Episode 15

**Episode 15** is the 15th episode in the series.

## Plot synopsis

The episode opens with the Kestrel jumping into Sector 4, an Engi Controlled Sector. At the second beacon, they find an Engi trading vessel and dock.

While docked, Jose and Ricardo discuss how they will get to Kaban, with Ricardo saying to keep quiet until they get nearby. He then proceeds to examine the stock of the Engi ship, purchasing a teleporter and cloaking system. Charlie and Liam watch the Engi traders installing the new teleporter. Liam is quite nervous about teleporting, while Charlie tries to calm him. The Engis then test the teleporter with a piece of metal, which teleports successfully before immediately being pelted by a nearby asteroid. Meanwhile, Ricardo shows off the cloaking system to Jose with a flashy demonstration, but Jose remains unimpressed owing to not being able to see a change while inside the ship. He comments that between the teleporter and cloak, the crew have had to sell the spare drones, to the horror and sadness of Sambo. Afterward, the ship then disconnects from the Engi vessel and jumps to the next beacon.

The Kestrel then arrives near a Mantis fighter pursuing a civilian craft, and moves in to engage. Charlie and Liam prepare to teleport, but two Mantis boarders teleport into the drone control. Liam, encountering the duo in the door control, attempts to reason with them, but is rebuked harshly by the soldiers, who attack him. Staggering into the medbay, Liam is speechless and shaken. After tagging in Charlie, the two re-enter the door control to reengage the intruders before Liam is wounded again and forced to retreat back to the medbay. Fighting the boarders again, Liam asks the boarders why they are attacking people, or in the sector at all, but is told that Mantis are superior to all other animals, and that he, a "soft Federation Mantis" wouldn't understand. The two then teleport back to their ship, telling Liam and Charlie that they have lost. However, a well-placed missile from the Kestrel sends the two boarders flying out a hull breach to suffocate. After blowing up the Mantis craft, the crew attempt to contact the civilian ship only to find that it was destroyed in the fighting.

After the battle, Liam asks why he is a Mantis, but Charlie tells him that everyone has to be something, and that if they hadn't come by and killed them, the Mantis fighters would have attacked others. Meanwhile, Ricardo upgrades the reactor, and notices a warning telling him to keep organic material away from the jump drive's energy stream. The ship then jumps to another store, despite being out of scrap, to give Liam a breather.

Meanwhile, Liam enters the bathroom to watch his claws, and looks in the mirror to see himself, as a Mantis. He begins having flashes to real-life praying mantis footage, before lashing out in fear and shattering the bathroom mirror. The episode ends as Liam looks at the fractured image of himself.

## Appearances

* Jose
* Ricardo
* Pavalo
* Sambo
* Manon
* Charlie
* Cremity
* Liam
* Mantis Fighters

## Trivia

* Jose's bait-and-switch saying, "and don't you mention this to anybody" is a call-back to when Pavalo did the same in Episode 10.

* When Sambo is killed by Giant Alien Spiders in Episode 35, Ricardo blames himself for selling the Anti-Personnel Drone to buy the cloaking system and teleporter.