Original release date: December 10, 2021
The Rocinante crew make a startling discovery on an asteroid. Avasarala and Bobbie contend with the devastation on Earth. Drummer and her family must make a heartbreaking decision. On Ceres, Marco and Filip’s struggles turn inward.
* * *
[water splashing]
Gruncher!
[insects buzzing]
Hm?
Slinkervine!
[snapping sound]
[bird calls]
Sunbird.
[soft chirping]
Sun-babies!
[bird calls]
Ah!
[birds chirping]
I’m gonna have to give you all names.
If I can figure out how to tell you apart.
[bushes rustle]
Who’s there?
Xan?
Is that you?
It better not be.
I told you to stop following me.
Hey.
What are you?
[creature purrs]
It’s okay, it’s okay.
You can come out.
I’m friendly, see?
[purring]
Are you a rock jumper?
I don’t think so.
You look like a dog. Kinda.
[sunbird screeching]
It’s okay, it’s okay!
You’re…you’re gonna be okay!
[dramatic music]
[purrs]
♪ ♪
[pensive instrumental music]
♪ ♪
[woman singing in Norwegian]
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[heavy, dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[chanting] Marco, Marco, Marco!
[chanting continues]
Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!
[dramatic music continues]
♪ ♪
Now Earthers know what it feels like
to be Belter.
[Bobbie] MCRN Denali
linked tracking with UNN Farragut,
and in conjunction with Sentinel-16,
the combined railgun barrage
destroyed the three incoming rocks.
I used to like shooting stars.
I never did.
Secondary impacts?
Four significant fragments made it to ground,
two striking populated areas.
Total casualties under 500.
Don’t try to make it sound like a success.
Well, I-I wasn’t, ma’am, but we have knocked down
nearly every rock Marco Inaros has thrown at us
for the last six months.
That’s 200 individual strikes.
And he has kept what’s left of our fleet
pinned down doing it,
while he makes every station and rock hopper in the Belt
pledge allegiance to his so-called
fucking Free Navy.
Mars has assured us there will be
one more Donnager class operational within the month.
And we’ll have three more battleships
ready for deployment by year’s end.
The yards are working around the clock.
[moody music]
♪ ♪
[Avasarala] It’s like a goddamn nuclear winter.
Have you read the latest biospheric assessment?
Not yet.
[Avasarala] Repurposing our atmospheric CO2 scrubbers
isn’t working.
Not well enough.
Meteoric contaminants are still rising,
even faster than before.
Every rock kills us a little more,
even when they miss.
I gave a speech at that facility when it opened
eleven years ago, almost to the day.
I toured those fields.
The corn was ready to harvest.
The stalks were so heavy they bent.
[dark music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
Where the fuck did that come from?
I don’t know…they must be hugging one of the rocks!
[Amos] PDC3 is jammed!
PDC5 is also red, power out!
[railgun firing]
Scratch one.
[Naomi] I see them.
They’re running!
Firing one.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
[breathing heavily]
Well, I guess that confirms the rumors
of Free Navy activity in this area.
[soft beeping]
Sweeping 360.
Do you think I could convince Chrissy
to pay us for every one of these assholes we take out?
I’d like to see you try.
I’m serious.
We’re not mercenaries.
And we’re not soldiers either.
Looks like they were out here alone.
Okay. So the question is
why were they here in the first place?
[Holden] No way a little skiff like that
could have launched rocks this big.
I’m gonna take us in for a closer look.
No, we should keep our distance.
The Free Navy loves improvised bombs and proximity triggers.
They know it gets Marco off.
[Naomi] I’ll send in a drone.
Shrapnel took out a whole camera.
[sighs] Guess I’m gonna have to go out there
and see if we got any holes that need plugging.
All right.
[Amos] Peaches, you still alive?
If you call this living.
[Amos] You catch that power out on PDC5?
Uh-huh. [Amos] It looked to me like…
Like a series of transient spikes
tripped the surge protectors?
[Amos] You took the words right out of my mouth.
That’s what I thought too.
Make sure you reset the master bus
before you start the diagnostic.
[Clarissa] Come on, that’s S.O.P.
You should have more faith in me than that.
[Amos] You know I do.
