The docking bay workers on Babylon 5 are overworked, underpaid, and work with faulty, aged equipment in need of a major overhaul. Repairs and the pay that was told to them they would receive are demanded but the Senate on Earth won't give them what they ask for. So an illegal strike might just occur and this will have the government on Earth prepared to invoke the Rush Act which tells Commander Sinclair to use the force of his security to arrest those who participate instead of working as contracted on Babylon 5 station. Earth sends their high-powered "negotiator", Orin Zento (John Snyder), with political clout and much influence back home, to straighten out the strike, more than willing to invoke the Rush Act (in fact, he waves around as a tool to cause fear to the workers), while Labour Guild Leader, Neeoma Connally (Katy Boyer), will stand loud and proud behind her workers. A tension and anger is stewing and Sinclair fears that the Rush Act will result and incite violence and possibly bloodshed. Meanwhile Sinclair will have to somehow negotiate a rare flower used by the Narn during a sacred ceremony, held hostage by rival Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari, G'Kar demanding it be turned over to him as earlier agreed through a hefty sum of cash
to get even, G'Kar has Na'Toth steal a Centauri god statue from Mollari. Closer to modern day Earth than Star Trek, Babylon 5 has always been more relatable in terms of how we currently live. Currency, religious worship, war, and the mistreatment of those who work hard (
having to deal with equipment and overtime that causes danger and dissension) are all commonplace on the show. Because of the constant traffic and transportation in and out of the station, the workers are working double/triple shifts, equipment malfunctions are ever-present, and fatigue/stress is setting in. It was only a matter of time before an accident would happen, a Narn ship entering the dock wildly killing a docker because of substandard chips used in the controls. Yet, no surprise here, the senate fails to live up to their end of a bargain that would see the workers get a raise and extra funds to make the repairs needed to keep the Babylon station running properly and extra labour so that those working too much overtime can get the rest that is deserved. Because it doesn't really build any future plots besides a disgruntled Zento, embarrassed by Sinclair when the Rush Act is used against him and for the workers, perhaps planning to use his power to eventually get even, I imagine this episode will be looked at by B5 diehards as an unimportant, insignificant episode, but I think it really establishes just how well Sinclair can manage a station and subvert potential disaster; a riot nearly explodes only for Sinclair to use the very act normally meant to substitute striking workers with less-experienced replacements to his advantage to see that an escalating situation ceases before it gets really bad. Definitely a pro-union story, no doubt.
Review of By Any Means Necessary
