1.15 - Durka Returns

Moya collides with another ship while exiting Starburst and the crew is forced to bring the other ship aboard. It turns out to be carrying a Nebari, a Nebari prisoner and Durka, Rygel's old nemesis. Then, the Nebari is killed and the crew must defend themselves from a murderer in their midst.

Nebari mental cleansing doesn't get the tough stains out. - John Crichton

He's a legendary psychopath and nobody knows what a 100 years of eating Happy Meals has done to him. - John Crichton

We have rules. - John Crichton
Yeah? Well, when I see any of you following them, so will I. - Chiana

Moya is in Starburst, which is more turbulent than usual because of Moya's pregnancy. Zhaan suggests that this may be the reason that the Peacekeepers tried to prevent the pregnancy. They exit Starburst but come out on top of another ship which Pilot and Moya are unable to avoid and they collide. Moya is unharmed but the other ship loses its propulsion system. Feeling responsible for the collision, Pilot brings the other ship on board.

Aeryn, D'Argo and John go down to meet the ship. One figure exits and claims to be unarmed when Zhaan runs in to tell them that there is a large energy weapon on the ship. The figure points out that it is powered down.

Rygel enters and recognizes the figure as Durka, the Peacekeeper who tortured him while he was on the Zelbinion. Rygel spits in his face and moves to attack him until John stops him. Aeryn points out that Durka died over 100 cycles ago but the figure confirms that he is indeed Durka.

Another person, Salis, comes out of the ship. Salis claims that Durka is no longer dangerous or evil. Salis is a Nebari and says they are transporting a Nebari prisoner. He asks for a cell for the prisoner and quarters for Durka and himself.

D'Argo, John, Durka and Salis escort the prisoner, Chiana, to a cell. After she is locked up D'Argo and Durka leave.

Chiana tells John that what she has done would not be considered a crime by him and asks for amnesty. John replies that they cannot do that. Chiana continues to beg and Salis causes the collar Chiana is wearing to give her pain. John is distressed by the treatment but Salis appears unconcerned.

Later, Salis is talking to D'Argo and Zhaan. He tells them that the Nebari have a process which eliminates negative impulses and that they have used this process on Durka. He has been in cryogenic suspension for 100 cycles while the process was performed.

D'Argo asks what happened to the Zelbinion and Salis tells him that it was destroyed by a Nebari Standard Host Vessel. He said they would have saved everyone on the ship, not just Durka, but the others refused to surrender.

Aeryn goes to visit Rygel and finds him sharpening a knife. She tells him not to do anything to Durka and takes his knife.

Aeryn then goes to see Durka. She asks him about his life as a Peacekeeper, which she had studied, but he claims he accomplished nothing. The Zelbinion was attacked by the Nebari after it invaded their territory. He faked his own death and got away in an escape pod.
"You deserted your own ship?" she asks in surprise.
Durka nods in acknowledgment. "I have done far worse in my time."

John goes down to the cell and gives some food cubes to Chiana. He asks why she is being taken back by Salis and Durka and she says it is because she ran away from their planet, stole food and jumped ship. She says they are taking her back for mental cleansing like they have done to Durka. She says that the Nebari feel everyone should be the same and fit in but that she doesn't want to. She starts to panic and John enters her cell to calm her down.

John leaves and goes to the landing bay where Durka is working on the Nebari ship. He asks about the mental cleansing and Durka compares it to life saving surgery. Something rolls into the bay and explodes, knocking John and Durka unconscious.

Rygel enters on his thronesled and moves to check on the two. Durka suddenly jumps to his feet and starts to strangle Rygel but passes out again. John comes to as Aeryn and D'Argo run into the bay. He tells them that Rygel just tried to kill him and Durka. Rygel insists that Durka is dangerous but D'Argo takes him away.

Salis checks on Chiana to see if she had anything to do with the explosion. Chiana suggests that Salis likes her the way she is and tries to flirt with him but he zaps her with the collar again.

D'Argo tells John that he found the material for a bomb in Rygel's quarters but that Rygel did not mix them correctly. He says that if he had then John would have been killed.

Chiana manages to remove the collar from around her neck and open the door to her cell. She goes to Rygel's cabin and says she will let him go if he helps her get off the ship. Rygel offers to create a diversion and she unties him. He starts yelling into his comm that she has escaped and she tries to smother him with a pillow.

Everyone hears the message and Salis and Durka warn that Chiana is dangerous. Aeryn and John go to Rygel's room and find him tied up. John runs out but Aeryn stops to untie Rygel. Pilot gets the DRDs to join in the search and everyone fans out through the ship.

Pilot tells John that he detects movement on the tier John is on. John finds Salis, dead. Zhaan arrives and they decide Chiana killed him.

Aeryn and Rygel enter Command. Over the comms, D'Argo tells them that Chiana has killed Salis and that they are to shoot to kill if they see her.

Durka enters and asks if it is true that Salis is dead. Aeryn confirms it and he collapses onto his knees in tears. Aeryn goes to comfort him and he suddenly attacks, knocking her and Rygel unconscious. He then starts ripping cables out of the consoles. Doors start closing throughout Moya.

Aeryn and Rygel come to and Durka confronts them. He congratulates Rygel on breaking the Nebari mental cleansing on him and threatens him with a knife. He cuts off Rygel's comm badge and tells everyone that he is now in charge on Moya and that everyone else must leave. Aeryn yells that Durka killed Salis and he knocks her unconscious again.