I do.
[Holden] Amos, we’re sending the drone
to recon the rocks, so watch your step out there.
[Amos] Roger that, cap’n.
[Naomi] And Amos, try to salvage the optics
on that hull cam if you can.
We’re out of spares. [Amos] All right.
So Peaches, you got a plan?
It’s gotta be that twitchy power coupling on the mains
that keeps pissing us off.
[Clarissa] I’m on it.
Good.
[emotional music]
♪ ♪
[tense, uneasy music]
♪ ♪
[soft electronic chirping, beeping]
No signs of stealth composites.
Good.
Earth hasn’t seen a stealth rock in months.
No pun intended.
Be nice if it stayed…
Goddamn it, there’s another ship down there.
Hang on!
[Naomi] I don’t think that is a ship.
It’s a drive.
[distant chatter]
[both moaning]
[indistinct chatter, music]
[Sanjrani] So far
my projections have been right on track.
The flow of colony ships
and all agricultural supplies from Earthers stopped.
They’re too busy trying to knock down our rocks.
[Sanjrani] Yes, which gives us a perfect opportunity
to build up our own supplies.
With the combination of hydroponics
and live soil farming,
we should be able to increase food production on Ceres
by 15% to 20% in the first year alone.
Dawes always said… [Marco] Dawes is dead
because I got tired of listening
to what he had to say.
And Fred Johnson is dead.
Both of them, and all their failures swept away.
History has moved on, and so shall we.
Nice of you to join us.
Nico Sanjrani, Station Chief Administrator,
my son, Filip.
It’s a pleasure.
Did I miss much?
As much as usual.
[Rosenfeld] The last report from Ganymede
said crop yields were up. [Sanjrani] Yes, but Ganymede
cannot be our only source of food.
We have to build new ag stations
and farms throughout the Belt.
We must expand water purification…
You want something?
I do.
I mean to drink.
That’s not all you mean.
Let me know if you change your mind.
[Sanjrani] Let supplies dwindle at the current pace,
and new production is not brought online immediately,
our people are going to starve, sooner, not later.
Get a list.
Good news.
The Solano has taken the last Dos Arrigas ship
and spaced the crew.
And the Panshin is tracking two drive signatures
which could be the last Golden Bough dissidents.
Is that a backhanded way of saying
that you still don’t have any news about Drummer?
Do you want me to tell you every time nothing happens?
We’ve had a few scattered reports,
but none of them panned out. We could up the bounty.
More money? That the best you can do?
Increase the bounty on Drummer 20%.
And the Rocinante as well.
Rosenfeld, with me.
Hey, late to a meeting with the bosmang?
That’s a power move.
I got lost on the way.
Ah, what was her name?
I’m not sure.
Ah…[laughs]
What’s all this?
Ah, alligator skin. You like?
An animal?
Eh, it’s very expensive.
Shopkeeper gave me a bargain, to honor the cause, huh?
[laughing] He stole your money, copain.
It’s fake, synthetic. Has to be.
Pashang, what do you know, huh?
Earth is dying.
We kill it, it’s not coming back.
Real things like this
or all the things Inyalowda make before
to sell and get rich and fat… soon there won’t be
any more of this. [Abena] Yoan, we on for later?
Oh, yeah, you bet.
See, you may have no taste, but they do.
They tell me they’re thinking to join the Free Navy.
I tell them we can arrange for a tour of the Pella.
[both laugh]
[crowd chanting] Marco, Marco, Marco!
Marco! Marco! Marco!
Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!
Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!
Marco, Marco, Marco!
[Marco] It has been many years since I set foot on Ceres.
But I have always considered
this station to be a home.
To me and to every other Belter.
The Inners may have thought it was theirs,
but it was always ours.
We forged our identities here.
And now we will turn it into the jewel
it was always meant to be!
[crowd cheering]
Ceres will be the capital city of our Belter Nation.
A place all Belters can be proud of
and forever call home!
[crowd cheers]
[all chanting] Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!
Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!
[uneasy music]
♪ ♪
[Jotunn captain] Attention, DeWalt.
This is the Free Navy hunter Jotunn.
Prepare to be boarded.
Tynan, we know you here also.
