- Scout, when Power inquires about Mentor's status.
A contingent of troopers is on patrol when they are confronted by a curious character, calling himself Rivvik. Rivvik offers to disclose the location of Captain Power, but for a price. The lead trooper exhorts that Rivvik can keep his life. Rivvik then informs him that Power is 'right here' and then points to several other simultaneous locations.
The troopers are momentarily confused which gives Power enough time to catch them off guard. Rivvik, turns out to be Scout in holo-disguise. The team are here to capture the data banks of a high ranking trooper in order to obtain data on Project New Order. After defeating the troopers, Pilot, Hawk and Scout return to guard the Jumpship, leaving Tank and Scout to get the trooper's head. Reinforcements arrive and Tank holds them at bay while Scout wrestles with the head, telling the exasperated Tank 'It's stuck'. They finally get the head and hastily make for the Jumpship.
Soaron shows up and begins to pursue the Jumpship but Pilot, who has been working on boosting the ship's afterburners, is able to outrun the Bio-Dread. Back at the base, Scout it finding it impossible to extricate the information because of damage to the trooper's power supply. Mentor offers to integrate the Power base systems with the troopers memory banks in the hope the extra power will enable them to get at the stored information.
Meanwhile at Volcania, Dread is informed of the trooper's capture and that it was carrying complete data on Project New Order. Dread confers with Overmind about the Charon phase of Project New Order, the creation of a new breed of Bio-Dread and informs Overmind that it's implementation must be brought forward in light of the security breach.
Mentor's attempts are successful and the team manage to pull out the initial information about Project New Order, which they learn is divided into four phases, Styx,Charon,Icarus and Prometheus. Mentor notes the names correspond with Greek mythology and carry referances to the four elements of earth, fire, water and air. Before any more information can be obtained, the trooper's data banks are overloaded by the destruct sequence Dread has ordered to be broadcast. In the resulting explosion, the Power base goes down as Mentor is shorted out. A visibly shaken Power orders Scout to get Mentor back as immediately and retreats to confer with Hawk.
Hawk warns Power that trying to get Mentor back on line may result in the entire Power base being brought down, permanently.Power remains adamant that Mentor must be brought back on line.Hawk is sympathetic, but reminds Jon that Mentor is not his father. Power accepts that, but exerts " He has his face ,his voice , his essence - I don't think I can watch my father die all over again.". Returning to the main operations area, Power orders the switch on and after several critical seconds, Mentor comes back on line. A relieved Power immediately focuses on the task ahead - stopping Project New Order. The blow out caused most of the information to be lost, except that on the Charon phase. Mentor informs the team that Dread insteads to create a new breed of Bio-Dread, a ground operating unit capable of reaching areas beyond Soaron - not one Bio-Dread, but thousands.
Power realises that this is the reason why Dread has been busy setting up power plants. They decide that the only way to stop Dread is to prevent the flow of power to Volcania. The Jumpship will fly to the point where the transmission of power converges to Volcania and reverse the polarity, destroying the stations and disrupting the operation. Eyebrows are raised - Pilot remarks they could be 'fried right on the spot' and Scout thinks it's a 'one way ticket to Volcania' - but they all know it has to be done.
The Jumpship fly to the coordinates provided by Mentor and begin jamming. Learning about the plan, Dread dispatches Soaron to deal with the situation. The Jumpship's systems are being overloaded and with Soaron coming, they won't be able to hold out long enough. Power takes the XT-7 to destract Soaron to enable the craft to jam the signals for long enough to take out the power plants. The plan works and the plants self destruct one by one. Enraged, Dread orders all power in Volcania to be diverted to his birthing chamber in a desperate bid to complete his project.
The Jumpship systems are completely overloaded and the ship begins to free fall. Pilot desperately trys to get it back on line and hits on the idea of her after burners - the Jumpship glides back into action and makes a pass over Volcania. To their disappointment, one Bio-Dread has survived the creation - Blastarr. The interrupted process also creates a deformed inferior version, which Overminds tells Dread will serve his needs. Dread snorts and replies he doesn't need a lackey. The miniature robot takes on the identity as Lackki, informing Dread ' I live to Serve.' A disgusted Dread leaves the room and we see Overmind give Lackki some surreptitious programming.
Comment
The episode serves to introduce one of the players in the series, the Bio-Dread Blastarr and to flesh out the background of Captain Power. We discover that the face of Mentor is that of his father. The full story will only be revealed in the later episode A Summoning of Thunder. The creation of Blastarr is intended to overshadow that of Lackki, yet Lackki, we subsequently will discover, is a more important presence. Lackki mostly remains in the background, but this is purposeful and provides a feeling of someone 'hovering' over Dread's shoulder.
Blastarr is clearly meant to be a more sophisticated model of the Bio-Dread - it is assumed Soaron was an early prototype. Possibly the decision to create thousands of Bio-Dreads was to replace the easily defeated Bio-Mech troopers. Unlike Soaron, Blastarr is treated almost like a son by Dread in this episode, and in subsequent episodes, Dread clearly treats Blastarr like a child - admonishing it or giving it treats and rewards, or referring to Blastarr as 'my son'. This is in sharp contrast with the servant-master relationship of Soaron and Dread, who in the episode, A Summoning of Thunder, refers to Dread as 'Master'.
There is a moment devoted to building the father-son like relationship between Hawk and Power as Power turns to his father's best friend to confide his fears.It is Hawk that Power tends to turn to when he is uncertain, almost as if looking to the older man for guidance. Hawk rarely gets any opportunities at leadership in the first season and the writers had planned to expand on this role in the second season.
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