And now, thirteen episodes in, the main plot gets rolling. Commander Sinclair tells Garibaldi about the things he remembered during And the Sky Full of Stars, about being abducted by the Minbari, and asks him to look into it.
On the surface, the A plot is the recovery of the Eye, the oldest symbol of Centauri nobility that's been lost for 100 years. Ambassador Mollari collects it from the shady Mr Reno and the Centauri government, having paid "enough to buy a small planet", send Lord Kiro and his aunt Lady Ladira to collect it.
Of course things are never that simple. On arriving at Babylon 5 Ladira, a seer, has a vision of the station being destroyed. Kiro shrugs off her concern - she once declared he'd be killed by "shadows" and he's still around, after all. He visits Mollari to view the Eye, aggrieved at being the messenger when the Eye rightfully belongs to his family. Things are changing at home, the emperor hasn't been seen in public for a while and the people are restless. He could take the Eye for himself and claim the throne. Mollari points out that doing so would invariably be fatal without support: "these are no longer the good old days".
The B plot involves an increase in attacks by raiders on ships visiting the station. Sinclair is doing his best to combat them, but they disappear too fast. Small ships rely on jump gates to travel long distances, but the raiders disappear faster than Babylon 5's fighters can get to them making it hard to track them down. When Babylon 5 receives a mayday from the nearby transport Achilles, they send out Starfuries to deal with it. It's only on reviewing the transport's cargo manifest that Sinclair realises it's a trap, to divert fighters away from the station.
The C plot is not so much a plot as a cryptic diversion at this point, in much the same way as the one with Talia, Kosh, and Abbut in Deathwalker. A man called Morden arrives on the station. The officer who checks him in comments his ID hasn't been updated in a while, and Morden tells him he's been exploring. His mission is to visit each of the ambassadors in turn and ask them one very specific question: "What do you want?" It will turn out to be an important one.
Ambassador G'Kar is irritated by Morden's vagueness and tells him he wants to be left alone in peace and quiet, but as Morden makes to leave he amends it to the destruction of the Centauri: "To tear down their cities blacken their sky, sow their ground with salt. To completely, utterly erase them." Beyond that he has no ambition, as long as his people are safe. Ambassador Mollari's reaction is initially much the same: irritation, followed by the desire to be left alone. Like G'Kar he amends his wish as Morden leaves. He wants the good old days back and the Centauri to have an empire again. Ambassador Delenn asks Morden what the point of the question is, and if he's asking each of the ambassadors. Then she's overcome by a momentary pain. She sees him surrounded by shadows, a triangle appears on her forehead which she covers, and she tells Morden to leave. When he's gone she comments to herself "They're here" in horror.
Morden is not, in fact, visiting all of the ambassadors. When he sees Kosh coming, he hides.
The plot threads link together when the raiders take Mollari, Kiro, and Ladira hostage as they attempt to quietly get the Eye off the station. When Sinclair intercepts them, having figured out Kiro's ship could be a target, they take Kiro and the Eye onto the ship and leave the station. Sinclair locks them out of the jump gate, but a larger ship appears through its own gate - the reason the raiders always managed to escape. The diverted Starfuries make it back in time to defend against the raider fighters, but Kiro's ship is swallowed by the larger ship and disappears into a new jump point. During the battle, Mr Morden encounters Kosh again, and this time doesn't back down. Afterwards we hear the Vorlon's encounter suit was damaged.
Back on the raider ship, Kiro congratulates the raiders on a successful heist, only to find they've betrayed him. Instead of returning him as head of the Centauri government, they're returning both him and the Eye in return for a substantial ransom. Before they get far a black ship shimmers into view and destroys them.
Later, Ambassador Mollari is visited by Mr Morden, who gives him a gift from "friends you don't know you have". It's the Eye, and the promise they will find him again.
Wrapping up the episode, Garibaldi tells Sinclair he hasn't found out much about Sinclair's missing day, but what he has found out is that Sinclair was pretty far down the list of potential commanders for Babylon 5. Every name above his was rejected by the Minbari government, who had approval over who would run Babylon 5 in return for their involvement. He wasn't able to find out why. Lady Ladira also sees Sinclair on her departure from the station. She shares with him her vision of fire and death, which hasn't changed despite averting the raider attack. It's a possible future, and one that may be avoided.
As with The War Prayer, the episode manages to link together its seemingly unrelated plot strands, apart from the business of Garibaldi's investigation which largely serves as bookends. It seems out of place, until later when it becomes apparent that it's actually very relevant indeed. The Shadows are introduced for the first time, although not named as such by anyone other than Ladira who doesn't know what they are. It's clear Delenn does know, and has been warned, and equally obvious the other ambassadors don't - apart from Kosh. During his encounter with Mr Morden he says to leave the station, "they are not for you", and it's clear he's addressing the creatures Delenn saw surrounding Morden rather than Morden himself.
The episode asks more questions than it answers, but it does so with a promise that loose ends have been left for a reason, and answers will come with time.