Season 2, Episode 6:
A Spider in the Web
Talia meets with some people about a project on Mars. At the same time an unknown woman in the ruins of San Diego receives a message that all components are on Babylon 5, and she gives the order to commence. On the station a cargo crate opens and a hand emerges.
Sheridan is in his office when he receives a message from Senator Elise Voudreau. She has suspicions about the people Talia is meeting with and wants him to monitor them. He is reluctant to do so without a clear indication of law breaking.
Talia's meeting turns out to be about getting resources to help Mars win independence. The two parties, Taro Isogi of FutureCorp, and Amanda Carter of Mars, make their offers but it is clear any negotiations will be difficult. Later, Talia and Isogi are in a corridor when a strange man runs up to them shouting, "Free Mars!" He grabs Isogi by the throat and electrocutes him to death. As he turns to Talia, she sees in his mind an explosion occurring on a ship. The man sees it too, and walks off.
Later, Sheridan is asking Talia about it, trying to find out why someone from Free Mars would kill Isogi. He begins to suspect the senator's suspicions are correct. He speculates that he might have been lying to her and that she didn't see it because they were old friends. Talia bursts into tears, telling him that helping Mars peacefully was his dream, one that he died for. Sheridan apologizes and arranges for a security escort for her.
The killer uses a com terminal to send a message. He is told that Talia may jeopardize the mission, then ordered to kill her before proceeding with phase 2. Meanwhile, Sheridan halts all outgoing traffic then goes to see Carter. She tells him who might be opposed to Mars independence but doesn't think they would stoop to murder. He then goes to see Garibaldi about what killed Isogi. Garibaldi doesn't know, but speculates that it's some kind of prosthetic, with a power source that somehow got past security sensors.
Talia is being escorted by security when the killer strikes again, he rushes up, again shouting, "Free Mars!" And kills the guard. He then grabs her but before he can kill her she sees into his mind again, the explosion occurs again, but it's in space and an Earthforce ship is shooting at them, causing him to pause again, long enough for her to escape. He wonders aloud, "What have they done to me?"
As she tells Sheridan what happened, Garibaldi comes in with news that they were able to DNA identify the assailant as Abel Horn. When the computer pulls up an image, Talia confirms that he was her attacker. Sheridan orders a fugitive alert put on him. Horn, however, has gotten into Carter's quarters. He says he needs her help. They apparently know each other, but she is reluctant to help him because she was a member of Free Mars herself, and doesn't want that to come out for fear it will jeopardize Mars' chance for independence. He tries to blackmail her by telling everyone anyway, but he begins to hunch over in pain.
Sheridan lifts the ban on outgoing ships, but orders each one searched before departing. He doesn't think Horn is trying to leave right now. Later he shows Garibaldi some files on something called Project Lazarus, an Earthforce experiment with cybernetics using people on the brink of death. He thinks Horn is a product of this project, and that there might be a way to track him. Horn is asleep in Carter's quarters as she sends a message to Talia. He wakes up when she finishes and knocks her out.
After looking through the files, Sheridan and Garibaldi think they have a way to track Horn. His prosthetics give off a peculiar radiation, not enough to set off alarms but they might be able to track it. Garibaldi leaves, and runs into Talia who is on her way to Carter's quarters. When she gets there she finds Carter on the floor, but as she goes to check on her, Horn grabs her, threatening to kill her if she screams. He demands to know what the images in his head mean, and she looks into his mind again and sees an operating room where he is apparently being fitted with his prosthetics while a female Psi Cop oversees things.
Sheridan has finished reconfiguring the sensors and runs a scan, locating Horn in Carter's quarters. He heads down there and finds him with Talia. He tries to persuade him to stand down, but Horn starts to become more and more unhinged, eventually shooting at Sheridan who immediately returns fire, mortally wounding Horn. Just before he dies, he says, "Thank you, Earther." Moments later his body explodes, destroying the evidence.
Later Sheridan is talking to Carter and Talia. Carter admits to being part of Free Mars, before it was a radical organization. She thinks she has just ruined her reputation and set back Mars independence by telling them, but Sheridan assures her that if she does her best to move Isogi's plan along, they will not report it. Talia offers to talk to FutureCorp and convince them Mars had nothing to do with the murder.
