Trigati

The Trigati was a fictional space vessel which featured in the Babylon 5 episode "Points of Departure." It was a Sharlin-class Minbari war cruiser.

The Trigati was at the Battle of the Line. When the religious caste decided to surrender, Sineval - the war leader in command of the Trigati - committed suicide rather than surrender. Kalain, the executive officer of the ship, took command; the ship and crew disappeared into hyperspace in a self-imposed exile.

Over the next decade, the ship was occasionally seen in hyperspace. Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5 said that he had heard of rumors of a Minbari ship being where it was not supposed to be. Otherwise, the ship and crew had not been seen or heard from since the war.

All that changed shortly after Captain Sheridan took command of Babylon 5. Soon after Sheridan arrived, Kalain appeared on the station. He accosted Hedronn, a member of the Grey Council who was visiting Babylon 5. After his encounter with Kalain, Hedronn informed Captain Sheridan of the situation. Security located Kalain in Delenn's quarters, and took him into custody.

Then the Trigati appeared at Babylon 5. Kalain committed suicide in his cell by swallowing a blue liquid he was carrying with him. The commander of the Trigati contacted Babylon 5, and demanded that Kalain be released. When Sheridan refused, she launched her fighters even though Earth would consider this attack an act of war.

Sheridan realized at the last minute that the Trigati was trying to provoke them into an attack when he saw that the Earth Alliance equipment could lock on to the Minbari fighters (during the war, the Minbari had always jammed Earth Alliance scanners). He ordered that no offensive action be taken, and sent a signal into hyperspace.

The Trigati and fighters did not engage Babylon 5 or its defending squadron of Starfuries, but instead began to withdraw from the area. However, another Minbari war cruiser came through the jump gate, and demanded the Trigati surrender. When the Trigati tried to leave the area, the other cruiser fired upon it, disabled her. At that point the cruiser ordered the Trigati to prepare for boarding. However the Trigati's crew decided that death was the only honorable course open to them, and activated a self-destruct device. The Trigati's fighters flew in close to their mother ship, and were incinerated when she exploded.

The effect of the Trigati's destruction on Human-Minbari relations was limited. Many in the warrior caste considered the Trigati and her crew to be heroes and martyrs. The situation did lead to some tense moments in relations between Babylon 5 and the Minbari. However relations between the Minbari and Babylon 5 continued to improve on the whole over the next year, especially since the Shadow War caused the two races to largely put their differences behind them in the upcoming conflict.

The Trigati is an important example as it highlighted a fundamental weakness of the Sharlin design. The other Sharlin disabled the Trigati by slicing off its aft fin, part of the gravimetic drive system. As the Sharlin design has no other propulsion system, the Trigati was completely disabled.