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A Heart for Falsehood Framed
Hegemons heart
Production
Episode

2.03

Production #

203

Original air date

October 15, 2001

Written by

Ethlie Ann Vare

Directed by

David Winning

Developed by

Robert Hewitt Wolfe

Producer

Sherry Gorval

Executive Producer

Allan Eastman
Majel Roddenberry
Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Josanne B. Lovick
Jay Firestone
Adam Haight
Kevin Sorbo

Production Designer

Richard B. Lewis

Cast
Guest stars

Peter Kelamis as Doge Miskich
Anthony Lemke as Leydon Bryce-Hawkins
Nicole Parker Smith as Clarion of Loss
Janyse Jaud as Voice of the Clarion of Loss
Richard Side as Beetle

Chronology
Preceded by

Exit Strategies

Followed by

Pitiless as the Sun


"Love? Truth? Beauty?
I prefer negotiable securities."
Doge Miskich,
"All About Me"
301 AFC

"A Heart for Falsehood Framed" is episode 3 of Season 2.

Season2Cast

The Regular Cast of Andromeda Season 2

Synopsis[]

Dylan Hunt is moderating negotiations between Doge Miskich, a Chichin crime lord and ruler of Pierpont Drift, and the Than Hegemony, to be represented by Clarion of Loss. Doge Miskich has the "Hegemon's Heart", a gem which is a sacred Than relic, in his possession. Rommie objects to having Miskich on board.

She says that the risk is like "trying to juggle live plasma grenades". She does not want to aid a "den of thieves". Dylan says "high risk, high reward" and the Than Hegemony will owe him a debt.

Miskich claims that the Than-Thre-Kull have not had the gemstone for "5 generations", and it is rightfully his. He says that they are just using it as an excuse to attack Pierpont Drift. He offers to hire the Andromeda Ascendant to fight the Than for him, but Dylan and Rommie insist that their services are not for sale. Yet Doge Miskich claims that on Pierpont Drift "everything is for sale".

Harper and Beka are on Pierpont Drift. Harper wonders why the Than do not just "carpet bomb" the Drift in force, but Beka notes that Doge Miskich has signed on with the Free Trade Alliance. Destroying the drift will result in an interstellar war. While they are talking, Beetle steals Beka's ID card, and she and Harper chase him. Beka is tripped by a bystander, who turns out to be Leydon Bryce-Hawkins, a local law enforcement official. He informs her that stealing is legal, for citizens of Pierpont Drift, but not for visitors. He reads the criminal records for Beka, Harper, Tyr, and Trance. Beka has multiple convictions for counterfeiting, fraud, and smuggling. Harper has been convicted of grand theft and instellar flight to evade prosecution. Tyr has several convictions for assault, battery, mayhem, and attempted murder. Trance has been convicted of burglary, larceny, robbery, and theft. He is surprised that there is no criminal file on Dylan Hunt, yet vows to find the hidden truth of him.

When Clarion of Loss boards the Andromeda Ascendant, he and Miskich immediately engage in a shouting match. Dylan has managed to arrange a 7 day ceasefire, but the negotiations do not look to be easy.

Beka Valentine, Seamus Harper, and Trance meet on the Maru. Harper has crafted a copy of the Hegemon's Heart, and they are planning to swap the fake for the real one. They check out the museum where it is stored, and find security to be fairly tight, but Trance manages to hide in a coffin-like display, while Beka arranges a date with Hawkins over the security camera.

Beka goes to meet Hawkins in the Valley Forge Gardens, and finds Tyr there. Tyr questions whether she is mixing work and play, but Hawkins shows up and Tyr departs. Beka and Hawkins compare notes, she recognizes him as a noted thief who went by the alias "Schrodinger's Cat", and admires some of the heists he has pulled. He, in turn, is impressed with some of her previous work.

Tyr Anasazi confronts Beetle, the thief who stole Beka's card, looking for information on who he would talk to if he wants to buy something rare.

Hawkins takes Beka to a lookout point in the garden, but discovers that Beka is afraid of heights. Beka asks him why he is working as security, after his career as a thief. Hawkins claims that he was not enjoying being a thief any more, so he has gone straight. Beka seems to understand, even relate to this. Leydon kisses her, and caresses her cheek, but then gets a call from security and has to go. He warns Beka not to steal from his museum, and reminds her that there are serious punishments if she does.

