01x07 - Windmills

[bunniefuu]

Chrisjen: Previously on The Expanse...

Fred: I provided a ship for an OPA recon mission.

The name of that ship is the Scopuli.

I need this frigate to retrieve the lone survivor, Lionel Polanski.

I need to know who k*lled my friends. I need the truth.

I'll pick up your operator.

(TASER PULSING)

Let's talk about Julie Mao.

Is she alive?

If she was here right now, she'd spit in your face.

You're everything she despised.

(GRUNTS)

I need to borrow your spy on Tycho Station.

Sadavir: Fred Johnson turned his back on Earth.

The OPA k*lled your son.

You sure this isn't personal?

You're damn right it's personal.

I logged the distress call on the Cant.

I'm glad we cleared this up.

I knew.

Why didn't you tell me?

You were afraid of me.

Miller: I figured it out...

Scientists on Phoebe discover something. The OPA gets wind of it, they send a crew out to steal it.

Shaddid: Erase Detective Miller's case files and cancel Detective Miller's clearances.

You're fired.

(TRANSPORT HUMMING)

I used to be good at this.

(SIGHS)

There must've been a time...

(CLANKS)

...when I was good.

(CLEARS THROAT) Your daughter...

She was, uh...

She was fired.

Julie...

Uh, had courage, and, um...

She deserved to be helped.

Not everybody does, you know.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

Some people aren't worth saving.

I'm sorry to say, sir, that the brass sends me cases like Julie's when they don't want 'em solved.

They took away all the cards.

Didn't even want me to bring her home...

Sorry.

Automated voice: Station stop. Midtown stretch.

(ANNOUNCING IN HINDI)

(DOOR OPENS)

Please exit the pod.

(SIGHS)

(ANNOUNCING IN HINDI)

(EXHALES)

Please exit the pod.

(ANNOUNCING IN HINDI)

Docks.

(YELLING) Take me to the docks!

Alex: Oh, it's all over the feeds.

Mars went ballistic when a Belter att*cked the Scipio Africanus.

So, now they're patrolling every shipping lane between here and Eros.

Amos: And we are driving a stolen Martian frigate.

We didn't bargain for this.

The only way this ship'll pass for a freighter is if no one looks close enough.

If anyone comes on board...

They can't check every ship.

They have no reason to board us.

Once we cross that line, there's no turning back.

Everything we do is gonna be under a microscope.

Amos: This little jaunt just got a whole lot more interesting.

Then we just stay on course and mind our business.

Just a run-of-the-mill gas hauler.

I'm tired of rolling the dice.

This whole trip is a gamble.

(BEEPS)

We just got pinged by a ranging laser.

They're just givin' us a little love tap to let us know they're watchin'.

If that love tap turns into a target lock, we need to be ready.

Right.

(BEEPS)

(ALARM SOUNDING)

What the hell?

What did you do?

This was an MCRN warship.

Its systems normally recognize other Martian Navy as friendlies.

Not anymore.

We'll know if they're coming for us now.

Holden: How did someone as smart as you end up on the Canterbury?

I failed upwards, to the level of my incompetence.

Same as the rest of us.

(CHUCKLES)

Hey, now we're talking about me.

Alex: Hey, y'all...

Why are we broadcasting?

What are you talking about? No one's broadcasting anything.

Yeah, we are.

He's right.

It's a radio transmission coming from between the hulls.

There's nothing down there but servos and conduit.

Could be a faulty controller.

Naomi: No, it's modulated, in code.

Alex, do MCRN ships send out status updates when they handshake other vessels?

Maybe?

Amos, check it out.

Amos?

I'm on it.

(FOOTSTEPS DESCENDING)

(BREATHING THROUGH SUIT)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(AIR ESCAPING)

(GASPING)

(BEEPING)

What?

Man: (IN EARPIECE) Just checking in, ma'am.

No, I wasn't m*rder*d in the last thirty seconds.

I'd feel a lot better if I had some people on the ground.

This group has a history of run-ins with the government.

Really? I'd no idea.

