The arrival at Tycho Station is tense, but the Rocinante crew defuses the situation by explaining what is going on at Thoth Station and where the data is going. Fred Johnson pulls together a strike team from rival OPA factions, killing one of their leaders in the process to assert dominance. The Rocinante is assigned as the mission's muscle, engaging the station's defenses and clearing a path for the boarding party. The station is not prepared to defend itself and falls easily to the team. After capturing the lead scientist on the project, Dr. Antony Dresden, he says that he is uninterested in who he answers to as long as he can continue his work. While explaining the source, dangers, and possibilities of the protomolecule, he is shot in the head by Miller.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Admiring the Abomination: Dr. Dresden has a serious case of this. He almost sells Holden and Fred Johnson on it.
- Boarding Party: Fred Johnson has to get fifty OPA volunteers to assault the station. His recruitment pitch is a failure until he airlocks a dissenter and reveals what the stakes are.
- Boom, Headshot!:
- Miller deals with Dr. Dresden this way.
- Subverted when Diogo gets shot in the face, only for it to turn out to be a nonlethal gel round that doesn't penetrate his helmet.
- Bottomless Magazines / Infinite Supplies: Averted; the Rocinante is running low of ammunition for its gatling guns with no way of replenishing it.
- Breaching Pod: Field-improvised versions consisting of a "tin can taped to a rocket".
- Chekhov's Gunman: Diogo Harari turns out to be one of the OPA volunteers, having apparently survived and eager to avenge his uncle. He's quite amused to find the Star Helix cop who let him go is also on the Boarding Party. Although his enthusiasm makes it appear he's a classic Mauve Shirt, he survives being shot in the face.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The OPA finds the military presence onboard the station to be woefully underpowered, with their main defence being the stealth ship.
- Cutting the Knot:
- Fred Johnson deals with the head of Black Sky challenging his authority by airlocking him.
- Miller's shooting of Dr. Dresden. He can tell Fred Johnson and Holden are being tempted into a Deal with the Devil, so he kills the devil before the heroes can commit.
- Danger Room Cold Open: The Rocinante getting destroyed by the stealth ship turns out to be a simulation.
- Failed a Spot Check: Amos tells off Holden for failing to secure his coffee cup before they're about to engage in combat involving high-G maneuvers.
- For Science!: Dr. Dresden's motivation. He has no loyalty to The Conspiracy and is entirely willing to work on the OPA's behalf as long as he's allowed to work without interference.
- Herr Doktor: Dr. Dresden invokes a lot of these tropes. Also, Mad Scientist and For Science!.
- In Harm's Way: Nobody would blame Miller if he sat out the high-risk assault, but he insists on joining the Boarding Party.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: The horrific experiments conducted on Eros, the scientists, and others all invoke this.
- Midair Repair: Amos has to unstrap himself and go repair a broken thruster fuel line. Even his magnetic boots aren't enough to stop him being thrown about during an emergency high-G maneuver.
- Mood Whiplash: The room with the scientists is eerily quiet, since they are unresponsive to outside stimuli - they can't see the approaching team or hear anyone talking to them. When Miller disconnects the scientists from their virtual world, they instantly lash out in a rage, and are shot by the startled OPA troops.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Destroying Phoebe Station to deny it to Earth ends up escalating the tension between factions.
- Miller kills Dr. Dresden, who was prepared to reveal all about The Conspiracy. All the data is encoded so only he could access it.
- Redshirt Army: Once they've boarded the station, the only resistance encountered by the boarders from Tycho is from guards armed with non-lethal gel rounds that can't penetrate a spacesuit. Which as just as well, as few of the OPA appear to have proper training—they end up killing the guards before they find out the rounds were basically paintballs, and Miller has to take command and tell them how to do a search and clear.
- Revenge Before Reason: Miller kills Dr. Dresden before a deal can be struck between him, Holden, and Fred Johnson. ZigZagged, since Miller didn't want a deal to be struck, believing that if Dresden were allowed to continue his work, he would commit further acts of genocide.
- Resign in Protest: Admiral Souther provides the page quote when he quits as UN fleet commander rather than obey the order to destroy Deimos.
- Sacrificial Planet: To placate the warmongers in the UN, Avasarala suggests Deimos as a target for a retaliation strike. The head of the UN military resigns in protest.
- Sentry Gun: Spin Station is not only defended by the stealth ship, but there's a fixed anti-meteor weapon that complicates matters as well.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Alex is angsting to Amos over how they didn't try to save more on Eros, then turns to find that Amos has disappeared; a beautiful girl sits in his place, told by Amos that Alex would buy her drinks if she listened to him talk.
- Stress Vomit: Miller gets spacesick, to the amusement of the other Belters.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Avasarala supplies her own, knowing full well what Admiral Souther thinks of her.
- There Was a DoorMiller: What's the go signal... for the, uh... for the assault?
Drummer: [points at bulkhead of Breaching Pod] That will explode and turn into a door. Good hunting. - Title Drop: Miller warns the OPA troops to watch doors and corners, the most likely areas of ambush.
- Trojan Horse: The Rocinante is cast adrift so it will look like a cargo container that has broken loose from a freighter, which sends a warning to Spin Station not to try claiming their property.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dr. Dresden; not only does he think that the protomolecule will help humanity evolve into Space People, but he also believes that it is an Assimilation Plot by aliens against Earth, so they need to study it in a controlled environment. What happened on Eros was a Necessary Evil for that to happen.
