Original Airdate: July 20, 1994 Written by D. C. Fontana Directed by Bruce Seth Green Episode #: 17 Production # : 121
Guest stars: John Vickery as Neroon. Grace Una as Alisa Beldon.
When the body of a celebrated Minbari war hero disappears aboard Babylon 5, war almost breaks out.
Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (MICHAEL O'HARE) and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (JERRY DOYLE) are surprised when a Minbari war cruiser arrives at Babylon 5, the peaceful intergalactic space station. Resident Minbari ambassador Delenn (MIRA FURLAN) explains that officers of the Minbari warrior caste, led by Shai Alit Neroon (JOHN VICKERY), are escorting the corpse of their great war hero, Branmer, for memorial display at various Minbari outposts throughout the galaxy.
Sinclair permits the cruiser to dock, even though he's reminded of his own encounter with Branmer during The Battle of the Line, a fateful clash in the war between Earth and Minbar several years earlier. After this battle, the stronger Minbari forces inexplicable surrendered. After preparing a place of honor for the overnight memorial, Sinclair and Garibaldi watch the Minbari gather near Branmer's coffin. But when the lid is raised, everyone is horrified to see that the corpse is missing. Garibaldi leads a frantic search to find it.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova (CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN) and Talia Winters (ANDREA THOMPSON), Babylon 5's resident commercial telepath, rescue Alisa Beldon (GRACE UNA), a 14-year-old human orphan, after she collapses in the crowded Babylon 5 marketplace. With the help of Dr. Stephen Franklin (RICHARD BIGGS), the resident medical officer, Talia learns that Alisa is a powerful undocumented telepath.
Talia takes custody of Alisa, hoping to prepare her for the Psi Corps, the military branch of the Earth Alliance that regulates all telepaths. Ivanova, whose telepathic mother refuses to join the Corps and died young from power-repressing drugs she was forced to take, angrily opposes Talia and wants to protect Alisa from the Corps until the girl is old enough to choose for herself. Frustrated because his race is not telepathic, Narn ambassador G'Kar (ANDREAS KATSULAS) offers to nurture Alisa and eventually breed her with Narn males.
As Ambassador Delenn tells Alisa about honor Minbari telepaths, the girl glimpses a disturbing vision in Delenn's subconscious. Later, she tells Sinclair that Delenn stole Branmer's corpse. When confronted by Sinclair, Delenn confesses that since she opposes the warrior caste, she secretly cremated the body to end Neroon's military display. Branmer, a childhood friend of Delenn's who diverged from her politically, always requested a simple funeral. Delenn honored his wish.
As Neroon threatens to start another war due to Branmer's disappearance, Delenn privately confronts him, and speaks on behalf of Minbar's elite ruling body, the Grey Council. Just as the Council ordered Branmer and Neroon to surrender during the former war, she now orders Neroon to support her explanation that Branmer "took his place with the Gods."
Neroon reluctantly apologizes to Sinclair and leaves Babylon 5 with his guards. Talia and Ivanova reach a compromise that someday may lead to friendship. Alisa decides to travel to Minbari under Delenn's sponsorship to help improve relations between the aliens and humans. However, she privately reveals to Sinclair another puzzling vision she saw in Delenn's subconscious: a chrysalis.