Ma'am...

Think they'll file an injunction on me?

I'd still like to further understand exactly...

If I see one person on the ground or one helicopter overhead, you'll be living on Basic Assistance by the end of the month.

Yes, ma'am.

Elise Holden?

I'm Chrisjen Avasarala, UN Deputy Undersecretary.

This about Jimmy?

It is.

Man: (IN EARPIECE) Ma'am, do not enter that residence, we cannot maintain your security here.

Alex: It's not like we stopped for gas or nothing.

He's been with us since Tycho.

Naomi: A spy for our friend, Fred Johnson.

Hey, I take offense to...

Shut up!

Why would Fred spy on us? He knows more than we do.

Any idea what he was transmitting?

No, he fried this thing right down to the boards.

I wouldn't have if Knuckles over here hadn't jumped me.

What part of, "Shut up," do you not understand?

I'm a consultant for Davila Aerospatiale, I do special research...

Corporate espionage?

Call it whatever you want.

I've been stealing codes and tech from Tycho for two years now.

Then why are you on our ship?

(KENZO SIGHS)

I dipped my fingers a little too deep in Fred Johnson's cookie jar.

I had to get off of Tycho before his OPA leg-breakers scooped me up.

I got a peek at your flight plan, I saw you were headed for Eros, I hitched a ride.

(SIGHS) I got contacts there.

I was just calling them to arrange a pick-up.

Too bad we're not going to Eros.

You're not?

Then where the hell... There's nothing else out here.

It's none of your damn business.

(BEEPING)

Alex: They launched a boarding skiff.

On an intercept course.

They must've picked up this assh*le's transmissions.

They probably think we're smugglers, and now they're coming to check us out.

Put him in the airlock.

Whoa, wait a minute...

Amos: Fresh air it is.

Just wait a minute!

Holden: Keep him there.

Disable the controls so he can't get out.

Just wait a minute!

Let's hope we don't open the wrong door.

Just wait! Look! Look!

We need to help each other out here, okay?

Now I don't want to get picked up by any Mickie patrol, and I know you guys don't want that either.

What do you know about us?

It's none of my business, okay?

None of my business why you guys are flying around in a stolen Martian att*ck ship...

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Like I said, it's none of my business.

I don't care.

You think the Martians are gonna buy whatever story you're selling?

Will you shut him up, please?

No, look, you need to... (GRUNTS)

(GROANS)

Amos: Talk some more.

(GROANS)

You got a good right.

You use it too much, but you got a good right.

Holden: Enough!

Get him below.

(SIGHS)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Woman announcer: ...it's time to ask yourself what you can do for the Belt.

The OPA wants you.

(LOUNGE MUSIC PLAYING)

Detective Chapeau!

(CROWD GASPS)

I'm like some bad virus you just can't shake.

You want another sh*t at me?

In front of all these people?

Dawes: Friends! Friends, friends.

(SIGHS)

You all remember Mr. Miller.

He used to work for Earth, but now he's just one of us.

Tonight, he's my guest, his drinks are on me, huh?

This is a good day for starting over, my friend.

Oh, no.

This isn't over.

(SIGHS)

When we first met, you told me that I was the...

...Patron Saint of Lost Causes. You remember that?

I think I may have found another one in you.

You think you've won?

Not yet. But we are getting closer, huh?

I was never fighting against you, Miller.

In fact I was fighting for you.

Yeah, I was thinking that when your g*ons were tossing me in the airlock.

You were thinking about me then?

Hmm. I'm honored.

Usually, when a man is about to lose everything, he realizes what mattered to him most.

He sees it clearly for the first time.

I see everything I need to see.

Maybe you haven't lost everything yet, huh?

When you do, you will know your way home.

And it will welcome you.

(GLASS SHATTERS)

(TV PLAYING INDISTINCTLY)

You want some tea?

Thank you.

Elise: You want anything, Tom?

I'm okay.

Can you give us a moment?

That's James?

That's all of us.

Brave woman, being part of a family co-op.

It's hard enough for one husband to get along with me.

