[Keffer is describing a Shadow vessel to a fellow pilot, who has seen the same thing.]
LWLt. Warren Keffer
It was jet black. A shade of black so deep your eye just kinda slides off it. And it shimmered when you looked at it. A spider big as death and twice as ugly. And when it flies past, it's like you hear a scream in your mind.
[Lantze surprises the B5 staff with the true purpose of his visit.]
FLFrederick Lantze
I'm here to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Centauri. Before I leave here, there will be an Earth-Centauri alliance that will guarantee peace for Earth. We will, at last, know peace in our time.
I apologize. I'm...sorry. [sighs] I'm sorry we had to defend ourselves against an unwarranted attack. I'm sorry that your crew was stupid enough to fire on a station filled with a quarter million civilians, including your own people. And I'm sorry I waited as long as I did before I blew them all straight to hell! [pauses] As with everything else, it's the thought that counts.
It was the end of the Earth year 2259, and the war was upon us. As anticipated, a few days after the Earth-Centauri treaty was announced, the Centauri widened their war to include many of the Non-Aligned Worlds. And there was another war brewing closer to home. A personal one whose cost would be higher than any of us could imagine. We came to this place because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. By the end of 2259, we knew that it had failed. But in so doing, it became something greater. As the war expanded, it became our last, best hope for victory. Because sometimes peace is another word for surrender...and because secrets have a way of getting out.
[ISN news shows Lt. Keffer's recordings of a Shadow vessel]
NNewscaster
When our ship encountered a distress beacon attached to an EarthForce recording device, these images, released exclusively to ISN, were found on that recording. Strategic analysts in Earth Dome have indicated they don't know who this new race might be, but promise to find out.
The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed. But in the year of the Shadow War, it became something greater: our last, best hope...for victory. The year is 2260. The place, Babylon 5.