Brief synopsis:
When Moya exits starburst, she collides with another vessel. Feeling guilty, Pilot brings the damaged vessel aboard, and the crew offer to help those aboard. There are three, a Nebari called Salis, his prisoner Chiana, and Captain Durka. The horror at seeing his torturer again is too much for Rygel, and a confrontation soon starts aboard Moya, undoing the mental cleansing inside Durka's head, and freeing the ruthless Peacekeeper to try and take over Moya.

The Main Story:

Moya's pregnancy is starting to affect systems quite drastically now as the baby consumes more resources. When Moya starbursts, the journey is very rocky, and Pilot's sensors are almost completely useless. When Moya emerges, they arrive directly in the path of another ship, causing a collision. Pilot an Moya feel guilty, and bring aboard the damaged ship, and ask that the crew offer them help. They go down to greet the members of the vessel, and to Rygel's horror, Captain Durka is the first out. Rygel begins to attack the man, but Crichton and Aeryn restrain the Hynerian.

With Rygel out of the way, Durka tells them he means no harm, and invites his crewmates aboard, two Nebari, Salis, and his prisoner Chiana. They tell the crew of Moya that Durka is incapable of harming them now, after 110 cycles of mental cleansing under the supervision of the Nebari. They ask for quarters, food, and a prison cell to put Chiana in. Once at the cell, Salis controls Chiana using a shock collar. John tries to understand Chiana's crime, and learns that she will be mentally cleansed by the Nebari.

Meanwhile, Aeryn speaks with Durka, and discovers that the famous Peacekeeper she was told about in training was in fact a coward who faked his own death aboard the Zelbinion. Durka says he is not proud of his days as a Peacekeeper. Aeryn then heads off to check on Rygel to make sure he isn't planning anything silly. She confiscates a knife, but this isn't enough to stop Rygel trying to assasinate Durka using a bomb. Fortunately for Crichton who was with Durka at the time, the Hynerian got the mixture wrong and the bomb was fairly useless.

However, the bomb does do one serious thing, it undoes Durka's mental cleansing. At first only Rygel sees the change, and Durka manages to cover it over when the other crew arrive. When Salis learns of the attack, he suggests that Rygel be mind cleansed also when Moya reaches the rendezvous with the Nebari vessel, and when Zhaan resists, he even suggests she could benefit from it also. During this commotion however, Chiana manages to escape, and heads for Rygel's quarters where he has been locked in by D'Argo hoping to make a deal.

Sadly the Hynerian betrays her, and the search for Chiana begins. At this point though, Salis is found dead, and the crew assume it is Chiana. Durka fakes remorse, but then takes Aeryn and Rygel prisoner. Durka then begins to take over the ship, gradually re-routing controls through the console he is using, and bypassing Pilot completely.

Durka, whose hair had grown long, now cuts his hair, and removes his eye patch, returning himself to the fear inspiring figure he was as a Peacekeeper. Durka orders the crew to leave, or he will kill Officer Sun and Dominar Rygel. However, they don't obviously, and Durka hits a serious road block when Moya is unable to starburst because of the pregnancy. Rygel refuses to give into his fear for Durka, and with a great show of strength, he ends by telling Durka that Moya is pregnant, which Aeryn confirms, suggesting that Durka will have to await mental cleansing by the Nebari.

However, Durka has other plans, and decides to go after the baby. With that gone, Moya would be able to starburst, but John and the crew don't want that to happen. Crichton tracks down Chiana, and the two team up to try and take down Durka. Whilst Chiana leads Durka the wrong way, Crichton waits to hit him over the head. The Peacekeeper is not so easily fooled however, and shoots Chiana in the arm. Durka then gets to his ship, and prepares to shoot directly into Moya to take out the baby.

Miraculously, John has a decent plan, and asks Pilot to shut the internal hangar doors. The outer ones are trapped however, controlled by Durka, so Crichton uses a bomb similar to the one used by Rygel to get Moya to expel the contents of the hangar. The combination of John's quick thinking and Pilot's help with the doors means that Durka is pushed out into space to be picked up by the Nebari.

Later, whilst Aeryn returns Rygel's knife, John speaks with Chiana, and tells her she is welcome to stay, but also free to leave any time. He also tells her that there are rules aboard this ship, that the crew have found their equilibrium. He finishes by asking Chiana where she was when Salis was killed. Whilst Aeryn and others may believe it was Durka, John isn't so sure, and Chiana doesn't help her case by remaining silent when John asks the question. So who killed Salis?

References and continuity:

In the episode PK Tech Girl the crew go aboard the wreck of the Zelbinion, where Rygel believes he finds the body of Captain Durka, but it turns out Durka faked his own death here, and did in fact get picked up by the Nebari, the species whose ship engaged the Zelbinion.

John tells Chiana that Durka has gone "Hannibal Lecter", the evil cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer in films such as Hannibal and The Silence Of The Lambs.

John also tells Chiana about Happy Meals, a famous fast food product sold by McDonalds, which he associates with the mental cleansing the Nebari are famous for.

Funny or interesting quotes: Crichton: "Chiana, relax." Chiana: "You relax, they're not gonna frell with your brain are they!" Trapped in Moya's prison cells, Chiana is clearly very frightened by the idea of being mentally cleansed by her people.

Chiana: "I apologise for calling you a toad."
Rygel: "I make allowances for stress on this ship."

Could this be the start of a partnership? Not between these two. They go on to sell eachother out whenever necessary.

Pilot: "She's very good at staying hidden."

Even with numerous DRDs on the lookout, the young Nebari is skilled at staying out of sight, proving herself very resourceful, even in Durka's eye.

Durka: "Score one up for the underdogs."

Impressively, Durka is not so stuck up that he won't admit when his opposition makes a good move, though in this case, the move was unknown even to the crew, and actually caused by Moya's pregnancy.

Crichton: "You gotta plan."
D'Argo: "Have I gotta plan?"

D'Argo refuses to believe he is ever unprepared, and answers John's question with fake confidence.

Episode Trivia:

In the original script Chiana was to be killed, but the young Nebari fit in so well that the writers kept her in as a permanent character.

Salis's hairstyle was based on the Elvis quiff adopted by Craig Burden, the season one director of photography.

Durka's mental cleansing took 110 cycles, enough to make the Nebari believe that the Peacekeeper had been permanently set on the right path.

Writer:

This episode was written by Grant McAloon. He also wrote: