CAST LIST

SYNOPSIS

After Star Shield cripples the Shuttle Excalibur, STA control desperately tries to re-establish contact, but to no avail. A triumphant Zito videophones a man he refers to as Chuku to inform him that Star Shield has served it’s purpose and the RX44 satellite will not be deployed. Chuku is confident Kutuma’s president Haikudu’s plan will now fail, allowing him to take power…a cautious Zito suggests he should set the next stage of their plan into effect. Back at STA there is still no word on the Shuttle…until Ros notice medical telemetry indicating that both Ed and Vornholt are still alive. In the Kituman High Palace, GNC reporter Amanda Courtney is filing a report when Vice President Chuku appears from a lift, where unbeknown to anyone else he has planted a bomb. Chuku avoids all of Courtney’s questions, whilst downstairs Haikudu is about to enter the lift…however, he forgets a vital document and allows the lift to go up without him. Unfortunately for Courtney and her film crew they have also called the lift, and as it opens the blast from the bomb kills Courtney’s cameraman and sound recordist…

On Excalibur, Ed comes to and checks on Vornholt, who is in considerable pain. The pair attempts to regain control with STA, and are successful. Things are not good however, and talking to Ros and Beckett privately Ed is told about Star Shield’s involvement in their predicament. Ed tells them that the robot arm is now disabled and they can’t use it, and that the payload bay doors are stuck open…but is more concerned in taking care of Vornholt’s injury. Joy however is more concerned in the deployment of Rex…with no power to the Robot arm the only way to launch it is manually, which involves a Space Walk. With Vornholt’s broken ankle Ed is the only person capable of doing it… Beckett is thinking ahead and points out to Ros that unless the cargo bay doors can be closed, the Shuttle cannot return to Earth. Ros theorises that Starshield could be used to cut the Robot arm free of the Shuttle, but she would need to find where the weapon was initially fired and controlled from to do so. Beckett is confident that using the attack data she can pinpoint the signal’s origin…but there is yet another problem. Only Haikudu has the access code needed to activate the satellite for security and a series of terrorist attacks on the island have wiped out communications. The only person still active in Kituma is Beckett’s "friend" Amanda Courtney, who he is very reluctant to contact…but time is running out for Ed as he prepares to take his first Space Walk…

Beckett goes to GNC and tries to persuade them to talk to Courtney: in doing so he admits that he was going to marry her. Courtney is less than pleased to see him, and it is obvious there is a lot of bad blood between them. Beckett tries to convince her that with her help he can prevent Civil War in Kutuma…Chuku is watching however and angrily informs Zito his plan has failed. Zito angrily promises that he will deal with things at his end. Ed is on his way out of the shuttle with help from Vornholt and Ground Control: his first task is to attach a new fuel cell to Rex, which he does successfully. Beckett has used Courtney’s GNC link to contact President Haikudu to obtain the activation code…as Ed struggles with the mechanics of working in space. With no weight but mass he needs to brace himself to unbolt the satellite from it’s moorings. Zito arrives at GNC intent on sabotaging Beckett’s attempt to receive the access code, whilst on Kituma, Haikudu is taking the access code to Courtney: it is in the form of a bar code which Beckett intends to take a digital picture of from Courtney’s video transmission. Just as he takes the picture a bomb placed by Zito detonates, plunging the GNC building into darkness. Without power Beckett is forced to improvise to get the code from himself to Ros at STA…with her help he is able to send the signal from his off-roader. Ed is having difficulty releasing the final restraining bolt on Rex: Ros suggests that he manually detonate the explosive charges used for emergency release. Receiving and decoding the satellite access code, Ed is able to finally activate Rex.

