The Weight, Part 2
While negotiating with a trader to purchase a vehicle, Dylan and Rhade receive a month-old signal from missing Andromeda crewmember Beka Valentine. They lock in her last known coordinates and resolve to follow this new, unexpected lead.
Elsewhere on Seefra-1, Beka is held by thugs who work for shipping mogul Jonah Derrega. They want her to reveal the secrets of Andromeda's Slipstream drive, to cement their monopoly on shipping in this system.
In a flashback, Beka recalls how she arrived in this system. Alone and adrift in the Eureka Maru, out of food and about to run out of fuel, she finds herself floating in front of the Andromeda. She boards the ship but finds no sign of her crewmates. She taps out a primitive S.O.S. and awaits help….
But her mayday was answered by Derrega's goons — who are now threatening to expose her to The Core, a being of pure energy that they say will disintegrate her. Before they can make good on this threat, Jonah enters and escorts Beka away — to dinner, so that they can discuss a "business partnership."
Rhade and Dylan pilot their new small spacecraft to Beka's coordinates and find the Andromeda — which now has a Derregacorp logo painted on its side. They sneak aboard and overhear Beka and Jonah, who are now in cahoots. Rhade writes off Beka as a traitor and deserts Dylan. No sooner is Rhade gone than Dylan is captured.
Dylan is brought before Jonah, who tells Beka that he intends to kill the Andromeda's former captain as a warning to any other would-be thieves or hijackers. Beka acts as though she is not bothered by this, but says that while she "pities" Dylan she does not think that he deserves to die.
Later, on the bridge of the Andromeda, Dylan is brought in to face Jonah. The cylinder containing The Core has been brought here. As a test of Beka's loyalty, Jonah challenges her to open the cylinder and release The Core to kill Dylan. She refuses, but Dylan — relying on a sudden flash of intuition — encourages her to do as Jonah says. Reluctantly, she complies.
The cylinder door opens and The Core drifts toward Dylan … who addresses it as "Trance." It stops, and Beka realizes that Dylan's hunch was correct.
Exiting carefully, Jonah and his people keep their guns trained on the Andromeda crew. Because the Andromeda still has no power, he says, it will be an easy target for the missiles he just ordered his people on the planet to fire. He bids farewell to Beka and leaves. Once he's gone, however, Rhade emerges from hiding and lets the others know that he sabotaged Jonah's transport — it will not reach the planet in one piece. As Jonah's craft departs, his people on the planet fire their missiles at the helpless Andromeda.
Trance goes to the main console and releases her vast reserve of energy into the Andromeda, which hums back to life. Dylan fires countermissiles, which destroy Jonah's incoming strike. Trance, now depleted of energy, reverts to her old self, and is somewhat disoriented. The Andromeda A.I. explains that Trance's substance was diminished by the effort of "tesseracting" the Andromeda and its crew into this system during the battle for Arkology. Realizing that the rest of their crewmates might be alive on Seefra-1, the partially reunited crew begins its search for Seamus Harper and Rommie.
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