alliance.

Oh, it's true, all right.

All the transactions are in a secret account and only she has the access code.

She's agreed to transfer the money into a secret fund that's gonna be used to help telepaths.

No more blowing stuff up.

Ledgers will be kept.

Accounts will be balanced.

Books will be available for review by anybody who wants to see them.

Now, who's gonna supervise this trust fund?

She's given me authority to pick someone.

I give you my word every penny in that fund will be accounted for.

Assuming this is true, I don't have the authority to let her go.

You'll have it by the end of the day.

There's a senator who receives a large campaign contribution every year from Edgars Industries who is gonna intercede on her behalf.

Once she's out of the brig, then what?

I can't just let her wander around Babylon 5 in her current state.

She is extremely powerful, very dangerous and, for my money, unstable.

I happened to catch the last part of your discussion and I believe we have a common solution to our respective problems.

Well, all right, let's hear it.

This is how I've come to be seen by my people.

Despite my best efforts, I've become an icon.

I didn't understand why or how until I saw this.

I realized it's simpler to make a statue to someone who you believe embodies all your better qualities than it is to actually improve yourself.



- And this saves you from having to think.



- Exactly.

For the last year I've tried to point my people toward the simple truth that we are one, regardless of race.

Somehow that message has gotten twisted so that I have become their idea of the truth personified.

Once you turn into this, you can no longer be who you are.

You can only be what they want you to be, what they expect you to be.

If I return, they will try to make me into this and I cannot allow that.

If I stay here, my followers will continue to disrupt Babylon 5.

Is that not true, captain?

I hate to say it, but, yes, that's correct.

So you see, Lyta and I are in the same position.

Neither of us can go home and neither of us can stay here any longer.

Then where do you go?

Out there.

Visiting Centauri Prime helped me understand the Centauri.

And out of that came a new peace between our people.

I also realized that there is so much I have never seen.

How much more could I understand?

How much more could I help my people if I saw even more of the universe around us?

I could destroy this by betraying my principles.

But I can't do that.

So I have decided to go away.

I will return when I've found a way to destroy this while keeping the message intact.



- What about Lyta?



- I could use a traveling companion.

I have learned a great deal about healing wounds and curing anger.

Perhaps, in my way, I can help her deal with her own anger as I dealt with mine.

Either way, as soon as I put my affairs in order, I am leaving Babylon 5.

And it is entirely possible that I may never return.

Oh, I didn't hear you come in.



- Did you talk with the captain?



- Yes, I did.

Did she go for the deal?

Yeah.

Yeah, she did.

Oh, it turns out that G'Kar's leaving too.

You know, it's funny with him leaving and taking Lyta with him and Franklin taking a job back on Earth me leaving soon, Londo gone Hell, even Sheridan's heading off to Minbar with Delenn as soon as he gets the new facilities for the Alliance in order.

I don't know, it just It doesn't seem like this place is gonna be the same anymore.

Life is change.

It's a good thing.

What matters is you've taken the first step to putting your life back together.

You made a good deal.

Get ready for bed.

You look exhausted.

Oh, yeah.

I made a good deal.

I have a counterproposal for you.

I've done everything I could, Michael.

I raised money to help fight the Psi Corps, but the way they tracked it back to me shows I don't have the background to know how to use it.

You do.

With Edgars Industries, you've got resources, contacts and a way to move large amounts of money without attracting attention.

So here's my deal.

We'll set up two accounts.

The first one's for show.

The second one is the real account, the big one.

Use that money to hurt the Psi Corps and help my people.

You can't hurt Bester because of the neural block but you can help me bring down everything he cares about.

You can help me destroy the Psi Corps and free my people.

Well, why not just remove the neural block?

Because it's a great motivator.

You won't rest until it's gone and I'm the only hope you've got of ever getting rid of it.

I'll check back with you after two years.

If you've done as I ask, if you've created a force I can use against the Corps l'll take out that neural block.

Then you can deal with Bester.

I'll deal with the Corps.

We both get what we want.

Aren't you taking an awful chance?

I could just grab the money and run.

I don't believe you'd do that.

If I thought otherwise, I'd k*ll you where you stand.

How?

My turn.

You want me as a partner?

Then I have to be in all the way.

So I need to know, Lyta.

Something's happened to your abilities.

You're not a P

-5 anymore.

Hell, you're not even a P

-12.

You're the strongest telepath that I've ever seen.

What did the Vorlons do to you, Lyta?

Who?

What are you?

I've only recently begun to understand it myself.

You know the Vorlons used telepaths as weapons during the Shadow w*r but what no one stopped to consider was that in a w*r you have a certain number of small weapons a certain number of medium

-size weapons and one or two big ones.

The kind of weapons you drop when you're out of small weapons and the medium weapons and you've got nothing left to use.

Someone like that would be the telepathic equivalent of a thermonuclear device.

A doomsday w*apon.

Pleased to meet you, Mr.

Garibaldi.

Stop staring at me.

I'm sorry.

I couldn't help it.

One would think you have never seen a pregnant half

-human, half

-Minbari before.

So why weren't you sleeping?

I was just laying here and thinking.

We haven't heard a word from Londo since we came back.

- I find I miss him.

- He's probably just busy.

He's got a lot of responsibilities now.

He'll have to adjust to being emperor, like I had to adjust to my new job.

I'm sure that's all.

Hell, he's probably still celebrating his coronation.

Partying all night.

I hope so.

I hope he's all right, John.

I really do.