On the mother ship, Sandoval and Lili detect a Jaridian probe entering the earth's atmosphere. Its course indicates that it will land on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Zo'or wishes to destroy the probe but it cannot be done because the mother ship is on the wrong side of the moon and the probe is moving too fast. On Zo'or's instructions, Lili alerts the Washington embassy.

The embassy has already activated its own automatic defences. Zo'or contacts Da'an at the Taelon embassy in Washington and orders him to destroy the Jaridian probe using the embassy's weapons. Da'an is reluctant to do so without consulting human authorities, but Zo'or decides that they will deal with humanity's *delicate sensibilities* after the threat has been eliminated. Da'an fires on the probe which is damaged and lands in the countryside outside Washington.

On the mother ship, Sandoval, Lili and Zo'or have monitored Da'an's unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Jaridian probe. The damaged probe has landed and Lili is conducting an impact analysis. President Thompson contacts Zo'or and angrily asks what is going on, stating that NORAD has gone to DEFCON III status, and he has received fifty irate calls from congressman. (He is actually concerned about the election which is only a few days away.) Zo'or tells Thompson that a Jaridian probe has landed, that he has taken steps to protect both Taelons and humanity, that there was no time to inform him, and that the threat is his concern. Lili remains on the mother ship to coordinate arrangements and Sandoval leaves for the landing site accompanied by a crash team of Volunteers.

At Resistance headquarters, Liam, Julia and Augur have received a transmission from Lili telling them about the probe and giving its coordinates. Da'an contacts Liam and asks him to be present at the site when Sandoval arrives, telling him to be careful as the probe poses a great danger. Liam does not tell Da'an that he already knows about the probe. Since the probe can provide the Resistance with detailed information on Jaridian technology, the group decide to take possession of it. Liam and Julia leave for the scene in Liam's shuttle, Augur accompanying them to set up portable field dampening protectors and render the probe inactive.

It is a bleak winter day, cold and snowy, when Liam, Julia and Augur arrive at the landing site. Augur sets up the field dampening protectors and triggers them to deactivate the probe. Just as he completes the operation, Sandoval and his team arrive. Liam instructs Julia and Augur to leave and take the probe with them, while he remains at the scene to divert Sandoval; he will meet them later at the rendezvous point. Resistance members provide covering fire to aid Julia and Augur's departure and Liam makes contact with Sandoval who inquires what he is doing there. Liam's explanation for his presence is that he was sent by Da'an and that he was cut off from his shuttle by Resistance fire. Just before getting away, Julia fires on one shuttle using a portable rocket launcher and destroys it. Sandoval remarks that Liam always seems to have an explanation when things go wrong.

After returning to the mother ship, Sandoval reports to Zo'or that no useful information was found at the scene and that the Resistance have escaped with the probe. A furious Zo'or tells Sandoval that his performance is unacceptable and that he expects results, not excuses. Sandoval says that the Resistance will not be defeated until he receives the authority to act openly and Zo'or replies that Sandoval must just find the probe and that if he encounters any resistance he is to terminate it. He also states that the matter of Sandoval's authority is a matter soon to be rectified.

Liam arrives at the warehouse rendezvous point. The probe is still *asleep* and Augur wants to take it to a proper lab to examine its memory core since it took a big hit from Da'an's weapons. Liam and Augur speculate that the ability to reverse engineer Jaridian technology would go a long way toward levelling the playing field, particularly the advanced Jaridian weaponry, cloaking devices and DNA replication. As they are speaking, the warehouse is invaded. Liam, Augur and Julia are forced to surrender their weapons, blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location where their blindfolds are removed and they are placed in an interrogation room.

At the undisclosed location, the commander, who is addressed by his men as *Colonel* enters, revealing their location as Mount Weather. He has detailed knowledge about the Resistance and the backgrounds of its members. He addresses Julia as Ms. Julia Cooke (which she denies), naming her birthplace as Westchester, New York, and mentioning the studies in philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College which she abandoned. He asks Julia if *he was really worth it* and she reacts sullenly. The Colonel then addresses Augur saying that he knows Augur as a computer expert and art collector and that although Augur believes himself to be motivated purely by profit, he is becoming more and more involved with the Resistance and is more idealistic than he admits even to himself.

