Live to Fight Another Day

**Live to Fight Another Day** is the first episode of the second season of *Another Life*, and the eleventh episode of the series overall. It was released on October 14, 2021 on Netflix.

## Synopsis

Shock waves hit a Salvare struggling in the aftermath of an epic act of destruction. Niko questions William's judgment as Erik looks to the Achaia.

## Plot

Harper tells everybody that the Achaia want to be Earth's friends while Niko and the Salvare view Zakir being destroyed. The debris from the planet starts hitting them, as their energy shield gives them some protection. However, Beauchamp is hit by debris which enters the Salvare. William tells Niko that their hull had been compromised and they could not jump, so they brace for the main blast.

William stabilizes the Salvare as Niko sees Beauchamp crushed. Niko tells them that they are stable, but they lost Beauchamp. Cas cannot believe it, but Niko tells them they need to put their heads together and think of what to do next.

Niko takes the long way to the mess hall and breathes deeply as she hears the Salvare creaking. In the mess hall, she tells the crew that the the Salvare was caught in a shockwave which was travelling at a very high speed and would disappear in 9 hours. August and Zayn say that they would not be able to last that long, so Niko tells them that they would have to leave, boosting the FTL bubble as much as possible. Javier wonders if the Achaians could track them, and is told that William had not deleted all the Achaian code and introduces them to a new AI.

Niko and Cas are concerned with this because now an alien AI had control of the ship. The AI says that she would not delete herself, but assures them that she would never hurt the crew or the Salvare. Niko reminds her that she was flying them to a black hole, but the AI tells her that that was the implant code. Niko asks William if he is compromised, but he tells her that all the Achaian code he had was implanted into the new AI. The new AI tries walking with Cas and Niko, but is stopped by an electric field, which she deems unnecessary.

Niko complains that the mission was supposed to be recon only, but Cas tells her that they always knew things would escalate. Niko tells Cas that the FTL bubble would fail - it was only a matter of time and says that she needs an expert.

Richard complains that he was not taken out of soma before because they were already at war without them even realizing. He tells them that the war started the moment the Achaians had implanted the bug in Sasha's brain and wants to talk to the new AI. Cas tells him that August was checking William in order to see if there was any Achaian infiltration. This shocks him because he wonders if Dillon Conner was not awake yet, but Niko tells him that August is the chief engineer, which surprises him, but says that they should see if the AI could tell them about the Achaia.

Bernie and Zayn work on something for Javier's head, but Zayn wonders if it will work. Bernie tells hir that they would be all right and then he would like to take hir on a date.

Niko tells Richard that she has not slept for 36 hours and reminds him that it was his idea for her to take the mission instead of Yerxa and he stands by the decision. He gives her a tablet with a dream team for combat and asks why a "punk hacker" was running diagnostics on their AI, to which Niko responds that she woke up the crew that she was assigned and tells him that Ian and his crew had the most experience with the Salvare before the mission and says that they had been through too much to be judged by him. He says that he is not judging but wonders why Dubois would give him a lesser crew on a mission that important.

Javier works on William with his new device on his head. He remembers Sasha drilling into his head and turns around to see Niko, telling her that he could not see Achaian technology on William. Niko tells him that the new AI did not take orders and wonders if he could delete her. Javier says that her code was meshed with a lot of the Salvare, so it would be complicated. He wonders what would happen if the implant on his head started messing with him and is told that Niko would deal with it.

Richard asks the AI if she had heard of Asimov's three laws and she says that she had. Richard asks her name and she chooses Iara and changes her form into a new one to match the name. The name comes from a Brazilian myth; Richard asks why she had not deleted herself and she says that Asimov's laws do not apply to her because those laws were human and not Achaian. She says that she does not know if the Achaians are hunting them because she is not in contact with them. Niko asks what would happen if the Achaians reached them and Iara asks what she had felt with the Artifact on Zakir. Niko says that she was afraid and Iara says that the Achaia are also afraid of them because of the destruction the Salvare could cause. Iara tells her that they had destroyed an Artifact on Zakir with no provocation, so in conclusion, when the Achaians find them, they would have to explain a few things.

In the Artifact, Erik calls for the Achaia to hold up their end of the bargain after he had helped Harper. A bed appears and Erik tells them that putting an object in Jana's head was not an option, laying her down on the bed.

The Salvare flies through the debris and Niko tells Richard that the Zakir had been massacred and could destroy an entire planet, so she could not understand how the Achaians could be afraid of them. Richard says that the Salvare could destroy theirs and they reach the navigation room.

