507 Oyedeng – The Expanse Podcast – Tales From The Rocinante

The Expanse Podcast - Tales From The Rocinante

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Episode Recap

Oyedeng

The episode opens with Naomi remembering a happy moment from when she was still with Marco and Filip was a baby.

Meanwhile, Filip is watching video feeds of his mother’s escapades upon the Behemoth. Marco sees him but the boy lies about what he was looking at. Marco praises his son for the man he’s become. So young and yet so accomplished. Filip tells his father he just wants him to be proud of him.

Marco then tells Filip the ship his mother gave him is of no use to their fleet. Would he mind if Marco used it for a special purpose. The boy agrees saying, even though it was a gift from Naomi, it means nothing to him.

Marco then goes to Naomi’s cell. He wants to know why she came back to Filip after all these years. She tells him she needed her son to know she loves him and that she would do anything for him.

Marco says he took Filip because he thought it would make her stay. Marco thought he and Naomi were of the same mind. But has since realized her heart was never in like his. Now he’s raising Filip to be the fighter he thought she was.

Naomi retorts that Filip is his own person and doesn’t deserve to die for Marco’s dreams.

Marco replies that she doesn’t know the boy. She hasn’t seen him since he was a baby who needed to be protected. However, Marco’s been there for every important moment in the boy’s life. Something Naomi feels very guilty about. But even living with that guilt, she still felt relief. Relief because the pain of losing Filip was not as horrible as having to stay with Marco.

And now she want’s Filip to know who his father really is. She says the only reason he hasn’t killer her yet is because Marco fells threatened. If he did kill her, Filip would know she got to him and she was right all along.

But Marco replies he hasn’t killed her because he doesn’t want their son to feel abandoned again. As he leaves, he gives her permission to walk about the ship providing she doesn’t raise a hand against any of the crew.

Her new freedom takes her to Filip’s quarters. Her son arrives and tells her he’s been reading up on her exploits and how she saved everyone. She tells him it was a team effort.

He changes the subject and asks what she meant when she told him she knows what he’s going through.

She knows the power his father has. She tells him that Marco made her feel like the centre of the universe and she craved his attention. Which made her blind.

She asks Filip if he feels any remorse for what he’s done? She tells him she used to dream of all the things he would become when he grew up. A killer was not one of them. Now, all she dreams of is that one day he will regret his actions. Killing people doesn’t mean you’re strong. She didn’t know how strong she was until she left Marco. That’s when she realized that everything she had done was to please Marco. Who was happier with himself than with her.

She knows the hold Marco has over people and the way Filip looks at his father. And she hopes he’s not turning into his father. But Filip says he’s his own man. Marco doesn’t control him. He doesn’t need his father or her. But the two then embrace and he asks why she left him.

She never wanted to, but Marco hid Filip from her. She searched for a very long time. Eventually, she had to accept that she couldn’t save him and that her life was nothing without him. She went into an airlock, prepared to take her own life, finally at peace with herself. But then she realized that opening the airlock wouldn’t change anything for Filip. Whether she was alive or dead, he was going to grow up without a mother.

She never wanted to leave him, but walking away was the only choice she had left. It’s the only choice anyone ever has.

—-

Finished getting the Chetzemoka ready for Marco’s new plan. Cyn encounters Naomi. She apologizes for hitting him, he accepts and the two are good again.

He tells her that he saw her enter that airlock all those years ago. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He didn’t think anything could break her. But then she walked out. When he looked for her the next day she was gone.

She tells him that without Filip, the only way to get her life back was to leave. Cyn then confesses that he’s the one who hid Filip from her on Marco’s orders. If he had known she would leave he would have helped her. They were all a family, he thought he was doing the right thing and she would come back to Marco, to him.

When he saw her on Palace station after so long he thought it was her chance to make it up to her. She says it is and asks him to help her.

———

Out in space, the Rocinante is searching a popular trade route for the Zmeya who is hoping the traffic will hide them.

When the topic of the Protomolecule comes up and what they’re going to do with it, Jim assures Monica and Bull that he intends to destroy it.

Monica tells them she reached out to some sources for the whereabouts of Marco’s fleet in case they don’t find the Zmeya. It’s always good to have a second plan.

Jim and Bull reminisce about Fred. Talking about how the man often ignored others to do his own thing. Which usually turned out to be right.

