Category:Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is an Earth Alliance space station in neutral territory as well as the primary setting of the titular show itself.

Overview
Built ten years after the Earth-Minbari War, this was the last of the Babylon Stations. It's purpose was to serve as neutral territory, as a diplomatic station where ambassadors from all races and species, human and alien alike could come come together and work out their differences peacefully as well as a free trading port and a temporary home for weary travelers from hundreds of different worlds. Two and a half million tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night; it was a dream given form and shape. A beacon in the darkness. It was a dangerous place. But it was also our last, best hope for peace.

In time however, this place would become something far greater. In the end, the destinies of entire planets and races would be shaped and redefined here. Wars were fought to possess it and wars were fought to destroy everything that it stood for. And peace was forged here and it alternatively served as a meeting center for the League of Non-Aligned Worlds; as the battle fortress of the Armies of Light against the Shadows; and the founding center of the Interstellar Alliance before it was finally destroyed.

The name of the place? It was known as Babylon 5.

Technical Specifications

 * Class: O'Neill-Type Cylindrical Rotating Space Habitat
 * Overall Length: 8.0467 kilometers (26,400 feet or 5 miles)
 * Overall Rotating Section Diameter: 840 meters (2756 feet)
 * Mass: 9,100,000 metric tons
 * Displacement: 2,500,000 metric tons
 * Crew Complement: 6,500; 1,500 Docking Personnel
 * Population: 250,000 individuals (at maximum capacity)Bab5 StationBP BW.jpg

External Design Features
The largest human designed artificial space habitat at the time of its construction, Babylon 5 consisted of several hollow cylinders stacked together and connected by a external load bearing support stanchion with two large "horns" at the very front. These horns framed the main docking port doors of the station that allowed ships to physically enter or exit the station as well as the main internal docking bays within the station itself.

Each of these cylinders rotated akin to a carousal and several of them rotated at different speeds and directions. This rotation provided centrifugal force on the inner side of the cylinders and generated artificial gravity for those individuals standing on the inner surfaces with a vast empty axis in the central part of the cylinder. The different rotational speeds allowed certain sections to have greater or lesser gravity gradients and prevented gyroscopic forces from tearing the station apart.

The external stanchion ran almost the entire length of the station and remained "stationary" as a spinal support. This spinal support was attached at certain points of the rotating carousals of each cylinder while allowing the rest of the cylinder to rotate. The spinal support however did not possess any gravity and the two "horns" mounted on the front of this stanchion contained the zero-gravity docking bays for bulk cargo loading/unloading for large freighters. In addition, the zero-g conditions was used for automated manufactories.

Twelve gigantic hyper-communications panels were mounted near the aft section of the station, six on either side that linked Babylon 5 to the rest of the galaxy and provided encrypted communication channels for Earth Force personnel to Earth Dome and the various ambassadors to their worlds and governments.

Internal Design Features
The interior of Babylon 5 was divided into 6 major sections that were color-coded for convenience; Blue, Red, Green, Grey, Brown, and Yellow. Each of these separate sectors were contained in a separate cylinder and were located on the inner surface of the cylinder itself.

These sectors were divided up into 36 regions, each region consisting of a 10-degree arc and were numbered; Blue 01 to Blue 36 and Red 01 to Red 36 for example. Directions within the station were referred to as spinward (the direction the cylinder was moving), retrograde (the opposite direction that the cylinder was moving), forward, and aft. The central axis of each cylinder were referred to as "The Core" and were interconnected to each other via several longitudinal rails that ran almost the entire length of the station itself. This central axis zone was a section of extremely low-gravity and was used as the long range rail transit system that allowed travel between each of the cylinders via a series of high-speed monorails known as the "Core Shuttles". The monorails were subject to variable gravity as they traversed the length Babylon 5 and required its passengers to use hand rails, magnetic foot strips, and seat belts for safety. These monorails would dock at various monorail stations set within each sector, allowing passengers to egress and descend to the "surface" via transport tubes similar to elevators. These transport tubes ran along the interior surface of Babylon 5. These tubes were for short-range transport only, allowing individuals to move both horizontally and vertically between the various different levels and regions of each sector.