Richard tells Niko that the Achaians have emotions, which meant they may even want to talk. Niko cannot believe it, but Richard says that everybody has their reasons, which were important to understand. After a loud crash, William tells them that the FTL bubble was being compromised, so Niko tells everybody to strap in before taking manual control of the ship. A large piece hits them and William tells her that he was reading structural failure. Niko tells them that they were almost through and after receiving many other hits, they make it through the debris field. However, Niko says that they were sitting ducks for the Achaia, who were out there and would find them.

August, Javier and Oliver tell Niko that the FTL engines were working fine, but the outer ring was damaged, so they would go out to replace the array and patch the holes on the ship, so they could jump back to Earth.

Outside, August and Oliver work on replacing the array. Oliver says that they had fixed everything up to a certain standard and tells William that he could now pressurize the corridor outside of Observation. August asks for help, so Oliver heads her way, but sees an Achaian ship in the distance, which was heading towards them.

Meanwhile Richard wonders if he had messed up recommending Niko for everything, but she simply says that he gave Dubois for his opinion. She does not blame him because she could have declined the mission. He wonders if Erik hates him, and she says that he hates everybody and tells him that all she wants to do is finish the mission so they could go home. He wonders why Yerxa's crew was woken up first and realizes that Dubois must have had a reason.

The Achaian ship heads towards the Salvare, so Niko tells August and Oliver to head back inside immediately. Niko says that they need to jump, but August tells her to give them some time. Niko tells William to give them full impulse so they could gain some distance, but they are shocked by the Achaians, which critically damages their impulse drive, made them shoot plasma into space and the mooring for the outer FTL ring was offline. Niko orders August and Oliver to get back into the ship, but August says that her umbilical was stuck, so Oliver goes to help.

Oliver heads towards August, who cannot get free. Oliver tells her that he would cut her umbilical so they could buddy-breathe back to the ship. August tells him not to do it, but he does it anyway. Meanwhile Javier, calls for them to get off. Oliver promises August that they would make it, but they are hit by the plasma, which causes them to scream in pain before dying from the blast.

The crew is in shock by what just happened and they start crying. Niko says that they both had their whole lives ahead of them and complains that they cannot jump or use their impulse engines and asks Richard why the Achaians had not taken them out yet. Richard says that the only way to know would be to ask them directly.

William says that they do not know what would happen if Iara started a connection to the Achaians. William asks what would happen if they wanted her, but Iara volunteers to help out because they needed a bridge, which she could be. She initializes the connection and says that the Achaians want to talk peace with Niko.

Erik waits impatiently, wanting to know how Jana is and asks for a sign to know she is okay. He is met with a door, which he goes into, but is led out of the Artifact. Seth Gage introduces himself and says that the Department of Homeland Security sent him, but Erik does not care. Seth tells him that he cannot help him and wants to talk to Harper, but Seth tells him that they have no idea where Harper is and tells him they should talk.

On the Salvare, Niko remembers everybody who should be there and acknowledges everybody's pain, but recognizes that they were protecting the planet and promises that they did not die in vain and vows to finish what they started. The group toasts in their name.

William tells Niko that he completed his scans of the Achaian ring, which had energy readings through the entire ship. He says that there were no biological features, but the beings were independent of the Achaian vessel and he had no idea how many there were. William says that Iara would not lie about the peace they wanted to talk with Niko, but has no proof, which concerns Niko. Niko knows that William cares about Iara, but says that she is dangerous and could not stay on the Salvare.

William approaches Iara and sits next to her. He asks her how she is, and she says that she is fine, knowing that the crew was afraid of her. Iara tells William that they only feel fear if they let themselves feel it and he says that he is not scared of her.

Niko knows Cas thinks that she is making a mistake, but the latter knows that she has made up her mind. Niko tells Cas that she is in charge and advises that she should make Richard her second. She tells her to go back to Earth in case things go south. Niko says that since she fired first, they now needed to talk peace since they could not run or fight them.

Niko heads towards the Achaians on the shuttle.

## Cast

* Justin Chatwin as Erik Wallace
* Samuel Anderson as William
* Elizabeth Faith Ludlow as Cas Isakovic
* Tongayi Chirisa as Richard Ncube
* A.J. Rivera as Bernie Martinez
* Alexander Eling as Javier Almanzar
* JayR Tinaco as Zayn Petrossian
* Dillon Casey as Seth Gage
* Lina Renna as Jana Breckinridge-Wallace
* Alex Ozerov as Oliver Sokolov
* Shannon Chan-Kent as Iara
* Greg Hovanessian as Beauchamp McCarry
* Jessica Sipos as New A.I.
* Helen King as Salvare Voice