We try not to keep secrets.

Good for any relationship.

Printed books.

We don't see these much anymore.

Are they antique?

Some.

Cervantes.

Jimmy liked to think of himself as a knight.

He thought it was a funny story.

I never broke it to him that it was a tragedy.

Can we stop with the bullshit now?

Oh, I had a little left about how charming your home is.

(CHUCKLES)

Should we sit down?

I don't think you're gonna be staying that long.

You're not just here to tell me my son is dead.

You could've done that with a letter.

You're here because you think he had something to do with it.

The water hauler the Martians destroyed, and the battleship they lost.

You think he was involved?

(SCOFFS)

I like living near the land. Doesn't make me stupid.

Was he involved?

Of course not!

He would never...

Oh, no wait. I know this one.

"My boy was a little angel, he never even hurt an insect... Oh, if you'd just seen what a wonderful child he was."

And I thought we were done with the bullshit.

How about this one?

James Holden was conceived by a cult of political extremists as a trick for eight people to claim generational land rights.

Kicked out of the Navy, he fell in with a radical fringe group in the Belt because it reminded him of home.

I can make sh*t up, too.

Why are you here?

I need to understand your son.

And what will that accomplish now?

I have two governments, and whatever the hell the OPA calls itself, on a course toward a w*r that your son started.

I want to stop it before anyone else loses a kid.

I can't help you.

Can't?

Or you choose not to?

What good will any of this do?

What could I possibly say to you that would make any difference now?

Make him make sense to me.

He's raised by people like you, and he joins the Earth Navy?

Was he trying to piss you off?

Or did he want to see how the enemy worked?

Why did he leave your little paradise here?

You haven't told me he's dead.

You're dancing around it.

Letting me say it. Why is that?

Jimmy's alive.

Alex: Hey there, incomin', this here's the gas freighter Rocinante.

Can't help but notice you're sloping in towards us.

There ain't no trouble now, is there?

Captain: Rocinante, we are going to need your flight plan and lading.

Please transmit them now.

Aw, hell, we're, uh... We're just hauling some helium down to Eros.

Listen, if this is about that radio thing, our comms are all messed up and...

Captain: Please transmit your flight plan and lading, Rocinante.

Roger that.

There you go.

Tell you what.

As soon as we hit dock, I'm gonna be pulling this entire system...

Captain: Your data's corrupted, Rocinante.

Please re-send.

Um...

There you go.

Captain: Rocinante, you have been flagged for inspection per MCR Trade Regulation A0-66.

Do not deviate from your present course.

If you do, you will be fired upon.

Amos: Watch your step.

Worried about what's gonna happen when they board you?

'Cause they will board you.

If that happens, you won't be around to see it.

(DOOR BEEPS)

You think I won't space you?

Oh, I'm pretty sure you will.

It won't change anything, though.

It'll make me feel better.

I think it's pretty clear you're mad at more than just me.

I have dealt with these Mickie patrols before, I know a few tricks might help get us out of this jam.

(SIGHS)

I'm not gonna lie to you.

Either way this plays out, you're dead.

And I'm the one that's gonna bring you the good news.

You're a loose end. It's nothin' personal.

Just like that, huh?

Like water's wet. Sky's up.

Must be nice to have life all figured out like that.

It has nothing to do with me.

We're just caught up in the churn, is all.

I have no idea what you just said.

This boss I used to work for in Baltimore, he called it the churn.

When the rules of the game change.

What game?

The only game.

Survival.

When the jungle tears itself down, and builds itself into somethin' new.

Guys like you and me, we end up dead.

It doesn't really mean anything.

Or we happen to live through it, and well, that doesn't mean anything either.

If survival is the game, I can help us survive.

So, you tell your captain...

He's not our captain.

You tell whoever's in charge that I have valuable information.

And, Christ, I've had to pee for like two hours now.

I'll see you soon.

(ELECTRICAL BUZZING)

(POUNDING ON DOOR)

(POUNDING CONTINUES)

(CLATTERING)

(SIGHS)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(BIRD TWEETING)

(COMMUNICATOR RINGING)

Miller, you assh*le! Long time.