The Colonel's next words seem to be directed at Liam; he speaks of Liam Neville Kincaid, who was Boone's lieutenant in the SI wars and in the invasion of Taiwan where faulty intelligence led to the ambush and death of the whole platoon except for Boone and Kincaid, of Boone's return to the states and Kincaid's decision to be listed as missing in action to take on an undercover assignment called Operation Dark Knight, an operation which will allow him to be *all that he can be*. The plan which was devised by highly placed individuals in the government to function as a back up plan if the Taelons prove not to be as peaceful as they claim to be. Julia replies that she has never heard of Operation Dark Knight and asks who the Colonel really is. He replies that he has already told her, he is Liam Neville Kincaid. He then points at Liam, saying that the real question is, who is he? Julia is confused. All three are handcuffed again and Augur and Julia are led away, leaving Liam alone with the Colonel.

On the mother ship, Sandoval and Lili are attempting to locate the probe and locate Liam who has not been in touch for some time. Sandoval has asked Lili for a progress report and she replies that she will report when she has something to give him. Sandoval tells Lili that her attitude irritates him, that lines are being drawn and that it is important that they each know where they stand. Lili says she is certain where she stands and she has a pretty good idea where Sandoval stands. Sandoval makes a short speech in which he states that they *are at an important crossroads in human history and that there are humans and Taelons who do not see the bigger picture and the future as it has been planned and as it will be*. Lili's rejoinder is that she plots her own course and her own future and that her loyalties are supposed to be to the Taelons. Sandoval tells her to believe what she will, but that her future depends on his good graces, and that she had better support him, because if he stumbles, she may break his fall on the way down.

In the interrogation room at the Mount Weather complex, the Colonel attempts to learn who Liam really is, saying that there isn't much to discuss: that Liam appeared out the blue seven months previously, claimed his name, became a companion protector and quickly assumed leadership of the Resistance. The Colonel is curious as tp why Da'an trusts Liam when Liam is so heavily involved with the Resistance. Liam retorts that the Colonel seems to have all the answers and the Colonel replies that he does, but not to the questions that count. He demands to know who Liam really is and where his loyalties lie. Liam asks who the Colonel reports to and suggests that he may be working for the Taelons. In a rage, the Colonel answers that he and his men have been underground since the day the Taelons arrived, giving up everything, their careers, their friends and even their families to ensure the future of the world, that it is not semantics, but fact, and that Liam has no right whatsoever to question his motives. Liam tells the colonel that he wouldn't believe the truth if he did tell him and that there is no way to verify it anyway. He offers his assistance in dealing with the probe.

The probe has been taken into a lab at the complex. Augur and the Colonel's computer expert, Bettis, are attempting to access its memory core. Augur refuses to work without Liam and Julia so they are released from their handcuffs. There is considerable friction and rivalry between Augur and Bettis who comments adversely on Augur's fashion sense. An angry Julia tells Liam that she has seen his file and knows that Augur falsified his personal information.

Da'an and Lili meet on the mother ship and Da'an inquires about Liam who has not contacted him in some time. He tells Lili that the Jaridian conflict has divided the Taelons and created unprecedented allegiances and agendas, that he envies Zo'or's clarity of purpose and wishes he commanded the sort of loyalty Zo'or does. Lili tells Da'an that Zo'or's power is based on fear not on loyalty and promises to tell him when she hears from Liam.

In the lab, Augur and Bettis have found a way to access the probe's archives without accessing its other functions and bring down the dampening fields to do so. The operation seems to be working perfectly when the probe suddenly develops a weapon and fires on everyone in the lab. The Colonel's men return fire without success; Liam's Sha'karava activates on its own and fires a blast which deactivates the probe, but Liam is knocked unconscious. The dampening fields are reactivated, but Augur warns the colonel that they are deteriorating and will soon fail. The Colonel returns Liam, Augur and Julia to their holding cell, suspicious because he cannot figure out what Liam did to the probe.

