Kenneth and Eugene discuss the Starhunter Redux episode Becoming Shiva and ask the question, are the terrorists playing Grand Master-level chess or deaf, dumb, and blind pinball?

Episode Synopsis

In a disused, restricted section of Ring Shepard Station, in orbit around Saturn, Salvatore and Nailson, two terrorists from Terra’s Children plant a bomb, and they leave.  To their surprise, two civilians enter the unused area just as the bomb is about to detonate.  Nailson wants Salvatore to stop the explosion, but he lets it continue, killing the two men in addition to damaging the station.  This is the first time Terra’s Children have killed people.

The cops from Jupiter Federation are concerned about this change in tactics by Terra’s Children.  They are a radical group dedicated to the cause of rehabilitating the Earth, and they’ve chosen to do this not by rehabilitating the Earth, but by attacking other planetary federations that have no jurisdiction or political control over the Earth.  Rumors are that they’ll be striking Syn City 10 next.  Because the Ring Shepard crime was out of their jurisdiction, they’ve hired Travis Montana to capture Salvatore, the leader of Terra’s Children, and turn him over to Saturn authorities.  Somehow preventing a crime in their jurisdiction is complicated by their previous crime being committed in another jurisdiction, hence the need for Montana and the Gang.

In Syn City, Salvatore and Nailson have gone to great lengths to enter undetected and now they privately discuss their next action. Nailson is distressed that they’ve started killing, but Salvatore thinks it’s time to step up the pressure on the people who have no jurisdiction over the fate of Earth.  He detects Nailson’s reluctance and they split up.  He plants a bomb in a busy area.

Nailson, suspicious of Salvatore, follows him, disables, and begins disarming the bomb.

Although they were careful to avoid detection, they weren’t careful enough to evade the facial recognition technology of an antique luxury liner’s hospitality AI, and Travis and the Gang soon have an ID on Nailson, and a tail on her.  Callie takes her down and they lock her up on the Trans-Utopian and head for Saturn.

Travis wants information on Salvatore from her and he’s willing to play nice to get it.  She won’t budge.  Callie and the others just want to torture her for the information, but Travis says, “no.”

Meanwhile, they discover that Nailson was disarming the bomb.  Hmm, interesting.  Good thing they didn’t torture her.  Maybe she’s a terrorist with a heart of gold.

At Ring Shepard, something goes wrong.  They’re not allowed to dock and are required to bring the prisoner over by shuttle.  They also insist on sending over their own security to inspect the Trans-Utopian.  This is, of course, all a ruse. Terra’s Children have infiltrated Ring Shepard’s security and harbor master’s office.  The inspection team is really an invasion team intending to take over the ship.  Travis returns and gets lucky, killing the infiltration team.

Now, without consulting anyone, Percy tortures Nailson and gets the info they need, the location of Salvatore and his base, which is on the smallest moon of Jupiter.  It’s going to be a tricky navigational feat, but after a meaningless lesson from Caravaggio about LaGrange points, they get there.

Inside, Salvatore and his terrorist cronies are easy pickings.  In fact, it’s almost too easy.

Travis, on his lonesome, takes three handcuffed prisoners back to the Trans-Utopian in a shuttle and leaves behind Callie and Rudolfo to guard three more very docile and smug prisoners.  Callie detects a bomb that will kill them all and she and Rudolfo run to another shuttle and head back to the Trans-Utopian, leaving the three smug prisoners to die in the explosion.

Onboard the Trans-Utopian, professional bounty hunter Travis Montana is unable to escort three handcuffed prisoners on board his own ship and they escape and take his gun.

Onboard the shuttle, Callie and Rudolfo come across orbital simulations that indicate they’ve been planning things for months, because…. Somehow you can tell that from simulations?

Salvatore releases Nailson who, it turns out, has been faking all along.  She’s all for killing the can dwellers in retaliation for her child dying of cancer because cancer sucks, but it apparently sucks less in space.

Their diabolical, intricately-plotted scheme is to use the Trans-Utopian to ram Adrastea into a collision with Jupiter, killing 3 billion people.

Salvatore leaves everyone else aboard the Trans-Utopian and heads out on a shuttle to escape.  Luckily, the shuttle Callie is on has a particle beam and she disables Salvatores shuttle, so, rather than die himself, he agrees to stop.  Nailson; however, is still bent on committing suicide and continues.

Travis saves the day by shooting Nailson.