They begin to leave, but Sheridan asks Talia if she saw anything in Horn's mind. She tells about the operation, and he asks if she recognized anything. She says she didn't then leaves.
Garibaldi later comes to Sheridan's office wanting to know how he knew about the Lazarus Project. Sheridan explains he has a hobby of tracking down secret organizations. This one he thinks was done by one called Bureau 13. Isogi was a danger to Earth policy on Mars, and so they killed him. Then they would probably use Horn to destroy Free Mars from the inside out, and ruin anyone who sympathizes with them.
He declares, "There is a spider in the web, Mr. Garibaldi. And I intend to find it, and kill it."
Back in San Diego, the woman from before receives a report that the mission on Babylon 5 was only partially completed. She orders confirmation that the Bureau has not been compromised, and ends the call. She then turns around to reveal the Psi Cop from Horn's operation. On the station, Talia looks at a file on the woman, with a large banner marking her as deceased.
This episode contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Bureau 13 was going to have more development, but it turned out there was an RPG series of the same name which also featured a secret organization (albeit heroic instead of villainous). When JMS learned of the other work he dropped Bureau 13 from all future storylines. The general plotline was folded into the later Psi Corps story.
- Aliens Speaking English: Sheridan mentions when he made first contact with the T'Kar it took them a day to decipher their language, but the T'Kar had already figured English out.
- Back from the Dead: Abel Horn was killed and then rebuilt as a cybernetic, mind-controlled assassin by a secret organization connected to Psi Corps.
- Call-Back: Horn was killed during the fighting on Mars.
- The Cameo: James Shigeta appears as businessman Taro Isogi, six years after appearing as businessman Joseph Takagi in Die Hard. Unlike in that film, he is explicitly stated to be a force for good (working to help Mars achieve independence bloodlessly via economic advancement), but like in that film, he suffers a sad death early on.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Sheridan is one, of a sort. As the quote says, he collects them.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Talia offers Garibaldi tea, he says it's his third most favorite thing in the universe.
- When discussing what could have killed Isogi, Garibaldi dismisses a slaver's glove as not having enough power.
- Sheridan orders a Jovian Sunspot.
- Ivanova is becoming more adept at diplomatic nuances.
- In San Diego, Clark's first speech as president is playing.
- Destroy the Evidence: The evidence in question being Horn's body.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Horn is described as having been killed when his ship was destroyed by an Earth Force cruiser over Mars. The type of ship depicted in his flashback would later be described consistently as a Destroyer.
- False Flag Operation: A conspiracy within Earth-Gov assassinates a Mars-friendly businessman in a way that the "Free Mars" extremist group would be blamed for it.
- Foreshadowing:
- Ivanova describes Talia as "interesting", which Sheridan notes that she never says about anyone. It's another early hint about the developing relationship between the two women.
- Bureau 13 is taking reports from a contact called Control. We find out Control's identity much later, when Talia is revealed to be Control.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Taro Isogi is a saintly billionaire who's side hustle is finding a peaceful solution to The War of Earthly Aggression on Mars.
Naturally, he's targeted for death. - No Body Left Behind: Horn's body apparently has a self-destruct that goes off when he is killed.
- Noodle Incident: On Io, Ivanova threw a telepath out of a third-story window into a large pool which she may or may not have known about.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ivanova when Sheridan asks her about Talia.
- Red Herring: As the episode begins, the operative in San Diego is told Control is prepared to go online, at which point she gives the order to proceed and Horn is shown awakening, giving the impression that he is Control. Events later show that Control is actually another party.
- Ruins of the Modern Age: The San Diego wastelands. The city was nuked by terrorists in 2150 AD.
- Shout-Out: Amanda Carter's great-grandfather was a certain John Carter, one of the pioneers of the "moon-Mars run", referred to in the episode. John Carter, being one of the first humans on Mars, is a reference to John Carter of Mars, of course.
- With Due Respect: Sheridan's response when the senator tells him to keep an eye on Isogi.