John meets up with D'Argo while Zhaan joins Pilot in his den. D'Argo opens a hatch revealing a shaft which he says leads to Command. He tells John to go look for Chiana and enters the shaft. John tells him not to fall out of the ship again.

Durka detects D'Argo in the shaft and closes hatches on either side of him, trapping him. He asks Aeryn if she is enjoying watching a Peacekeeper legend in action and she tells him that he is a disgrace, not a legend, for running when the Nebari attacked the Zelbinion.

Durka tries to have Moya enter Starburst but she is unable to do so because of her pregnancy. Durka is unaware of Moya's condition and calls the others and tells them to restore Starburst. He then reminds Aeryn and Rygel that Sebaceans are very sensitive to heat and approaches Aeryn with some type of weapon.

Rygel yells to distract Durka and calls him pathetic and a failure. Durka threatens to kill Rygel and asks if the rest of the crew would care.
"Go ahead and find out." Rygel taunts him. "Even if you kill me, I'll be laughing at you because the last thing I'll think of is you on Nebari Prime for another 100 cycles being ground back down into nothing."

He reminds Durka that he tortured him for over 100 cycles and never broke him. He says Durka is a failure now for trying to steal a pregnant leviathan which can't Starburst. Durka does not believe him at first but Aeryn tells him to look at the controls. Durka announces that he will solve the Starburst problem and leaves.

John has found where Chiana is hiding and tries to get her to help them. She comes up behind him and attacks but he is able to get the upper hand. She says she may join Durka since both of them want to avoid the Nebari mental cleansing but John tells her that Durka is insane.
"Commit, Chiana." he tells her. "You're either with us or you're on your own!"

Durka is walking through the ship when Chiana appears. She tells him that she wants the same thing he does and that the others have misled him as to where Moya's baby is. She offers to lead him to the baby.

She leads Durka to a storeroom and he shoves her inside in front of him. John is waiting in the room in ambush but Durka shoots Chiana in the arm and runs. John stops to help Chiana but she tells him to go after Durka.

Durka runs to the landing bay and enters his ship. John follows and reminds him that his propulsion system is out. Durka says that all he needs is the weapon on his ship; one shot into Moya's midsection and the pregnancy issue is solved.

John finds the bomb materials that D'Argo confiscated from Rygel and starts mixing them together. He yells for Pilot to open the outer doors but Pilot cannot get control of them. John throws the bomb at Durka's ship and it explodes, causing the doors to open and the ship to be thrown out of the landing bay.

Air rushes out of the bay and John is almost swept out as well but he manages to get back inside and Pilot closes the doors. Over the comm, Durka yells that he will hunt down John and kill him.
"Get in line." John tells him. "But, I don't think the Nebari are gonna let you do a lot of hunting. That is, if they pick you up. Either way, I really don't care."

Later, everything is getting back to normal. Aeryn and Rygel are talking and Aeryn tells him that he handled the situation very well. Rygel comments that he beat Durka at his own game and Aeryn points out that Rygel just compared himself to a Peacekeeper.

Zhaan is trying to treat Chiana's wound but she is struggling. John asks Zhaan if they should throw Chiana off of Moya and Zhaan says to ask her again tomorrow. She exits, leaving John alone with Chiana.

Chiana asks if she can stay on Moya. John indicates it is fine with him but the others may not agree so she says to simply drop her off at the next planet where she can steal something.
"This isn't a prison transport anymore, Chiana." he tells her. "You can get off whenever you want."

He starts to exit then stops. "One question." he asks her. "Where were you when Salis was murdered?"

Chiana simply smiles back at him.

Durka and the mystery of what happened to the Zelbinion were introduced in PK Tech Girl.

D'Argo "fell out of the ship" and Moya's pregnancy was introduced in They've Got a Secret.

Who killed Salis?

How did Durka manage to break the Nebari mental cleansing?

What happened to Durka? Did he die in space, did the Nebari pick him up, or did he escape?

Well, this episode had some nice moments for several of our crew and introduced a new member to our happy little family.

Let's start with Chiana. We haven't learned much about her yet. She claims to be a simple thief and stowaway who is avoiding mental cleansing, but we've seen how true everyone else's stories turned out to be. She also claims to have never killed anyone but doesn't answer John when he asks where she was when Salis was killed. It will be interesting to see what she brings to the group.

Much of this episode was a follow-up to some of the events in PK Tech Girl. We find that Durka didn't die like we thought he did and we learned what happened to the Zelbinion. If Salis was telling the truth and the Zelbinion was destroyed by a single Nebari ship then the Nebari are a group to be reckoned with. It won't be good for our crew to have another powerful enemy mad at them.

On the other hand, the Nebari do not seem to be friends with the Peacekeepers. Maybe they can use one against the other.

Rygel has some very good moments in this episode. He stands up to Durka and saves Aeryn from torture, if not saving her life. Again he reminds us that there is a lot more to him than the others seem to give him credit for. Aeryn even admits that she never thought she would be complimenting him. Everyone needs to stop underestimating Rygel; he is actually as capable as any of the others on Moya.

There really isn't that much to say about this episode. It introduces a new character and a new power in the Uncharted Territories but is quite straightforward. Overall, a very good episode.