Bunker Hill | |
---|---|
Production | |
Episode |
2.11 |
Production # |
211 |
Original air date |
January 21, 2002 |
Written by | |
Directed by | |
Developed by | |
Producer | |
Executive Producer |
Allan Eastman |
Production Designer | |
Cast | |
Guest stars |
Kimberly Huie as Elssbett Mossadim-Bolivar |
Chronology | |
Preceded by | |
Followed by |
Your every drop of courage,
ounce of pain, pint of blood.
Paid in advance."
Sebastian Lee,
"The Rising Tide"
AFC 271
"Bunker Hill" is episode 11 of Season 2.
Synopsis[]
Andromeda is fighting Nietzscheans for a Sabra-Jaguar Pride transport, under attack by Drago-Kazov Prides, and have called for help. After the Dragans are driven off, Elssbett Mossadim-Bolivar, who was on the transport, boards the Andromeda. She informs Dylan Hunt that the Sabra-Jaguar Pride is going to war with the Drago-Kazov Pride, and, based on the Mutual Defense Pact they signed, the Andromeda is obligated to help.
Andromeda joins the Sabra-Jaguar fleet to find that the Dragans have already taken several key strategic points. As plans are made, Dylan insists on being in command of the combined fleet, and Elssbett complies.
Andromeda receives a message for Harper, from his cousin, Brendan Lahey, on Earth. Brendan wants to take advantage of the war with the Drago-Kazovs to free Earth. Harper brings this proposal to Dylan, but Rommie says that Earth, as it is, is not important. Dylan feels that they can make Earth important, if they get the people to rise up. He sends Harper and Rommie to Earth in the Eureka Maru, telling them to get the Drago-Kazov units into the streets, and he will bring the fleet in after the current campaign to hit them while they are vulnerable.
During the trip to Earth, Harper tells Rommie about harassing the Nietzscheans when he lived in Boston, including some high-pitched whistles, or "shrillers", that he made that were painful for the Nietzscheans with their enhanced hearing. He also tells her how his friend, Isaac, was killed by the Nietzscheans.
Dylan plans a direct assault on the Drago-Kazov homeworld. Tyr and Elssbett are not certain that this is the ideal plan. Elssbett suggests that Tyr could join her family, and even intimates that she would marry him herself. Tyr does not allow himself to be put off-guard by the flattery.
Rommie creates an artificial meteor shower to mask the Maru's landing, and they arrive in Boston. She asks Harper not to tell his friends that she is an Android, because that sometimes causes problems. Harper and Rommie find two small girls in the alley, and ask them to find Brendan. They are confronted by a man with a gun, who accuses them of being collaborators, because they are well-dressed. Rommie detects more people approaching in the side passages, but one turns out to be Brendan, who greets Harper warmly. He declares that Harper has come to set them free.
Brendan tells Harper that he expected him to bring more people. He only has about five people that he knows he can count on. He expects that more people will join them when they do rise up, but he cannot promise anything. Harper gives a speech, claiming that other groups around the world are also prepared to rise up, but they are waiting for Boston to start it. His speech gets the people motivated, but he worries about whether Dylan will show up on time.
The war against the Drago-Kazov fleet is going well. In fact, Dylan worries that it is going too well.
Rommie plants some spy cameras and mines around the Nietzscheans' armory. Brendan asks Harper about his relationship with Rommie. He remarks that they are all fighting for those they love. He tells Harper that he has something for him, namely the tinwhistle that Harper threw into his parents' grave.
Rommie and Harper distribute Force lances, Bracers, and Electronic Countermeasure Generators, and instruct the people on their use. Brendan distributes shrillers, reminding everyone that they have lost people to the Dragans, and if they remind others of this, they will fight, too.
The Nietzscheans move into the ghetto, and the attack starts at Harper's command. There are casualties on both sides, but the Dragans are winning, and Rommie calls for a retreat. They need Dylan's support. Harper heads out to join the fight in person. He rescues Brendan from a beating by a couple of Nietzscheans.
Dylan and Beka Valentine have determined that the ships they have been so easily destroying are decoys, sent out as a distraction. Elssbett feels they should continue the attack anyway, to maintain control over the action. Dylan intends to retreat and pick the next battle, but Elssbett forces his choice by ordering the Sabra-Jaguar fleet to attack.
