In episode 101 ("Under the Night") there's a promising young High Guardsman who dies. He was named after Cronan Thompson, a legendary presence on Usenet and online sparring partner of Andromeda Producer Robert Wolfe. The real Thompson died after a battle with cancer in late 1999 at the age of 19.

Dylan Hunt, captain of the Systems Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant, answers a distress call at the Hephaestus system - a rogue black hole has entered the system. The distress call turns out to be a trap, and the Andromeda is ambushed by over 10,000 Nietzschean ships.

Overwhelmed, and recognizing the urgency of informing the Commonwealth that the Nietzscheans are rebelling, Dylan orders his crew to abandon ship and get word to the Commonwealth, while he attempts a risky slingshot maneuver around the black hole. His pilot, Refractions of Dawn, stays on board with him.

Gaheris Rhade, Dylan's first officer, and a Nietzschean, begins to sabotage the Andromeda. He enters the Command Deck, shoots Dawn, and engages in a firefight with Dylan. He informs Dylan that the reason the Nietzscheans are rebelling is that the Commonwealth signed a treaty with the Magog, a savage race with which they had been at war.

As Dylan and Rhade engage in hand-to-hand combat, the Andromeda comes close enough to the black hole that time begins to slow for them. Dylan grabs Dawn's forcelance, shoots Rhade and time... stops...

Some time later, on the salvage ship Eureka Maru, Gerentex, a Nightsider, has hired Beka Valentine and her crew to find the legendary Andromeda Ascendant. Beka's crew consists of Seamus Harper, a human (with an uncomfortable-looking rash on his neck), Trance Gemini, a purple alien with a tail, and Rev Bem, a Magog. They discuss what they will do with their share of the money from selling the Andromeda. After locating the ship trapped near the black hole, they capture it with bucky cables, and, with a little "creative engineering" on Harper's part, pull it out.

Onboard the Andromeda Ascendant, Andromeda (the ship's AI avatar) informs Dylan that, by examining star patterns, she has determined that 300 years have passed.

Beka and her crew enter and search the ship, expecting it to be abandoned, while Dylan and Andromeda watch them on the monitors. Andromeda identifies the rash on Harper's neck as Triangulum Measles, a disease that was easily treated in the Commonwealth.

As Harper is searching the ship, Dylan confronts him. Harper tells Dylan that the Commonwealth lost the war with the Nietzscheans, and fell over 300 years ago. Dylan blames himself for this, because of his failure at Hephaestus.

Beka and her crew discuss what to do. Dylan, over the intercom, orders them to leave the ship or he will re-take it by force. Gerentex reveals his backup plan - he has hired a group of mercenaries led by Tyr Anasazi, a Nietzschean, in case force is necessary.

Continued in An Affirming Flame...