Travel Time to Earth

In the episode Atonement there is an operating assumption that it would take Marcus and Franklin 2-3 weeks to travel to earth by back-channel transportation. Why couldn't a White Star drop them near and cut off several days? Twice when the Centauri controlled Narn the Rangers did some smuggling into and out of Narn, and the Centauri are reputed to have "great big scanners" (and other big assets ). I realize that Sheridan set off scanners when he went to Ganymede, but he was more concerned with speed than secrecy. Any theories?

QMCO5

Probably the secrecy thing is the clincher. If a white star jumped in and was dected, then the terror alert would be elevated to puce and more local security would be on the lookout for weird goings-on.

Yeah, I agree. Sheridan didn't want a Whitestar popping in on Mars to alert Earthforce of their presence.

I just assumed that, as with the White Stars (as per one of JMS' DVD commentaries), Franklin and Marcus needed to travel to Earth at the speed of plot!

That is an excellent point; didn't realize JMS had said it. Nevertheless, I assumed based on the Narn experience that the Rangers and/or Whitestars could get in and out of places with both speed and stealth.

QMCO5

However, when the Rangers made their covert trip(s) to Narn the planet had just been "bombed back to the stone age". I don't think that it is a stretch to think that any previously built defensive sensor grid was probably smashed when the Centauri initially assaulted the planet. It is also reasonable to assume that the Centauri had not yet had time to rebuild such a system, at least not completely.

The Terran system, on the other hand, at this point has a fully functional defensive sensor network that appears to extend throughout the solar system (at least out as far as the moons of the gas giants).

Therefore, the ability to get in and out of Narn undetected does not necessarily imply the ability to get in and out of Mars undetected.

Also, it's entirely possible that certain Centauri were bribed into looking the other way. Evading Centauri security, I feel, might easily just be a matter of credits...