Show and declare yourself or be destroyed.
[Michio] DeWalt remote link open.
Thrusters standing by.
Take the shot. [Drummer] Not yet.
It’s a direct fire weapon. It has to line up perfectly.
On my signal.
Port thruster, ten degree yaw.
Michio!
Ah…
On your signal. [breathing hard]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
Now!
Ah!
[beeping]
[frantic beeping]
What did you do?
I…
[whimpers]
[stammering]
[percussive music]
♪ ♪
[Josep] They’re locking in on our transmitter.
Changing course. Heading right for us.
[Drummer] Pashang!
I’m…I’m sorry!
[rapid beeping]
[boom]
No pursuit. We got ‘im.
[indistinct communication in background]
What were we able to get off the DeWalt?
[Josep] Moving the crew over was the first priority.
[Drummer] I know that.
We transferred most of the fuel.
One tank of water, two pellets of ration.
Munitions?
One torpedo.
Which brings our missile load to a grand total of three.
At least we killed ’em.
[Holden breathing heavily]
[Naomi] Simple, quick, and dirty.
Any rock hopper with a standard mining kit could do this.
If they were willing to waste an engine.
But given the number of colony ships
the Free Navy’s plundered…
There’s bound to be a lot more of these.
We have to figure out how they’re being triggered.
If we could stop even a few of ’em
before they’re launched, it’ll be an accomplishment.
[Naomi] The trigger module will probably be
with the guidance system,
which would’ve been an add-on to a set-up like this,
so look for a box wired directly to the reactor
either with or without an antenna.
[Holden] I think I see it.
Thank you.
[Holden] The customary response
is “you’re welcome.”
Sorry.
I just realized this is
the first time I’ve flown the Roci.
First time I ever had to.
I know what that feels like.
[grunts]
[Holden] Yeah, that’s the navigation computer.
[Naomi] I see the diagnostic port.
You’ll have to cable in and see if you can access
reactor controls or a nav log.
[Holden] Copy that.
[metallic tinking]
Uh, uh, Naomi?
[Naomi] Holden, what’s going on?
I think the magnetic bottle’s cycling up.
You’ve started the reactor.
[Holden] I must have tripped the failsafe.
No, you need to get out of there!
[metallic tinking]
[grunts]
Jim, what the fuck are you doing!?
You need to get out of there now!
Get behind the ridge first and I’ll drop between you
and the drive cone if you can.
Jim, I can put the Roci down.
[drive thrumming increases]
Jim! God damn it!
You have to get out of there! You have to move!
Jim, you have to get out of there now!
Jim!
Jim, talk to me, goddamn it!
Jim!
Oh, you fucking piece of shit!
Fuck! [thrumming decreases]
[panting]
There wasn’t enough time to get far enough away.
And I was sure if I could break it, shut it down…
Just come back inside, please.
[Clarissa] So long story short,
the power coupling is back in spec.
[Amos] Good work.
[Clarissa] Good teacher.
You hurt yourself?
Poor upbringing.
Wasn’t raised to tension wrenches.
I’m gonna go grab a bite.
Sounds good, I’ll be there in a minute.
Is there something you need Peaches to do differently?
I don’t really care what she does.
You’ve been flying together for months now.
She’s been working her ass off.
The only reason she’s here is because you decided
to make her part of the crew.
As if that could replace Alex.
This has nothing to do with Alex.
And you know, you made some pretty big decisions
for all of us without talking to me.
Oh, so does that mean you can do whatever you like now?
I’m not saying that.
But maybe you could cut Peaches a fucking break,
like we all did for you.
You should find somewhere else to be.
You’re right about that.
[Josep] We could try for Iapetus.
We would never get there unnoticed.
There is the science station on Triton.
Fewer eyes along the way.
That’s a long way to go.
We need to refuel.
We need to re-arm.
We gonna talk about the other problem?
Michio is not a problem.
She made a mistake.
We all have.
This one cost us a ship.
It’s not her first mistake.
She hasn’t been sleeping.
She isn’t built for this.
She’s a salvage technician.
So are you.
Not anymore.
I’m a fighter now.
What you always were.
This is not a place for her anymore.
Michio is family.
We have lost so much already.
