Sector 83 was a region of space in the midst of several worlds attacked by the Shadows during the Second Shadow War and was the site of the first major counter offensive of the War.[1]

Towards the end of 2260 the Shadows initiated a major assault against the Younger Races, destroying colonies and driving races from their homes. Sector 83 was intentionally left untouched, effectively herded refugees into the area for two months with the intent of wiping them all out at once in a massive show of force. Sheridan, Delenn and the Army of Light war council deduced their plan and sent an allied fleet of Minbari, Drazi, Vree and Brakiri ships along with the newly completed White Star fleet to meet the Shadow assault head on. Using as many telepaths as possible to jam the Shadow Vessels the allies were able to eventually turn back the assault, but at a high cost, losing two ships for every Shadow vessel destroyed.[1]

In 2261, as part of a misinformation ploy to encourage the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to allow the White Stars to patrol their borders as a peace keeping force, Captain Sheridan ordered Anla'Shok Marcus Cole to take three White Stars into Sector 83, open fire on a group of asteroids and return. Later he requested Ivanova announce on VOR that "nothing happened" in sector 83 by 9 by 12. The Drazi, Brakiri, Gaim, Hyach, Llort and pak'ma'ra Ambassadors who had heard reports of White Stars shooting at nothing chose to interpret the mysterious events as evidence that a new enemy had developed a new cloaking system and insisted to Sheridan that the Rangers protect their borders as well.[2]