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Babylon 5

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"It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. It's goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where Humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully.
 It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers,  entrepreneurs... and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million five-hundred  thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but its our last best hope for peace... The name of the place is Babylon 5."
- Commander Sinclair, 2258

The Alliance Station  | A Sovereign State | Capital of the Interstellar Alliance

Type: Babylon-class Space Station

Position: 36 standard hyperspace hours travel from Sol system; roughly a central location between the five major galactic powers. Babylon 5 is located at coordinates: 470x18x22.  Physical location in the Epsilon System places the station at the L5 point between the local star, Euphrates (orbiting it at 33,000km) and that planet’s small moon.

Hyperspace distance from major homeworlds:

  • Earth - 36 standard hours hyperspace
  • Narn - 44 standard hours hyperspace (12.2 standard light years)
  • Centauri Prime - 48 standard hours hyperspace (75 Centauri light years)
  • Minbar - unknown
  • Vorlon Homeworld - 96 standard hours hyperspace

Local Star Type: K2 (Epsilon Eridani)

Length of Year: artificial rotation is set to standard timetables (Earth Mean Time).

Atmosphere: 92% of pressurized spaces: Oxygen/Nitrogen. 5.2% of pressurized spaces:  Methane. 2.8% of pressurized spaces: Other non-standard.

Gravity: Zero-G to 1.41 G (Red Sector's gravity varies from 0.9 G to 1.35 G)

Population: 250,000 (est.)

  • 58% Human
  • 42% Alien
  • Earth Force and Administration: 6,500
  • Guild Dockworkers: 1,500

Daily Turnover: 200,000 (estimated) with 95% civilian traffic.

 It would take an estimated three to five days to completely evacuate the station.

Date of operation: September 2257

Length: 8.0645 km

Mass: 2.5 million tonnes (metal casing only); 9.1 billion tonnes (total)

Diameter (rotating section): 840 meters

Garden Diameter: 400 meters (on average)

Interior parkland: 12 square miles

Thermal Panel Span: 2,070 meters

Defense Grid:

  • Pulse Cannons
  • Incoming fire Interceptors
  • Mine launchers
  • Plasma Guns
  • 2ZX Tracking System (formerly an XP7 -- a relic from the Earth-Minbari War)

Starfighter Capacity: 56 SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfuries; 28 are ready to launch at any given time

 Station Rules:

  • The commanding officer of Babylon 5 is empowered to speak on behalf of his government the way that a ship's captain exploring new worlds is empowered. In addition to governing the station, the CO also acts as the Earth Ambassador. As such, he or she is forbidden from using Station personnel or firepower to threaten another government into signing a treaty; a situation that would be considered void since it was signed under duress.
  • To help pay for maintenance, every visitor pays a fee upon boarding, all staff have to pay rent on their quarters (deducted from their pay), and additional funds are derived from fees generated by use of the local jumpgate.
  • No weapons are allowed on station.
  • On-station commercial activity is not subject to EA scrutiny. While guests are allows to make arms deals on station, they are not permitted to bring the weapons on board or transferred anywhere in Babylon 5 Space..
  • Those living or visiting the station are subject to the laws and regulations of the Earth Alliance. Babylon 5 operates a court system, which is authorized by the Earth Alliance Judicial System, to conduct trials.
  • Alien cultural differences are not interfered with in any way on the station, as long as such interaction is between members of the same species unless requested. Intervention is only warranted when an alien's culture is brought upon someone not of his/her/its species.

The Earth Alliance Station: 2256 - 2260

 In 2256, many of the finest Earth Force officers were considered for the task of commanding the station. The Minbari rejected all the choices, choosing instead Commander Sinclair, bypassing several distinguished generals and admirals. When Sinclair was reassigned to diplomatic duties on Minbar, President Clark chose Captain Sherdan (then stationed on the EAS Agamemnon) to replace him. Hoping for a more hard-line stance against aliens, and someone more sympathetic to his cause. President Clark was later sorely disappointed.

 When the station's computer was completed in early 2256, an Artificial Intelligence subroutine was installed. It was an instant failure and was disconnected. When the station's computer was rebooted after declaring independence (2260 C.E.), it became active once more. The AI was removed from the system, all the while incessantly harassing the station's security chief.

The Sovereign State: April 14, 2260 - 2261

Babylon 5 seceded from the Earth Alliance and became an independent state on April 14, 2260, following the declaration of martial law on Earth. With the help of the renegade Omega-class destroyers Alexander and Churchill, Babylon 5 repelled Clark's loyalist forces. Now severed from the Alliance, the station suffers from a severe lack of funding. Under the control of the War Council, Babylon 5 has created tenuous alliances with various Non-Aligned Worlds for the defense of the station in addition to Minbari support. Roughly half of the security forces on the station are free Narns.

Capital of the Interstellar Alliance: 2262

Following the Earth Civil War and the creation of the Interstellar Alliance, the Newly created galactic power made arrangements to buy Babylon 5 from the Earth Alliance, while retaining the station’s Earthforce personnel.  Captain Elizabeth Lochley was brought in as commander of the station.  It’s use as capital of the ISA, however will be temporary, as permanent facilities are being built on Minbar in the city of Tuzanor (home of the Anla-shok).

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