Harper calls to Beka, and tells her that they need Hawkins' fingerprints and a DNA sample to get past security. Beka says that, in that case, "we're in", she peels a layer of false skin off her cheek, where Hawkins caressed her, and it has his fingerprints on it.

The negotiations between Doge Miskich and Clarion of Loss are not progressing well. Rommie states that the Commonwealth had laws with regards to religious artifacts, but Miskich insists that there is no longer a Commonwealth.

Tyr meets again with Beetle. The thief tries to get more money out of Tyr for his information, but Tyr intimidates him into keeping to the original deal.

Harper disables the room security in the museum, but cannot disable the floor sensors. Trance crawls across the ceiling girders, and lowers herself by the tail over the Heart. Harper disables the sensors on the Heart for long enough for Trance to swap for the fake one.

Dylan continues to be frustrated by the negotiations. Tyr, speaking with him outside the negotiation chamber suggests that he should let them fight it out, but Dylan points out that they need allies, and assisting in successful negotiation will further that cause. Tyr indicates that "Plan B" is progressing well. At this point, Clarion of Loss storms out of the negotiations demanding that the Heart be returned within 24 hours. It seems that Doge Miskich was six months behind in his Free Trade Alliance dues, and the support he was counting on from them will not materialize.

On the Maru, Beka, Trance, and Harper are celebrating their success. Dylan arrives, and Beka proudly hands him the Heart. However, because of Doge Miskich's loss of military support, Dylan insists that they have to put it back, in order to allow Miskich to save face.

Beka manages to get some time alone on the Maru. She shines a red laser on the Heart, and an incoherent pattern is displayed on the wall. She seems upset or disappointed by this. She finds Harper and Trance playing cards on the Obs Deck (Trance is winning consistently), and informs them that the Heart they stole is a fake, and they need to find the real one. They immediately suspect that Hawkins knows where it is.

Beka meets Hawkins in the garden again. While she is praising his creative expense reports and noting that his business trips seem to frequently coincide with large thefts, he gives her a tour of some of the garden's carnivorous plants. Eventually, they end up back in Hawkins' room for the night.

Dylan continues the negotiations, working out minor details of how Miskich will return the Heart to the Than, such as where it will take place. He is clearly stalling, buying time for Beka and the others to find the real Heart.

While Hawkins is sleeping, Beka searches his room. She finds a compartment hidden in the wall, containing a Flexi with a visual record of Trance stealing the Heart. Hawkins gets out of bed at this point, catching her looking at the flexi. Beka points out that the Heart that was stolen was a fake, but Hawkins states that the penalty for theft is still death. He then destroys the flexi.

Back in the Maru, Beka discusses the events with Harper. She is sure that Hawkins was the one that stole the real Heart, replaced it with a fake, and set them up to take the blame, but wonders why he would then destroy the evidence. Harper speculates that it may be because Hawkins likes her, but Beka finds that hard to accept.

Tyr has had Beetle arrange a meeting for him with his source, which turns out to be Hawkins. Tyr tells Hawkins that he wants to buy the real Heart, not for Dylan or the Than, but for himself. Hawkins says that his price, if he had it, would be 50 million guilders. Tyr grabs Hawkins, but Hawkins calls in his security guards. Tyr quickly dispatches them, but Hawkins gets away.

Hawkins retrieves the real Heart from where he has hidden it – in the garden, protected by one of the carnivorous plants. Beka has anticipated this, however, and is waiting nearby with a gun. Hawkins tells her that he stole the Heart the day he became a citizen of Pierpont Drift – in fact, it was the real reason he took the job. He has been waiting for a good opportunity to make his escape with it, and he thought that setting up Beka and her crew to take the blame was his chance. He suggests that Beka could marry him, become a citizen, they could share the money, and they could be a "team". Beka counters that she already has a team. She asks him to meet her on the Maru in an hour, but does not elaborate as to why.

Clarion of Loss has ordered the Than fleet to move into position to attack Pierpont Drift. They will be in position by the time the cease-fire agreement expires.

