We Will Return!

Fitting title for my first episode back after almost two months, no?  Totally unplanned, BTW.

We Will Return!

The Star Force has destroyed the Pluto base and is preparing to leave the solar system.  The Argo receives an emergency call from Earth. Avatar returns to the bridge to take the (strangely casual for being an emergency) call.  Though they've stopped the bombing, the radiation has done its damage, and the Star Force aboard the Argo is their only hope.  Then they lose the transmission.

Nova is sure they will succeed.  Avatar says it's easier when you can act than when you're simply waiting.  He briefs the crew.  They must make up for lost time, by making a space warp, traveling faster than the speed of light.  He gives the crew each 5 minutes to call their loved ones. 

With no loved ones to call, Derek Wildstar broods.  IQ 9 tries to harass him out of it, but he leaves.  Avatar goes to follow him.  Meanwhile, Nova is presiding over the communications line.  A crewman leaves the room crying, and Venture is next.  He calls his brother, who has a minor freak-out.  Jordie (the brother) is making a model of the Argo, and two of his friends are sick from the radiation.  Venture runs out of time and gets all teary-eyed. 

Wildstar is whistling to himself, alone on the bridge.  IQ 9 reminds him that his turn on the communicator is coming up.  Wildstar gets mad and runs off.  He yells at two members of the ready-crew who have left their posts.  They're pretty shocked.  He's mad that everyone else has a family.  Oo-kay.

The captain is inspecting the engine while Orion is in his commo section, but runs off.  Nova is looking for Wildstar, and Conroy goes to look for him in the hangar.  He finds him slouched in the cockpit of a fighter.  As Orion is leaving, Conroy tells Nova that Derek's pouting.  Avatar finally finds him in the galley.  Then he walks past him.  Hmm.

Orion is talking to his children and wants to see his granddaughter, Kathleen and gets all . . . Irish.

Avatar is in his quarters and pulls a picture of his deceased son out of a drawer, reflecting that he, like Wildstar, has no one on Earth to call.  Wildstar is doing situps in the gym while Orion reassures his family that they'll make it to Iskandar, then the transmission runs out and he, too, starts crying.

Hell of an episode to come back to!!!

Nova goes into the commo room when Orion doesn't come out right away--then she asks him to stay while she calls her family.  And her parents are, um, arranging a marriage with their new neighbor.  She'd rather get things in order with her family, but they're wedding-crazy.  Orion starts laughing.  Then Nova's mother breaks down and the transmission ends. 

The crew is in the rec room, celebrating.  Some have new children who've been born while they were away.  Wildstar is still brooding, looking out a window.  Nova finds him and tries to get him to call Earth.  He finally relents and slumps into the commo room.  He stairs at the screen.  Then Nova realizes she didn't show him how to use it, and wonders why he's just sitting there.  He finally explains that there's no one for him to talk to on Earth.  Avatar is also brooding while looking out the window of his quarters.

Wildstar finally enters the bridge, and then decides to speak to Captain Avatar.  Avatar shares "spring water" (looks more like saki to me) with him, and then tells Wildstar that, while they must leave Earth, a tiny point of light now, they will be back.  He and Wildstar yell at the the Earth that they will return.  Hopefully the captain's quarters are soundproofed. 

The crew watches as Earth recedes, and Nova approached Wildstar while the captain stays up in his quarters and we get a musical number.  They leave the solar system and Venture explains that visual communication with Earth will be impossible.

Desslok watches them leaving the solar system and gloats that he will hunt them down and destroy them.  There are only 315 days left.