Beka tries to take Elssbett to task, but Elssbett puts her off-guard by mentioning that she slept with Dylan.
As the fleet attacks, the Drago-Kazov ships eject their slipstream cores, heavily damaging some of the fleet, and sending most of them, including the Andromeda, into slipstream. With the fleet scattered throughout various systems, the Dragans try to attack them individually. Andromeda is attacked by the Drago-Kazov flagship, captained by Fleet Marshall Cuatemoc, who is Cuchulain Nez Pierce's replacement, but they escape to slipstream.
Rommie has hacked into the Nietzschean communications grid, and broadcasted the news of the revolt around the world. People in many cities are also rising up. She expects Dylan's arrival in just over five hours.
Andromeda is attempting to regroup the fleet, even though it means she will be late to Earth.
On Earth, the rebel-troops are taking heavy damage. Tyr arrives in a Slipfighter to tell them that Dylan is not coming - he had to make a choice, and the larger campaign against the Dragans is worth more than one world. Tyr tells Harper to pull back, there will be another chance later, but Harper asks: How do you stop a revolution?
Brendan does not want to stand down. He points out that Harper has already run away once, when he first left Earth. Harper says that his parents died because they did not know when to run. He threatens to shoot Brendan if he does not call off the attack, claiming that it will save other people from dying in a hopeless war. Brendan says that sometimes you have to fight, even if you do not think you can win. Harper reveals that his parents did not die because his father tried to prevent the Nietzscheans from taking his mother, as the others had always believed, but because they both tried to prevent the Nietzscheans from taking him, and so he feels responsible for his parents' deaths. Brendan points out that they fought to save him, and it worked Harper is here today to strike a blow against the Nietzscheans. In any case, the revolution has started, and he could not stop it even if he wanted to. Harper offers to get Brendan out to safety, but Brendan does not want to go he is part of the revolution, and has to fight.
Andromeda has rounded up approximately 90% of the fleet, but only about half of those are in combat ready condition. The Drago-Kazov fleet attacks. Dylan gets the fleet in formation, and has them slave their navigation system to Andromeda's. He tells Beka to fly them through the system where the ships initially ejected their slipstream cores, which is a dangerous route, but he thinks that Beka can do it, while the Dragans cannot, or, at least, will not be willing to risk it.
Harper and Rommie leave Earth. Harper is disappointed in their failure, but Rommie comforts him.
Dylan's plan works, and they shake off the Drago-Kazov fleet. He tries to put a positive spin on the campaign, saying that the fact that the alliance was able to work together was, itself, a victory, despite the results of the actual battle. He tells Andromeda to take them to Earth, but Andromeda tells him it is already too late.
Dylan finds Harper on the Observation Deck. Dylan gives him a copy of a transmission from Earth that is being spread around, which is a speech from Brendan, exhorting people to rise up against the Nietzscheans, and several slave worlds are doing so. Dylan tells Harper that Brendan won, even if he did die.
Trivia[]
- Bunker Hill was the location of a battle in the American Revolutionary War. The British won a Pyrrhic victory.
- Beka Valentine says: "politics makes strange bedfellows".
Memorable Quotes[]
Beka: (referring to Elssbett) She didn't salute! Shouldn't she salute?
Dylan: Well, I'm thinking that maybe she went to the Beka Valentine School of Military Discipline.
Harper: Great, "Start the revolution without me!" Anything else I can do for you? Transmute the elements? Reverse entropy? Make you a sandwich?
Tyr: It will take a great deal more than a whispered promise to extract from me any more information than I have provided already. However, (whispers) you are, oh, so very welcome to try.
Beka: Dylan and I aren't lovers!
Elssbett: Really? Too bad for you.
Harper: But, Dylan always keeps his promises!
Tyr: Dylan has made a great many promises, and he only has one ship.
Beka: Uh, Dylan, now would be the time for one of those crazy, desperate, this-just-might-work ideas.
Dylan: Oh, I've got one, I was just hoping I wouldn't have to use it.
Beka: Note to self: Don't screw up.