In the holding cell, there is a confrontation between Liam and Julia, who no longer trusts Liam. He refuses to give her any information, saying that it is too dangerous, that he cannot tell her, and that the months they have spent working together against the Taelons should mean something to her. Augur, meanwhile, has come up with the bright idea of accessing the Jaridian command codes which are stored in the mainframe computer on the mother ship with assistance from Lili. Unknown to them, the Colonel has bugged the cell and is monitoring their conversation.

The dampening fields in the lab fail, freeing the probe. The Colonel and his men as well as Liam, Augur and Julia leave the area, sealing it off behind them and moving up one level. The probe, which accessed Augur's DNA while he was working on it, assumes his form but is unable to replicate him fully because of its damaged memory circuits. It breaks out of the sealed area, cutting through the double titanium doors with little difficulty.

Sandoval confronts Lili on the mother ship, more or less accusing her of stalling and asking why she has not used the probe's harmonic signature to isolate its location. Shortly thereafter, Liam contacts her, asking her to download the known Jaridian command codes for probes from the mainframe. Lili tries to obtain assistance from Da'an, who refuses to do it himself because it would constitute betrayal of his own race, but he does give Lili access to the mainframe.

At the complex, the probe is becoming stronger and is breaking out of each consecutive level as it is sealed off. The Colonel and his team decide to flood all the lower levels and collapse the tunnels connecting them.

Sandoval is able to locate the probe himself using its harmonic signature and informs Zo'or that the probe is in a secret government complex situated under Mount Weather. He and Zo'or accuse President Thompson of being involved with the theft of the probe. Thompson knows nothing about it and Zo'or and Sandoval come to the conclusion that a secret government group of some kind is at work. President Thompson grants Sandoval complete authority to investigate the situation at Mount Weather.

Lili finally accesses the codes and transmits them to Augur, just as the probe breaks through. Augur and Bettis rig a *global* to transmit the codes to the probe, but because of damaged memory circuits, the transmission will have to be *line of sight*. Liam volunteers to do it since the Colonel will be needed to get everyone out of the maze of tunnels in the complex if anything goes wrong. He meets the strangely docile probe in the tunnels and successfully transmits the codes, and the probe indicates that it wishes to talk. In the lab, Augur and Bettis examine it and discover that its primary function is merely to serve as a messenger. The probe is repaired and delivers a message from the Jaridians about the impending invasion of earth, requesting a data link to download information which will assist humanity in building a transmitter and communicating directly with the Jaridians. Augur provides a data link and downloading begins. It is almost complete when Sandoval and his armed strike team arrive and begin exchanging fire with the Colonel's men. The Colonel reveals that the complex is wired with low level tactical nuclear devices and sets timers to detonate them, allowing sufficient time for everyone to exit. When they are sealed shut, the reinforced titanium doors and tunnels will contain the blast within the complex. Everyone gets out safely, but the probe and the complex are destroyed.

Outside the ruins of the complex, Sandoval encounters Liam who tells him that he was being held a captive in the complex and asks him if he knows how to remove the handcuffs which he (Liam) is still wearing. Sandoval doesn't reply and walks away from Liam.

At Resistance headquarters Augur and the Colonel look at the partially downloaded data from the probe and Augur says it would take too long to complete the equations. The Colonel tells Augur that Bettis will be able to complete the data and have a working transmitter within a few months. This has the desired effect of putting Augur to work on the problem immediately.

Liam and the Colonel meet to say goodbye to each other. The Colonel tells Liam to keep the name and put it to good use. He tells Liam wistfully that this is the first time he has been out of the complex in four years, and that he is envious of Liam's life, counselling him to take advantage of every opportunity whether it is fighting the Taelons or taking a walk in the park. Liam promises to do so and asks what will happen now that the complex has been destroyed. The Colonel tells Liam that they were taken to the Mount Weather complex, because it was the installation they could most afford to lose.