How're they swingin'?

So, listen, that ship you're looking for,

Anubis, whatever, it never showed up here.

But the funny thing is, a short-range shuttle from that ship did.

Anubis 1-a is still here on Eros, racking up dock fees.

Kinda interested to know what's in it for you, amigo.

Hey, listen, I gotta go.

But watch your chute, I hear things are funny these days on Ceres.

(CLICKS TONGUE) Catch you.

The property line is that way.

I would tell you if I could.

You will now leave, and if you come back without a warrant...

Fine.

I have intelligence that says your son survived the Donnager.

(DOOR CLOSES)

(SIGHS)

Now, will you stop posturing and help me keep him that way?

Where is he?

Why did Jimmy leave?

Is that for me?

To take me to some windowless room so your interrogators can make me talk?

Nobody wants to arrest you.

Then why are you here?

I have the facts about your son but I don't understand him.

I think you're full of sh*t, lady.

Jimmy is my son.

He has all eight of us in him, but I carried him in my belly for nine months.

He is mine!

You have no idea what you're playing with here.

Just arrest me.

You put all your hopes on your son?

I pressured mine to join the Marines or I wouldn't pay for his education.

First step in a career of public service.

Like mine and my father's.

So, he did what was expected.

That's why he was in Callisto during the insurrection that took his life.

I've been wanting for someone to come around and tell me that it was all a terrible mistake, that my son is still alive.

I'll be waiting on my deathbed for that news.

So, I have a pretty clear idea of what I'm playing with.

I didn't know.

That's not something I usually lead with.

(ROCKET ENGINES f*ring)

(BEEPING)

All right, knuckle-dragger. Come to Daddy.

You get to help. Congratulations.

So, all that nutty talk before...

That was just psych warfare, right? Well done.

I've still got to pee, if anyone's interested.

Holden: Secure for prisoner.

Is this really necessary?

You have something useful to say, say it.

All right, you're flying around in a Martian frigate with a bunch of junk welded to it. Congrats.

But it's not gonna fool that skiff once they get on board and see all this.

That wasn't useful, that's bloody obvious.

This is a game. This is a game of pretend.

And you guys are pretending to be the wrong thing.

The Mickies have been known to disguise their att*ck ships when they're doing covert ops.

They use a special set of codes that tell other Martian ships that they are out there, they're doing the nasty, and to get lost.

How do you know all this?

I'm a good spy.

Which is why I don't want to mess with the Mickies any more than you guys do.

They have a few grudges against me.

Donkey balls.

Did you just say, "Donkey balls"?

Back when I was flying transpo for the MCRN, we ran across this unflagged tanker acting kind of suspect in a pirate zone.

So, we prepared to engage, but when my Captain hailed them, they just jabbered on and on, ending with the phrase, "Donkey balls."

And?

And just like that... (SNAPS FINGERS) ...my Captain ordered me to change my course.

We parted our ways.

None of the officers said anything about it, but everyone on the crew was absolutely certain it was black ops stuff.

That's because it probably was.

Listen to me, you guys give that skiff the proper set of codes and they have to back off.

For all they know, it's some training exercise to, to weed out the cowboys.

(SIGHS) Everything you need should be in your code book.

He's right. It should be in an operations locker somewhere on this deck, somewhere right here.

Right, right here. Right here where?

Spy: You gotta have the code book!

All right, sweetheart. Show me where the operations locker is.

(WHIRRING)

(ALEX CHUCKLES)

Naomi: Where did you get that key?

(BEEPING)

Holden: From Lopez.

Alex: Donkey balls.

(CONTINUED CLATTERING)

(SNIFFS)

Avi.

Cash me out, pal.

That's a lot of winnings.

For a lifetime of losing.

You wanna throw that in, too?

Not for sale.

Miller!

That's how you say goodbye?

With a creepy message?

I was just coming to check your apartment, thought I might find your brains splattered on the wall.