Hawkins meets Beka on the Maru, but Tyr interrupts them. He drags Hawkins off to the meeting between Dylan, Miskich, and the Than, but not before Beka is able to take possession of the real Heart, swapping it for one of the fakes. She shines her red laser on the real Heart, which reveals a treasure map of slipstream routes. She records the map, then hurries to the meeting with the real Heart. (This map later leads to the Engine of Creation.)

Tyr hands the Heart to Dylan, explaining that Hawkins stole the real Heart from the museum, but Hawkins insists that what Dylan has is not the real Heart, accusing Beka of stealing the real one as she arrives. Beka kisses Dylan as cover for handing him the real Heart, which he returns to the Than.

Afterwards, Beka accuses Hawkins of "giving her up". She says that she would have covered for him, and said that he had nothing to do with the theft. He does not understand why she would, because she "won", the "game".

Rommie says to Dylan, "Triagonal prismatic quartz crystal. Trace elements of vanadium, chromium, manganese, and cobalt. Eighty two point two five grams. I wonder how many of these fake Hearts are out there. I lost count at three." Then Dylan says to her, "You never lose count of anything. And I assume you could tell the difference the whole time." She replies. "Of course. Harper is sweet, but he still believes pretty much anything I tell him. Oh, I'm sorry, I may have a brain the size of a planet, but I can't tell the difference between one pretty rock and another." She then admits to Dylan that she did not originally think that she could trust Beka, but Beka proved herself worthy of trust.

Trivia[]

  • The title comes from a line in Sheridan's "The Duenna": "Had I a heart for falsehood framed, I ne'er could injure you."
  • The title refers to the ownership of "heart" for the Than Hegemony, the "falsehood" heart created by Harper, and the "framed" accusations and allegations made by the characters.
  • The similarity of names and titles between Doge (Duke) Miskich and Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin in "The Idiot" is not a coincidence.
  • "Doge" is a Venetian variant of the standard Italian "Duce", meaning "leader", from the Latin "Dux", and the source of the English aristocratic title of "Duke".
  • The Doge's quotation which opens the episode refers to the central themes of the Romantic poets and artists, perhaps encapsulated in Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
    • Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
    • Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
    • 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
    • Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
  • The universal translator is a reference to "Star Trek".

Memorable Quotes[]

Dylan: High risk, high reward.

Rommie: trying to juggle live plasma grenades.

Rommie: den of thieves.

Hawkins: Look, lady
Beka: I'm no lady, I'm a starship pilot.
Hawkins: And I'm a cop.

Hawkins: Beka Valentine. (Harper sneaks up behind him with a pipe, attempting to knock him out) Counterfeiting, smuggling, fraud. Known associates, (he turns around and Harper drops the pipe and pretends nothing happened)
Hawkins: Seamus Harper – Grand Theft Spacecraft, Interstellar Flight to Avoid Prosecution, and Public Lewdness?
Harper: Only the one time.

Doge Miskich: I've got a poem too. (clears throat) Finders keepers, losers weepers.

Clarion of Loss: You chichin scum. Give me one good reason not to call my task force down right now.

Doge Miskich: I'll give you three. Free. Trade. Alliance. Mess with me and i'll be using your exoskeleton as a hat rack.

Clarion of Loss: (speaks Than. Sounds like curse words against Doge Miskich)

Beka: We're not going to get past Leydon Bryce Hawkins with history lessons. He's smart.
Trance: And cute.
Beka: A fact which, like your age and place of origin, has really nothing to do with the task at hand.
Trance: Good point.

Beka: You know, Nietzschean males, always marking territory. You've gotta be careful or he sprays the trees.

Hawkins: C'mon – Trust me!
Beka: Trust you? Can we start with something easier? Perpetual motion, maybe? Universal translator?

Beetle: Make me an offer.
Tyr: I offer not to pull your heart out through your eye socket and nail it to your forehead.
Beetle: That's very reasonable. How's noon tomorrow?

Harper: Just do it like we practiced.
Trance: When we practiced, we messed up.
Harper: Except that part.

Beka: He's good, quick on the uptake, smart, completely fearless. He reminds me of
Harper: You. He reminds you of you.
Beka: Then I know I can't trust him.

Dylan: There, everybody wins. That's what the Commonwealth always strives for.
Miskich: And what do I win?
Tyr: No one's blown you out of the sky.
Miskich: Ahh.

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