You are my captain.
Whatever you choose, I choose also.
[Michio] These can be shared.
A little crowded, maybe, but we will make do.
Give us a moment, please.
Aye, captain.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
I will do better, I promise. I try harder.
You are trying your best. No one questions that.
I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry.
I am sorry too.
We will find a safe port where we can resupply.
A place where you can stay.
[crying] I don’t want to leave you.
It isn’t forever.
When this is all over, we will
come back and find you.
When it is over?
[sobbing]
[Yoan] Just give me a peek.
I just want a picture to go with the words, that’s all.
Really, that’s all you want?
No.
[laughter]
But hey,
how ’bout I show you mine, you should me yours?
Mm.
Deal?
Mm-hmm.
[upbeat music in background]
That one?
Ah, it’s the Waxing Gibbous.
Fat, fat Earther colony ship.
Soil, fertilizers,
but best of all,
30 bottles of fine Irkutsk brandy.
Oh! You ever had brandy?
No, what is it?
It’s a drink made for the darkness.
Goddamn Inyalowda, they don’t deserve it.
Do you have any?
Yoan probably drank his share
before they emptied that ship.
Shortly after.
[laughter]
And that one?
It’s the Ring Gate, Medina Station.
It’s one of our greatest triumphs.
The Martians, they were so happy to see us.
Until they weren’t.
[imitating gunfire]
See, Filip, he was the gun on the Pella.
Me, I was gun on the Connaught.
He was gunner’s mate.
Filipito thinks he’s funny now, huh?
Were you part of the attacks on Earth?
Me? No, not so lucky, no.
But he was.
You were?
Hey, don’t be so modest.
Filip, he was the tip of the spear.
Took stealth composite right off Mars itself,
right under the noses of the Dusters.
He killed a science ship near Venus
before they could spoil the plan.
Put Ashford the Ghost Knife out the door
and dropped the rocks to get revenge for all of us, ah?
He made the Inyalowda burn.
[voice echoing] All that, and even
better-looking than his father.
[dark music]
♪ ♪
[upbeat music continues in background]
[Yoan] Hey, Filip.
Where you going, coyo?
[breathing heavily]
[Rosenfeld sighs]
It’s just coffee.
Sorry.
I could use something to keep me awake.
Thanks.
The Inner Fleets haven’t even budged.
That was your plan.
You miss the fight.
Don’t you?
The fight will come soon enough.
It always does.
In the meantime…
Sandrani’s fucking spreadsheets.
[sighs] All right.
What can we spare from the supply depots?
Nothing.
Ceres is not Medina.
If Sandrani wants more for the station,
they can tighten the food and water rations.
Our presence on Ceres
has rallied countless Belters to the cause.
[Rosenfeld] Then it’s served its purpose.
We owe these people nothing.
[Filip] Ceres is our capital. These are our people.
Your job is to get them what they need.
If you have any specific logistical suggestions,
we’d love to hear them.
No, just…just do the job.
We should discuss this further.
[Filip] I would like to… [Marco] In private.
[Rosenfeld] Medina needs more titanium.
A lot more.
The Laconian pieces have been harder
to install than expected,
and we need to reinforce the abutments.
Give them whatever they need.
Charges set.
Detonators at your discretion.
Something up?
Possibly.
Another intel update on Free Navy assets came in.
Just going through it, and I saw this.
That’s one of the rogue MCRN gunships
that finished off our fleet at the Ring.
There.
See those flashes?
They remind you of anything?
They reminded me of the artifact on Ilus.
The thing that wiped out the protomolecule builders.
It’s not our problem anymore.
Well, in the big picture, it could be.
The only reason the Rings are here is because of us.
I am out here
to kill Marco before he kills us.
The only reason that I’m still out here
instead of drinking myself blind on Luna
is because I don’t want to abandon you.
So don’t abandon us.
Hey.
[Holden] What’s wrong?
I found something.
The guidance system was set to launch the rock
upon receiving a single burst transmission
at a specific frequency.
It was coded, of course, but it gave me an idea.
I polled as many signal relays in the Belt as I could,
looking for coded bursts at that frequency
over the past few months.
Found a bunch of them.
