1.06 Angel Dark, Demon Bright
Dylan is faced with a difficult decision when Andromeda slipstreams back in time - days before the climactic battle of the Nietzschean Revolution where the Commonwealth was defeated and the Nietzschean Alliance was destroyed.
Episode Synopsis
Tyr Anasazi is teaching Trance Gemini the fundamentals of slipstream piloting and lets her take a practice run. Trance loses control, causing the Andromeda to pinball through the slipstream and plummet through a dense cluster of strings that ejects them from the slipstream. The chaotic ride causes the Slipstream drive to break, rendering the ship immobile until Rommie can rebuild it. Andromeda locates their position - they are at the Witchhead Nebula. The Witchhead Nebula is the site of the climatic battle of the Nietzschean Revolution where the Commonwealth was definitively defeated and the Nietzschean Alliance was destroyed.
Another ship, the Renewed Valor, comes into view led by Captain Borotep Yeshgar, a female alien, an old friend of Dylan's and a High Guard captain. They exchange pleasantries, and Yeshgar asks Dylan where he's been for the last year. While in the slipstream, the Andromeda had traveled through time going back nearly 299 years. Historically, the battle of Witchhead nebula will occur in two days. If they warn Captain Yeshgar about the Nietzschean ambush, there is a possibility of keeping the Commonwealth intact. Dylan decides that too many wheels are already in motion. They can't change history and their actions may have a disastrous impact on the universe. Yeshgar can tell Dylan is holding something back, but accepts his excuse that the Andromeda interacted with a black hole, causing them to lose a year. Once the Slipstream is repaired, the Andromeda will leave.
Seamus Harper decides to take matters into his own hands and rig an explosion that will hit the Nietzschean fleet, preventing the war and saving the Commonwealth. Using the ships historical database, Harper calculates the exact point at which the Nietszchean fleet will enter Witchhead Nebula Harper remembers the Nietzschean invasion of earth and is willing to risk everything, even the safety of Andromeda, to make sure the Nietzcheans perish. Harper tries to run down Trance when she finds out his plan, and Rommie puts Harper into solitary confinement.
Out of nowhere, a horde of Nietzscheans emerge from the slipstream and attack the Valor. There are more than three times as many Nietzschean ships than were historically documented. The only way to ensure that history remains the same is to destroy the thousand extra ships. Despite Dylan's personal opposition to destroying ships, he knows that he must. Now Tyr decides to take matters into his own hands and rewire the ship. Trance is the voice of reason, reminding him that history can't be rewritten and any attempt to do so would endanger everyone.
Dylan removes Harper from confinement and asks him to deploy the fusion catalyst, thereby destroying the Nietzschean fleets as Harper had initially planned. Unfortunately, the fleet is too scattered and is no longer in the coordinates, thereby making the catalyst worthless. Andromeda prepares herself for battle and attacks the Nietzschean fleet. As the Nietszchean counterattack and ascend on the Andromeda, Dylan ignites the catalyst, incinerating the ships. Beka reverses the slipstream polarity and guides Andromeda to the same nexus point that they entered the slipstream, returning them to their time in space.
Synopsis from AndromedaTV
