Beka and Harper are on the Maru, returning to the Andromeda with a load of parts & supplies. Beka is giving Harper a hard time about a girl he met, Dierdre, who did not even speak Common. Harper tries to demonstrate his grasp of Dierdre's language, but does poorly.

The Maru is hit by something, which ends up in the airlock – it is a large "beach ball"-like lifepod, with a Perseid in it. The Perseid is in bad shape. When they get him out of the pod, he grabs Harper, reaching for his data port. Some sort of charge arcs from the Perseid's mouth to the data port, then he collapses, dead, although Harper appears to be (more or less) OK.

The Andromeda is hailed by Marshal Jeger, a bounty hunter. He is looking for the Perseid, and has a warrant. Beka tells Jeger the Perseid is dead, but Jeger wants to search the corpse – the Perseid had stolen something that he is trying to recover. Beka does not want to cooperate, because she does not care for bounty hunters, but Dylan does not see much point in resisting him, since the Perseid is already dead.

As Jeger is taking the corpse, Dylan notices a symbol on the Perseid's finger. With Rommie's help, he identifies it as the symbol of the All-Systems Univeristy Library, Special Collections Division.

Harper is having vivid nightmares, mostly based around a war theme. He is also starting several new projects, and babbling in a variety of languages. Rommie is concerned.

Jeger searches the Perseid, but does not find what he is looking for. He reports his progress to a shadowy, red-eyed figure.

The crew is watching Harper at work (on the monitors). They wonder what he is doing, and they share Rommie's concern, especially as he does not seem to be getting much sleep. He has made some effective upgrades to the ship and Rommie herself, but he is primarily concentrating on one specific project – a replica of the X-1, the first plane to break the speed of sound.

Dylan, Beka, and Rev go to talk to him, and Dylan tells him to get some rest. When Harper sees Rev, he freaks out, saying that you cannot trust Magog. Beka and Dylan calm him down and take him to the med deck.

Jeger walks through the Maru airlock door, and is searching for something.

Beka, Trance, and Harper determine that the Perseid dumped a data archive into Harper's brain, and try to figure out how to get it back out. Harper objects, but he is suffering severe headaches.

Jeger confronts Harper in his workshop. Dylan sees this on a monitor, and rushes to help Harper, calling on Tyr for assistance. Jeger and Tyr fight until Dylan arrives. Dylan shoots Jeger with his forcelance. Jeger seems unaffected, but leaves by phasing through the floor of the workshop.

Harper continues to suffer nightmares.

The Andromeda is attacked, and is hit by a PSP – Point Singularity Projector, a weapon that fires miniature black holes. The ship is seriously damaged, and cannot slipstream. Harper and Tyr are working on repairs, and Rev offers to help. Harper attacks him. Rev dodges, but does not fight back. Dylan intervenes, restraining Harper, but Harper says something in the Magog language that infuriates Rev, until Dylan reminds Rev of the Way.

Harper is put in restraints in medical, while Trance works on building a "neurochemical file" under his guidance, to transfer the data to. They set it up, and start the transfer, but Harper starts to suffer serious side effects, so they only transfer part of the data.

They begin to examine the data they managed to extract. Beka suggests concentrating on images of Magog, based on Harper's reaction to Rev since the data transfer. They find, in the data, a video record of the Magog attack on Brandenberg Tor. While this could be what is affecting Harper, Dylan says that it cannot be what Jeger wants, because the attack is not a secret.

Rev talks to Harper, in medical, where Harper is still in restraints. Harper tells Rev he is having a hard time dealing with the images of people dying at the hands of Magog. Rev states that he needs "wisdom". He tells him how he deals with his incessant hunger, and teaches him a Wayist mantra: "My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air, it is like water." This seems to help Harper a bit. During this discussion, Andromeda detects a hostile vessel approaching. Harper convinces Rev to release him from the restraints in order to let him help.

Andromeda fires missiles at the enemy ship, but they go right through it without affecting it. Andromeda has managed to get her slipstream drive back on-line, so Dylan prepares to leave, but Harper launches the Maru, broadcasting a message to Jeger. He claims to be trying to save everyone else by drawing him away, and he is tinkering with the ship's systems. He jumps to slipstream, but does something to the portal he opened to make it a "wall". Andromeda cannot get through the "wall", but Jeger does. Andromeda looks for another way to follow him, but cannot find one, so they have to guess where Harper may have gone.

Trance comes onto the Command Deck with something for Dylan. She has been going through the Brandenberg Tor files, and has found a shadowy figure directing the attack – the same one that Jeger was reporting to.

Jeger has boarded the Maru, capturing Harper and is intending to extract the data from his head by force, specifically with a laser probe. However, Andromeda has managed to find the Maru by tracking the energy emissions of Jeger's "toys". Dylan, Beka, and Tyr board the Maru, and confront Jeger. Jeger leaves the ship, phasing through the floor. As Jeger's ship is leaving, Andromeda fires on it, but Jeger phases out again just before his ship is destroyed.

As Trance is removing the rest of the data from Harper's brain, he says something in a strange language which Rev does not recognize, but Trance seems to. She does not offer an explanation, but suggests that the data is dangerous, and should probably be destroyed. Dylan says that he wants a copy of the Brandenberg Tor file, and Harper says that he knows of a place where he can store it safely, although he does not specify where.

Jeger reports to the shadowy figure again, begging for another chance. Jeger is "absorbed" by the figure.

Harper returns to work on his X-1, but he is not sure how to proceed. The blueprints were in the archive, and that data is now gone from his mind.