Yeah. (CLEARS THROAT) That didn't, uh, come out very good.

Yeah, no sh*t.

What are you doing?

Well, um...

I'm gonna take a trip.

To where?

Eros.

Yeah, I'm gonna, uh, see the sights.

What sights? Miller, Eros is a garbage dump.

If this thing is as big as you think it is, you're gonna need someone to watch your back.

A partner.

Yeah.

I think I'd better do this one alone.

You were alone in that airlock.

(SIGHS) Tavi...

You can't come with me.

Miller: Bad timing.

My specialty.

Good luck, Miller.

We've been trying to save this land ever since before Jimmy was born.

He was gonna take over for us.

The way we raised him, he grew up thinking he was alive because the land needed him.

That's a terrible thing to tell a child.

But he never complained, because it was what we all wanted.

By the time he was a teenager, he was reading all the briefs Tom wrote.

He went to the hearings, stood at the gates to greet whatever g*ons the government sent to harass us.

No offense.

None taken.

We set him up to be a leader, and then gave him a fight he could never win.

(SIGHS)

The day before his 18th birthday, I took him out to mend a fence, and I told him to get as far away from this place as he could.

And that if he didn't go, then I would, because I couldn't stand to watch what we were doing to him anymore.

You were right to open the cage.

(SIGHS) I get a...

Lovely message from him every month.

Or two... (CHUCKLES)

...from some ship or other, deep out in the system.

Jimmy still hasn't found his place, but at least he's free.

(DRILL WHIRRING)

Guys, this is taking way too long.

It's composite titanium.

If we'd started an hour ago...

Who said that you could talk?

Holden: I did.

Naomi: Just keep at it.

Kenzo: That's not gonna help, either.

You k*ll the power to the magnetic seal, the backup in that locker is gonna kick in and keep it shut.

That's why I'm gonna k*ll the power source first so the backup doesn't trigger.

It's a good idea, but there's not enough time.

You underestimate my ability to break things.

Where are you going?

I'm gonna go prep for plan B.

What's plan B?

To get down to that airlock and make sure nobody boards us.

(CLATTERING)

Alex!

Hold 'em off as long as you can.

Get us those damn codes.

Think you need that hand-cannon?

I don't know.

We'll see.

Holden: Hey, let's get something straight.

Any Martians come through that airlock, we subdue and take them prisoner. Nobody's dying.

So, they'll have a chance to ping the mothership?

(LAUGHS)

That ain't my plan.

That's a two-man patrol skiff.

I'm gonna take 'em down clean and fast, then we're gonna burn like hell somewhere safe.

Figure out what our next move is from there.

Do you know how many Martians d*ed getting us off the Donnager?

Ship that size? Few hundred.

And now you're gearing up to k*ll a few more like it was nothing.

Because they are the enemy right now.

And we're the fugitives.

And as far as they're concerned, we're the ones who blew up the Donnager.

And I am not spending the rest of my days in a Martian gulag.

How much justice do you think you're gonna get for the Canterbury inside a prison cell?

If the price of justice is more innocent blood, then I don't want it.

I thought so.

A guy with big ideas, wanna take on the bad guys, so long as it doesn't cost him anything.

What the hell are you babbling about?

I'm talking about that clown upstairs, that as soon as you cut loose, will sell us to the highest bidder.

I'm talking about the Mickies comin' through that airlock to take us down.

You logged the distress call, Holden.

Welcome to the churn.

Naomi was right to be afraid of you...

(ALARM BLARING)

Alex: (OVER SPEAKER) Proximity alarm, people.

We are officially out of time.

Captain: Rocinante, release your outer airlock door and prepare for boarding.

Alex: Roger that.

Got any ideas for revising this plan?

Stall them.

Oh, there's an idea!

Hey there, fellas!

Uh, welcome to the neighborhood.

See you're extending out your docking tube, though there might be a little problem with the link-up, uh...

We're still workin' out some kinks.

Amos, we are not those guys.

We're not the assholes.

I'm done talking, Holden.