Each of these signals launched a rock.
[Naomi] Which gave me another idea.
I triangulated the signals to see if I could find out
where the transmission came from.
That looks like an orbit.
Probably a spotter ship that’s been guiding the rocks.
They’d have to be running dark.
Passive sensors only.
Quietly watching Earth’s defenses
and timing them to keep them pinned down.
There were several references in the guidance logs to…
an Azure Dragon.
I think that’s the name of the ship.
Spotters like these are highly specialized ships.
There can’t be that many of them in operation.
If we could find it
and take it out, it could seriously reduce
Marco’s ability to keep hitting Earth.
Prepare to get underway.
Aye-aye, Captain.
Naomi.
I think sometimes I convince myself
the worst can’t happen.
It’s a way for me to get through things.
I’ll be more careful. For all of us. I promise.
And we’re not going to stop.
I tried for so long to stay away from the violence,
but…Marco pulled me back into it.
And now the people we’re hunting and killing
are the same ones I used to call my own.
I don’t know how much longer I can bear it.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Madame Secretary, do you believe the MCR Commission…
Madame Secretary, any comments
on the food rioting in Kinshasa?
Not now, please. The communications director
will be scheduling a conference shortly.
[Monica] Madame, is it true you reached out to Marco Inaros
to discuss a peace treaty?
Because that’s what I’ve been hearing.
The only thing Marco Inaros has to offer me
is his unconditional surrender.
The colonies have been incommunicado
and at the mercy of the Free Navy
since Inaros wiped out our forces at the Ring.
He could be starving the settlers out
or using them as forced labor to…
That’s why we’re at war with him.
Has anybody in your cabinet proposed negotiations?
The deliberations of my cabinet in a time of war
are a matter of national security
and none of your fucking business.
Madame Secretary General,
the people of this planet have been through hell,
and it’s only getting worse.
They’re just looking for honest answers.
You owe them that.
In case that wasn’t clear enough, we’re done here.
You know, Sergeant, if you want my advice…
I don’t.
You should try to impress
upon your boss the fact that
she has constituents, not subjects.
She’s aware of the distinction.
The one thing I always liked about you
is you kinda suck at lying.
[ambient background noise]
[music in background]
♪ ♪
Want another?
Let’s get out of here.
I just got here.
I can sort it out with your bosmang.
I’m sure you can. I know who you are.
So, let’s go, then.
[laughs]
This all it takes with your other girls?
[laughs] Other girls?
Oh, that’s your problem?
You should go find one of them.
You’re fucking lucky
I’m even talking to someone like you.
Here.
This one’s on the house.
I’m a fucking hero!
I kill the Earthers, me.
Millions of them for people like you.
Oye, Filip, you’re coming in hot, huh?
I’m a fucking hero.
Okay, come on, let’s go.
I take you back to the ship.
Don’t fucking touch me.
Hey, easy. I’m your friend.
No, you’re a fucking joke.
The fuck gotten into you?
You’re pathetic.
You know, if not for me, all these girls on the station,
they laugh at you, huh?
Come on, don’t do this.
Why? The fuck you gonna do about it, huh?
Huh?
[gunshot]
Ah!
[gentle chime]
[sighs]
Come.
You wanted to see me, ma’am?
I never thought I’d actually enjoy this sensation.
Maybe it’s the lack of sensation.
The whole planet not pulling me down for once.
I can come back if you like.
No.
A little help?
Time for your performance review.
My what?
You hate this job.
Yes, ma’am, I do.
I understand. I’ll step down…
If I don’t get the easy way out,
neither do you.
Your problem is that you’re a Marine.
You’re sick of doing nothing.
So are you.
So is the whole fucking planet.
I just received word from Holden.
He believes they’ve located
an Inaros spotter ship.
They’re going to check it out,
see if they’re right.
If they are, that would be good.
Fuck good.
We need better than good.
[Avasarala] We’re wounded, broken,
trying desperately to keep ourselves going
by pretending we’re not.
Gutting through it all, wearing down.
Little wins here and there
will not hold us together.
We need more than that.
Something big.
Something to give us a reason to hope.
You have something in mind?
I do.
[dramatic sweeping music]
♪ ♪