 * Bab5 Blue-CandC.jpgBlue Sector: Composing the forward section of the station, this area was referred to as the "Command Pod" due to the spherical shape of this section. This section housed Command & Control (C&C) as well as the main docking bays, the defense grid control center, and the dedicated cobra bays for the station's Starfury fighter complement. Blue Sector also boasted living quarters for the Earth Alliance officers and certain high ranking administration and station personnel. During the Shadow War, Blue Section was overhauled to contain the Strategic War Room where the overall military operations and planning were undertaken by the Army of Light. Due to the fact of the highly restricted nature of this sector, only station personnel were permitted access to this area and even the accredited ambassadors required permission to enter.
 * Bab5 zocaloshops.jpgRed Sector: The commercial section of Babylon 5, this area contained the customs area as well as the embarkation and disembarkation lounges for arriving and departing individuals. It was estimated that on a daily basis, over 50 to 60 ships used it as a waypoint, nearly 95% of this traffic was purely civilian and over 200,000 individuals arrived and departed Babylon 5.  Due to this enormous transient population, this sector is heavily dedicated for this purpose with short-term hotels and temporary guest living quarters; casinos; restaurants and bars; private conference rooms for business meetings; and larger rooms that can be rented for various ceremonial occasions. A number of other recreational areas and services were located here from virtual reality gaming rooms to even a botanical garden maze containing plant life from over 60 different worlds. The notorious shopping bazaar known as the "Zocalo" was located here as well as the Main Medical Section or "MedLab" as well as the Security Offices and Judiciary Hall were located in this habitat ring. Red Sector is one of the completely free sectors that anyone can access.
 * Green Sector:  This cylinder earns its name due to the 12 square miles of hydroponic gardens which dominated this bio-habitat. The gardens doubled for producing renewable oxygen for the station personnel and food crops. The central sectional cylinder of Babylon 5, Green Sector also had the largest open central axis and was well known for its spectacular interior view. This sector was also known as the diplomatic quarters of the station for various ambassadors, their staff members, and hosting VIP dignitaries. Various meeting rooms, conference halls, and auditoriums were located in this section and were specially reserved for diplomats. The Council Chambers for the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and later the Interstellar Alliance were located in this area. Most of Green Sector was restricted to diplomatic personnel only. Approximately 42% of the station population, including visitors is alien but the majority could live in the standard oxygen/nitrogen mix.  However, 14 known races could not and had special life support requirements and had to make do with various life support equipment and breathing apparatuses in other parts of the station.  For their comfort, Green Sector also has a region set aside known as the "Alien Zone" which has specialized gravity and atmospheres such as methane.  The "Zone" has quarters for short term visitors or long term residences such as the Vorlons Ambassador.
 * Brown Sector: Predominantly functioning as Babylon 5's industrial section. It houses the various life support equipment including the air compressors and water reclamation tanks of the station. Brown Sector also contains more spartan living quarters for both short-term guests or long-term residents as well for those who can't afford the more luxurious Red Sector facilities and tends to be home to a number of the poorer residents of the station such as the dock workers and support and maintenance personnel. There are other lesser amenities such as several dive bars, bargain market kiosks, and cheap restaurants scattered throughout this section as well as a free medical clinic and a chapel run by a Catholic Order of Trappist Monks. This region is also renowned for being a hotbed of criminal activity.


 * Grey Sector:  The furthest habitable cylindrical section of the carousel with working gravity, heat, and air although it is usually kept at minimal levels. This area contains the waste processing facilities, the cooling sections for the fusion power plants, and storage spaces for maintenance and supplies. Grey Sector was actually never completed due to budget constraints and most of the unclaimed areas have became known as "Downbelow" by most station residents. The desperate and homeless known as 'lurkers' squat here and it is notorious by the more superstitious maintenance personnel for "strange noises and lights" and the occasional disappearance as the 'Babylon Triangle'.
 * Yellow Sector: Yellow Sector is considered heavily restricted simply for safety reasons as it is extremely hazardous. Large areas are not pressurized or even have gravity. It consists mainly of a 3 kilometer (1.8 mile) long shaft at the very aft of the station itself but the external load bearing support stanchion is considered part of Yellow Sector as well. At the very end of this aft cylinder lies 8 fusion reactors and its accompanying fuel tanks and supporting machinery. The fusion reactors are mounted at the extreme end of the station and well away from most of the inhabited areas as a precautionary measure. The external load bearing support stanchion contains variable gravity research labs, zero-g manufactories, and maintenance drone bays.

History
In 2245, Captain Michael Jankowski was ordered to perform an investigative survey of the Minbari borders, he inadvertently made First Contact the the reclusive race. By chance, one of the Minbari cruisers that he ran across happened to be carrying the Grey Council, the ruling caste of the Minbari race. Although given strict orders not to do anything that could be perceived as hostile; the arrogant Jankowski closed in to try and gain a detailed sensor profile of the Minbari, convinced that his initiative would win him accolades and awards from Earthforce Command.

Curious over the humans' behavior and having never met one before; Dukhat, the beloved leader of the Grey Council decided to attempt peaceful contact. As a result of his orders, the cruisers immediately opened their gun ports but did not charge them, an old custom by the Minbari Warrior Caste to show their strength and also respect to the approaching ships by approaching them openly and unarmed. It ended in absolute disaster. The enormous power of the Minbari's ships overwhelmed Earthforce's rudimentary sensors causing massive static and overloading electronics. Jankowski panicked, believing that the Minbari were attacking via some secret weapon and at the last second before his sensors failed, saw that the Minbari's gunports were open (although he was unaware that they were uncharged).

Convinced that the Minbari were about to launch an attack, Jankowski struck first. His pointblank strike only lightly damaged the Minbari cruisers; but it was enough that it resulted in mortally injuring Dukhat. Outraged by the attack and grief stricken by the loss of their beloved leader, the Minbari launched a war that brought the entire Earth Alliance to their knees that could be traced back to a fatal misunderstanding.

Following the end of the Earth-Minbari War in 2247, the Earth Alliance launched the Babylon Project the following year; its aim to create a truly neutral space station where anyone and everyone would be welcome to come and air their grievances and disputes. And to prevent another genocidal mistake. Proclaimed to be "our last, best hope for peace", the first three Babylon Stations were destroyed via construction disasters or sabotage and Babylon 4 vanished mysteriously just twenty-four hours after commissioning in 2254.

The high costs and failures of the previous stations, accompanied by increasing xenophobia of the general public of Earth Alliance had dropped favorable public opinion of constructing another station to barely 30% approval. It was only through the strong support of Earth President Luis Santiago who managed to push the project through and resorted to accepting tremendous financial assistance by the Minbari Federation and some technological resources provided by the Centauri Republic in exchange for future political favors that the fifth and final station was completed. It did come with a cost however. The final station was much smaller than the previous ones and also considerably simplified. Further, cuts to funding resulted in certain sections of the station being left incomplete. Construction was completed at the Lagrange Point of Epilson Eridani III which was located in neutral space and roughly equidistant from all of the five major political powers at that time; Earth Alliance, the Centauri Republic, the Minbari Federation, the Narn Regime, and the Vorlon Empire. Babylon 5 subsequently came online on March 9, 2256 with relatively little fanfare but the events surrounding this isolated station would come to change and shape the very galaxy for decades to come.