We're about to have company.

(g*n COCKING)

I will take you down, before I let you take them down.

You got a clean sh*t. Back of the head.

Take it if you need it.

You don't think I'll do it.

There's only one way to find out.

Alex: All right there, boys, get ready to dance...

Captain: Rocinante, release your outer airlock door now or we will breach.

Hey there, boys, just a couple of sec there, friend-os.

Uh, trouble's just a problem I ain't fixed yet...

Okay, listen. We gotta let them in now or we get a b*mb on our hull. You pick.

I've got it!

What? You got it?

I've got it! (SHOUTS)

(NAOMI GASPS)

(GRUNTS)

(CLATTERS)

It's, it's this one.

Captain: Rocinante, this is your final warning...

Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to be such a pain, boys, um, but, uh...

Our power problems, they've been so, uh...

Ubiquitous and...

Mendacious and polyglottal.

Like a couple of donkey balls.

Captain: Received and understood, Rocinante.

You get those comms checked out when you hit port.

You got it, fellas. And, hey.

You boys be careful out there, you hear?

Captain: You too, Rocinante. Safe travels.

(BEEPS)

(LAUGHING) Whoo-hoo!

Alex: (OVER SPEAKER) Son of a bitch!

Can you believe that? Damn, I'm good!

That worked out.

Alex: Well done, y'all.

(ALEX LAUGHING)

You see? It wasn't so bad.

Man: (OVER COMM) Yes, ma'am. Secretary Errinwright is calling.

Put him through.

Sadavir: Unauthorized field trips, now, huh?

Chrisjen: (OVER COMM) I think our boy James Holden may have mommy issues, problems with authority.

And guilt for not saving the world, but I don't see a t*rror1st mastermind.

We'll have the asset bag him and bring him home for a long chat.

Errinwright: Your corporate spy's been compromised.

He's missed his last two comm windows.

His final report said that Holden was heading for Eros in a converted MCRN gunship, with fake transponder codes supplied by Fred Johnson.

So your analysis of his character notwithstanding, I've activated a black ops team.

We're taking Holden off the board.

Taking him off the board?

For a series of circumstances we don't even understand?

We're beyond circumstantial here, Chrisjen.

And we can't afford to wait for the next disaster in Holden's wake.

Things are fragile enough out there right now.

When Holden gets to Eros, he's done.

Field trip's over.

I need you back here.

sh*t.

Well, scopes are clear, chief.

No more patrols between here and Eros station.

According to Fred's coordinates, the last known residence of Lionel Polanski is a charted Belt Asteroid Bravo Alpha 834024112.

We got ourselves a rock.

Hopefully one with some answers on it.

Yep.

Hey, can I just...

Quiet.

Hey, next port we hit, I want your boy Amos off this ship.

What's happened?

Whatever leash you had him on, you better get him back on it.

He's not my dog.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

We getting this show on the road?

Get him under control.

You're the only one who can.

(URINATING)

(SIGHS DEEPLY)

Some things in life are worth waiting for.

It's like gettin' another stone tablet.

(GRUNTING)

(SIGHS)

Look, I know we got off to kind of a rocky start, but we came through it okay.

To a guy like me, that means something.

(SIGHS) Bein' in the trenches with people. Goin' through sh*t.

So, what do you say, when we get to Eros or wherever it is you're going, we shake hands and forget all this ever happened.

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Okay, but let me ask you something else.

Are you anything like that animal you got topside?

Amos, you call him?

No.

Good.

I don't care what you're involved in.

I am just a guy trying to do my job, like you and your people.

I have family out there, too.

If you can look at yourself in the mirror, and still decide that you're gonna toss me into space, because I'm inconvenient to you then at least you can do me the respect of telling me that it's gonna happen.

And mercy is not in the cards for me.

So I can make my peace.

Because I am not an animal either.

Mmm.

(BEEPS)

Announcer: We will be cruising at a comfortable one-third G, so feel free to move about the compartments until our mid-point flip-and-burn.

Next stop, Eros station.

(SOFT INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)