As you will discover in part two, the system on the planet is
breaking down, malfunctioning; there wasn't a concerted, organized
attack, it was some automatic systems going on their own. The alien
WANTED to get found, that's why his image appeared, beckoning them, and
asked them for help. You're composing the problem in terms of an all-out
offensive; it wasn't. It was one segment of a system that is breaking
down.

(In general, it's a good idea to check out both parts of a two-part
episode before making story conclusions; some people have already missed
the boat bigtime on a few things.)

A First Contact situation is one unlike any other: you don't want
junior officers around to screw it up. Remember, the Earth/Minbari WAr
began when a First Contact situation got screwed up. EA's policy is that
it's better to risk two people than a full war, and those two people have
got to be command-level personnel. Soldiers get killed; it happens. And
yeah, you can leave a backup person at the shuttle...but what if *he's*
the one to make actual first contact? You're screwed. Ivanova and
Sinclair have been trained in this; in "Soul Hunter," Sinclair makes
reference to the rules of First Contact Protocol. If you like, I'll
elaborate on this in some future episode.

jms