"A Voice in The Wilderness"
In 2259, Babylon 5 crew discovered the Great Machine underneath the surface of Epsilon III, the planet the station was in orbit of. Varn, who served as the CPU for the machine was dying. He was rescued by Commanders Jeffrey Sinclair and Susan Ivanova.
As Sinclair, Ivanova, and Varn were returning, the Hyperion came through the jump gate. Captain Ellis was determined to secure the planet and its technology for the Alliance. Pierce attempted to assert his authority over Grid Epsilon, despite the fact that Sinclair had Presidential authority over the region. Due to riots on Mars, Sinclair was unable to contact President Luis Santiago to confirm his authority.
The crew on Babylon 5 learned that if the correct safeguards were not used the planet would automatically self-destruct, which would also destroy the station. They also learned that Varn would soon die, and that the planet would explode following his death. Shortly afterward, Sinclair found that Pierce was going to send an expedition down to the planet. Pierce was unwilling to believe that the planet would self-destruct. To keep the Hyperion from sending anyone down, Sinclair activated Babylon 5's defense grid and aimed it at the Hyperion. Not willing to risk his ship, Pierce stood down.
After these tense moments, an alien vessel jumped into Babylon 5 space. The ship was crewed by people from Varn's race who were criminals and had been banished years ago. The alien ship downloaded the language banks of Babylon 5 so they could communicate. They ordered the station and the Hyperion to leave within 10 hours. Afterward, Pierce told the aliens they had nine hours to leave.
The aliens then began to battle with Babylon 5 and the Hyperion. Meanwhile, the Minbari Draal, Ambassadors Delenn and Londo Mollari took Varn back to the machine. Michael Garibaldi joined them on the surface. Draal then proceeded to join with the machine as Varn's replacement.
In the space above the planet, the battle was not going well. The alien ship had broken up into three component pieces, and had out-flanked the Earth Alliance forces. Draal then appeared to Commander Sinclair, Captain Pierce, and the alien Captain. Draal said that the Great Machine was off limits, and that any who approached would be destroyed. The aliens ignored the warning, and Draal destroyed them.
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Famous quotes containing the words voice and/or wilderness:
“Summoning a child’s voice from a webfoot stone,
Never never oh never to regret the bugle I wore
On my cleaving arm as I blasted in a wave.
Now shown and mostly bare I would lie down,
Lie down, like down and live
As quiet as a bone.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“These were such houses as the lumberers of Maine spend the winter in, in the wilderness ... the camps and the hovels for the cattle, hardly distinguishable, except that the latter had no chimney.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)