The Risk-All Point
Production
Episode	3.13
Production #	314
Original air date	February 10, 2003
Written by	Joe Reinkemeyer and Matt Kiene
Directed by	Michael Robison
Developed by	Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Producers	Sherry Gorval
Production Designer	Allan Eastman Majel Roddenberry Josanne B. Lovick Jay Firestone Adam Haight Kevin Sorbo Bob Engels
Production Designer	Richard B. Lewis
Cast
Guest stars	Jayne Heitmeyer as Errin Shohashi Peter Kent as Genghis Peter Shinkoda as Burke Lenore Zann as Bayliss Adam Harrington as Captain Grissum
Chronology
Preceded by	The Dark Backward
Followed by	The Right Horse

The Risk-All Point is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Andromeda.

SummaryEdit

On their way to a commissioning ceremony for the new High Guard ship, the Crimson Sunrise, Tyr Anasazi jokes about Dylan Hunt's apparent love for the "pomp and circumstance" of such events. Dylan admits his pleasure at seeing a new ship finally launched after 307 years, especially one of the traditional Glorious Heritage Class design, like the Andromeda Ascendant. Tyr then mentions that rumor has it the Crimson Sunrise will be a more powerful ship than the Andromeda. Dylan responds saying he would have rather arrived aboard the Andromeda, but that Seamus Harper modifications to the air scrubbers and waste extraction systems are currently making that impossible, adding that they'll just have to take "this bag of bolts." Beka Valentine, not surprisingly, chimes in over the Eureka Maru's comm system saying "I heard that!".

Beka then calls Dylan and Tyr to the cockpit. When she points out the approaching ships, Tyr says that the markings on the ship are those of the Kenja Pride, a Nietzschean pride that only pick fights they know they can win. Seeing that the Kenja are on a direct course for the Crimson Sunrise, Beka says" I don't get it. The Crimson can chew up and gargle those fighters." Dylan suggests they slipstream to the new High Guard ship and warn them of the Kenja fighters only a short distance away.

When Dylan warns the Crimson Sunrise of potential traitors aboard his ship, Captain Grissum proclaims that all members of his crew are 100% loyal to the Commonwealth, all having undergone brainscans and DNA analysis for deception traits. Dylan suddenly receives a distress signal from aboard the Crimson. Explosions are heard on the command deck of the Crimson while reactor and engine alarms are heard. Subsequently, the captain orders everyone to evacuate. The Crimson Sunrise explodes but not before everyone evacuates the crippled ship.

When the debris clears, there are life pods floating all around the space once inhabited by the Crimson. Tyr suggests picking them up before the Kenja arrive and use the pods for target practice. Dylan orders Beka to open communications, and the Maru's crew then hears distress calls from the pods around them. The first one received is from a woman claiming to be Commonwealth Senator Bayliss.

Beka maneuvers the Maru to begin picking up the survivors. The first pod picked up is that of Senator Bayliss, who tells of the anarchy that took place on board the Crimson just prior to its sudden demise. Convinced the Nietzscheans are responsible, the Senator declares the first thing she is going to do when she gets home is to try to outlaw the Nietzscheans from the Commonwealth.

Beka informs Dylan privately that they must speed up the rescue effort because the escape pods will not protect the evacuees for long. She also tell him that if they take anymore pods the Maru won't be able to slipstream.

In another discussion, Tyr suggests that the cause of the Crimson Sunrise's demise was sabotage by Kenja masquerading as High Guard crew members. Knowing that the Kenja do not sacrifice themselves, Dylan and Tyr both fear that the saboteur may be aboard the Maru.

Dylan and Tyr are interrupted by a fight that has broken out among the evacuees. Tyr yells "Captain on deck! Into ranks!" They quell it quickly, confiscating a number of weapons.

The Crimson Sunrise's Nietzschean first officer, Errin Shohashi, is brought aboard after the Maru receives a distress signal from her life pod. She claims that the cause of the Crimson's demise was human error, not sabotage.

Suddenly, a proton leak is detected in one of the pods in the cargo bay. Tyr and Errin go to find the pod and prevent it from exploding while Beka and Dylan go to check on the crew. Upon finding out Errin is Kenja, Beka suggests that Erin may, in fact, be the saboteur. When Erin and Tyr locate the pod, Erin attempts to enter the shutdown code but has no success. She then grabs hold of the power cables and absorbs the electrical current to prevent the pod from exploding. Believing Errin to be the saboteur, Dylan rushes to "save" Tyr but, upon finding out about her selfless act they reach the mutual conclusion that Erin is not the traitor.

Beka picks up a stray communication signal which she thinks could be Errin notifying the Kenja of their location. When Beka and Tyr find Dylan and Erin together, they suspect Errin of malicious intent. Dylan informs Beka that the signal she found was actually the Maru's old freighter codes, used to divert the Kenja fighters away from the Maru.

Suddenly, another brawl breaks out, and Errin, Tyr, Beka, and Dylan rush to break it up. The melee has gotten more violent this time, with Tyr forced to shoot one of the Crimson's crew. Another Crimson crew member, runs to go to the life pods, thinking he would be safer there. But his opening the bay doors to get to the pods causes the area from which he came to depressurize. Tyr and Dylan chase him to the pods but do not make it in time. Dylan and Tyr seek refuge in a life pod and are subsequently blasted into space.

Errin heads to the Maru's cockpit, and a power struggle between her and Beka ensues. The Kenja are circling back and Errin forbids Beka to answer Dylan's hail, for fear of alerting the Kenja to Dylan's location. Erin then flips on the Maru's distress signal. The Kenja fires on the Maru, and from Dylan and Tyr's perspective aboard the life pod, it appears that the Maru has been destroyed. But after the debris disperses, Dylan sees that the Maru is still in one piece. Beka had let loose the empty life pods that were clinging to the ship, causing them to explode, and making it appear that the Kenja were successful in their attempt on the Maru.

Now, Dylan and Tyr's pod is running out of life support. Taking a huge risk, Dylan suggests they channel all available Antiprotons to the aft reserve tank and add some oxygen and nitrogen, which would create a giant fusion candle. Pointing the pod "in the general direction of the Maru," Dylan lights the match.

Seeing the pod coming, Beka maneuvers the Maru to catch them in the cargo bay. Errin congratulates and thanks Beka on her success.

In the aftermath, it is revealed that "Senator" Bayliss is actually an impostor. The poser was just a janitor aboard the Crimson who wanted to save herself. Beka cites an official Commonwealth analysis of the Crimson Sunrise disaster, which concludes that the explosion was caused by a comet striking the ship in a vulnerable spot which was the Antiproton resere tanks sending the AP reactors to go critical, causing it to explode.

Errin walks in to say goodbye to Dylan. As Errin walks out, Beka makes fun of Dylan's relationship with Errin while Tyr laughs hysterically and Dylan blushes.

Memorable QuotesEdit

Erin: Beka Valentine, you're an excellent pilot. If I didn't know better, I'd mistake you for a Nietzschean.
Beka: Thanks, I think?!

Dylan: Whats up?
Beka: I've got bad news, and then I've got some bad news.
Dylan: Phew, For a moment there, I thought something good was going to happen today!
Beka: I heard that.