1.20 Star-Crossed
Rommie falls in love with a surviving android of a destroyed ship, only to be betrayed as he turns out to be the ultimate enemy.
Episode Synopsis
The crew of the Andromeda Ascendant watches as a passenger ship comes under attack by Restorian terrorists. The Andromeda fires, but the “Restors” attack ship flies directly into the passenger ship, killing approximately 500 people. A survivor is detected and brought on board the Andromeda. His name is Gabriel, an android. There is an instant attraction between he and Rommie. Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) tells the crew that the Restors will only be stopped if they locate and destroy the base of operations.
Meanwhile, three fighter ships appear, paid by the Free Trade Alliance. The leader of the three, Shura, offers to help the Andromeda fight the Restors. They are able to provide Dylan with a data reader containing the ID file of the Restors flagship, the Balance of Judgment, a heavily-armed Commonwealth ship. Rommie pays Gabriel a visit to tell him goodbye. They have decided to drop him off at another location for his safety. Gabriel convinces Rommie to talk Dylan into letting him stay. Harper continues to work on repairing Gabriel, despite his jealousy over the building attraction between he and Rommie. Later, Rommie and Gabriel go for a walk and share a kiss. Rommie then leaves to check in with Dylan. Gabriel goes to the machine shop and tampers with the wiring of the ship, relaying a message to his true boss – The Balance of Judgment. He sets the wiring for the Andromeda to be destroyed. Meanwhile, the crew is on the lookout for the Balance of Judgment and feeling very uneasy. Tensions rise when Harper accuses Rommie of being more concerned about her new love interest than in keeping a lookout for the enemy. Rommie goes in search of Gabriel, and finds him in the machine shop with his fingers entangled in the wiring. She confronts him about looking at her mission logs. Gabriel apologizes and says he was just curious. Once again, they kiss, but this time they take it a step further as their two virtual reality entities meld into one. Unbeknownst to Rommie, Gabriel still has his other hand entwined in the ship’s wiring. Suddenly, the ship falls under attack. To everyone’s surprise, the weapons aren’t working. Dylan angrily demands that Rommie find Gabriel. In the meantime, the FTA fighters come in and destroy the Rester ship. Before there can be any celebration, an unseen missile destroys Shura’s ship. The Balance of Judgment comes into view. Rommie confronts Gabriel, who confesses that he is not an agent of the Balance of Judgment, he is the Balance of Judgment.
He is the ship’s humanoid avatar, just like Rommie is to the Andromeda. He has his own thoughts and feelings, but cannot deny his overriding programming. He further explains that after the crew of the Balance of Judgement was killed, the ship continued on its mission. Dylan develops a plan and provides the remaining FTA fighters with a Footprint Magnification System which will confuse the Balance of Judgment into thinking that they are three High Guard cruisers. Rommie then forces Gabriel to convey a message filled with false information to the Balance of Judgment. Despite all that has happened, Rommie still can’t shake her feelings for Gabriel. Meanwhile, Dylan has verbal contact with the enemy ship and learns that the Balance of Judgment is also the founder of the Restorians. Dylan then unleashes his surprise: the FTA fighters move away to reveal a sea of mines laid out to destroy the Balance of Judgment. However, the ship picks them off one by one. Somehow the enemy already knew. Dylan confronts Gabriel as the ship comes under further attack. As Dylan accuses him of infecting Andromeda with some sort of Trojan Horse virus, Dylan shocks everyone by shooting Rommie with his force lance! He then orders emergency A.I. shutdown and all board the Eureka Maru. Rommie wakes, and tells Dylan that he must leave her behind, otherwise she’ll continue to betray them and compromise the crew’s safety. Dylan reluctantly dismisses Rommie and Gabriel, who remain alone aboard the Andromeda.
Meanwhile, the Eureka Maru is able to slip away unnoticed by the Balance of Judgment. Dylan reveals to the crew that he has stockpiled weapons aboard the Eureka Maru. He opens the pod doors, and uses inertia to cause the weapons to fall and destroy the Balance of Judgment. As Rommie and Gabriel prepare for the destruction of Andromeda, they are surprised to watch as the Balance of Judgment is destroyed. Gabriel is now free and asks Rommie to come away with him. She agrees and argues with Dylan until he grants permission for her to go away with Gabriel. As everyone gathers for the send off, Rommie arrives, armed with a holstered force lance. She confronts Gabriel one last time and reveals that just before the Balance of Judgment was destroyed, it transmitted a huge amount of coded data to Gabriel. It was a copy of the ship’s core personality. Gabriel confesses he didn’t want the information, but that it will eventually overtake him, forcing him to build a new ship with the continued mission to destroy. Rommie draws her force lance, tells Gabriel she loves him, and shoots him. He dies with a final kiss from Rommie. She asks Dylan to be dismantled, but he denies her request as he wipes away her tears.
Synopsis from AndromedaTV