From processing the data from the Starshield attack Ros gains a vital lead to the equipment’s secondary location and leaves STA to investigate. Ed meanwhile has hooked up a current to the bolt detonator, but doesn’t see his tethering rope is caught: in the ensuing explosion it snaps, pushing him away from the Shuttle. The RX44 deploys successfully as Vornholt desperately shouts to Ed to throw his wrench away from him: this pushes him backwards and back to the Shuttle itself. Tracking the Starshield signal, Ros finds herself at a deserted Communications establishment. Beckett is still at GNC, and sees as power is restored that Ed has successfully completed the deployment of Rex. Ros decides to investigate inside the building, and with relative ease she gains entry to the secondary Starshield computer. With the GNC link to Kutuma re-established Beckett warns Courtney that she may be in danger, as Ros decides to try and operate Starshield herself. By doing so she activates a sonic alarm in the building and alerts a returning Zito that he has company… Beckett rushes to Ros’ aid, whilst she de-activates the sonic alarm and regains entry to Starshield. Contacting Ed on the Shuttle, she uses a signal from his transponder to fix the shuttle’s position: as it will take too long to transfer control of Starshield back to Mission Control it is Ros that holds the fate of the mission. Beckett arrives outside the Communications Establishment to see Zito is already there…unable to gain entry via conventional means he makes his way through the false ceiling. Ros positions the Starshield laser, with Ed’s assistance, and is about to enter the final co-ordinates when she has a gun held to her face by an angry Zito.

Joy’s mineral survey conclusively proves the existence of mineral deposits, and she leaves to meet the Global Bank to hear the decision on Kutuma’s future. Mission Control gives Ros the go for her Starshield maneuver: she however is rather pre-occupied with Zito, who receives a call from Chuku angrily informing him the satellite is active. The distraction is enough for Ros, who knocks the gun from Zito’s hand. However, he retrieves it and is just about to shoot her, when Beckett drops from the ventilation shaft and floors him. A fight ensues and Zito gets away, giving Ros the time she needs to reset Starshield, fire the laser and remove the robot arm. As Beckett heads after a rapidly departing Zito he is attacked with a rocket launcher…bruised but unbowed, he receives a call from Joy, who is about to go into her Global Bank meeting. Warning her that Zito is still active, he goes to join her while Ros remains to crack Star Shield’s codes and transfer control back to STA.

Ed begins the descent into Earth’s atmosphere, as Joy tells an arriving Beckett that the Global Bank have accepted Rex’s findings and will remove the threat to Kutuma on one condition: if there is political stability. Joy must now contact President Haikudu and get him to inform his people of the find. Realising he must ask one more favour of Courtney he drives Joy to GNC, as Excalibur comes out of radio blackout and prepares to land. Telling Ros of his plans, Beckett notices a bug placed by Zito in his off-roader…and Zito, listening in, decides to call for reinforcements. Arriving at GNC Beckett and Joy only narrowly escape Zito and his rocket-launcher: Ros isn’t far behind, as are two nasty-looking men with nastier looking rocket-launchers of their own. Beckett contacts Courtney, who tells him that Haikudu is about to announce his resignation on Kituman TV: Joy urges her to get the President and tell him the good news. Ed successfully brings the shuttle home with a textbook landing and finally earns the praise of Vornholt. Joy is about to tell Hikudo her findings when Zito arrives: he is about to aim at Joy when Ros distracts him, allowing Beckett to set off the internal sprinklers which short out his rocket launcher. He makes a run for it with Ros and Beckett in tow, as Joy finally tells Haikudu his resignation is unnecessary: he then throws away his resignation speech and faces the cameras. Outside Ros and Beckett corner a defiant Zito, who believe the two men behind him are on his side, and doesn’t realise that he is in fact their intended target…

Back at the Gizmos office, the threesome watch Courtney’s coverage of the incident, and hear Haikudu thank Vornholt for her efforts. Ed is incensed, but Beckett reminds him that STA can’t let the public think anyone can go into space. Thinking about Zito’s untimely demise, Beckett believes that someone else was behind the entire operation…and he is right. In cell block 1187-463 a prisoner is also watching Courtney’s report, as she tells of a small number of international investors who have made a killing because of the turn-around in the Kutuman economy. As he turns we see it is someone familiar: Jean-Daniel…