Bull comments that Jim and Fred were a lot alike, which is probably why they butted heads so much. Holden confesses that he never trusted Fred, he always thought he had an angle he wasn’t revealing. But he should have.

Their conversation is interrupted by a message from Alex. When they realize how close Alex is to them Jim reaches out.

Meanwhile, on board the Razorback, Alex and Bobbie are getting an update from Avasarala. The UN Fleet is pulling back to protect Earth. With the information they provide her they’re going to hunt down and destroy any of Marco’s Free Navy they come across.

They’re surprised when a reply to their message comes in from Holden. Jim updates them on the Zmeya and the stolen Protomolecule and tells them to get back to Tycho and await further news from him. They send Holden the information they’ve gathered on Marco’s fleet in case that’s where the Zmeya is headed.

Reviewing this new information, Holden spots Naomi’s ship the Chetzemoka. He’s distracted for a moment, thinking of Naomi, but realizes that the most important thing is getting the Protomolecule sample back.

He tells Alex and Bobbie that Marco has Naomi and asks them to divert and keep an eye on Marco’s fleet. If they lose them, they may never get Naomi back.

Still, on the hunt for the Zmeya, Holden and Monica contemplate how Marco has MCRN ships. He clearly has supporters on Mars. Guns and ammo are one thing. But acquiring gunships would take months of planning and logistics. Not to mention high-level military access. They deduce that the only way Marco could pay for all of this is by offering something extremely valuable that Mars wants in return. And the only thing Marco has that is valuable is the Protomolecule sample and Dr. Cortazar. It can’t be a coincidence that both were seized just days apart.

Holden confesses that they, or more specifically Naomi, gave the Protomolecule sample to Fred. Without it as a bargaining chip, the Inners would never have recognized the OPA without it. Fred was holding on to it until they could build a navy to defend themselves.

Bull interrupts them. They’ve found the Zmeya. In an attempt to escape, the Zmeya fires torpedos at them. The Rocinante just barely manages to take them out with their PDCs. Then Jim fires the railgun to disable their ship so they can board it. Bull and Monica question this decision and why they are not destroying it and the Protomolecule Sample. But Jim wants to find out what they know in order to locate Naomi.

Before they can send in drones to check the ship, the Zmeya explodes.

—

Unbeknownst to them, Marco is monitoring the situation. Marco is upset. If they hadn’t brought Naomi on board, this wouldn’t be happening.

Cyn asks that he let Naomi go. But Marco seeing weakness in his old friend says she’s never leaving the ship. And if Cyn has a problem with that he can go.

A while later, Filip approaches his father and asks for command of his own ship. He wants to show his father all he can do and he wants their people to know who he is. But Marco shows his son just how disappointed he is in his recent actions. The boy’s weakness nearly undid everything they’ve fought for.

Marco doesn’t want to share the glory. He basks in the knowledge that Belters everywhere are chanting his name. Marco, Marco, Marco, and he tells the boy he’s nothing without him. Filip played a part in their victory, and those who matter know that. One day, Filip will lead the Belt. But not until Marco is gone.

Marco then summons Naomi to the bridge. He taunts her, saying she’s free to leave, but no on her ship. Since she was the reason the Rocinante didn’t blow up, taking half of Tycho station with it, they’ve decided to use the Chetzemoka as a trap for the Roci. Once she sees her family die, they’ll put her on the float and she’ll be free.

Marco says it was Filip’s idea. When she questions her son, he can’t look her in the eye. She pleads with her son, and he strikes her calling her a pathetic earth-loving welwalla who tried to make him weak. Marco accuses her of trying to make their sun betray him. She screams and curses at Marco as she’s escorted off the bridge.

As Marco and his crew set the Chetzemoka to remote pilot and detach it from their ship. Naomi makes her way to the airlock. As she closes the inner doors Cyn squeezes through. He pleads with her not to do this. Not to end her life this way.

She turns and tells him he shouldn’t have followed her. Too late, he notices the hypospray in her hand indicating she has other plans. Taking a deep breath, Naomi opens the outer doors and propels herself through space towards the Chetzemoka killing Cyn in the process. Unbeknownst to her, Filip is watching at the inner door.

As she floats towards the ship, completely exposed to the vacuum of space. She injects herself with the hypospray. She manages to grab hold, open the outer airlock door and pull herself in. The outer door cycles closed as her space ravaged body floats inside.

And that was the episode.

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