There are several hidden treasures in this week's episode.

Mythology buffs might recognize Tiama's name as a form of Tiamat - the mythical Sumerian mother dragon who was killed and the universe made from her dismembered body.

Also, the spearpoint impaling of the Ursari's second-in-command, Szabos, is director Allan Eastman's tribute to a similar scene in the classic film Apocalypse Now.

Blake's cryptic remark to Dylan ("You are the merciful hand") was meant to fit in with several other scenes in which Blake and Rev Bem debated the meaning of the Bible's Abraham/Isaac story. However, those scenes had to be cut for time.

The crew is getting organized for a major relief mission, when Rev receives a message from Thaddeus Blake, a Wayist he knows. Blake tells him that Serendipity, the colony where he is living, is being raided by slavers, and he asks for the help of Rev and his "powerful friends". Dylan decides that this requires action, so he and Rev head for Serendipity in the Maru, leaving Beka in charge of the relief mission. Dylan tells her that he has confidence in her.

On Serendipity, Dylan and Rev are greeted by Blake, who gives them a tour of the peaceful, idyllic colony. The colony is unarmed, and Blake is relying on his faith to defend it. Rev tells Dylan that it was Blake who converted him to Wayism, when he walked into a swarm of Magog armed only with his faith. Dylan tells the colonists, called the Hajira, that he did not bring an army to save them, but he will teach them to fight.

On the Andromeda, Beka is bored, since Andromeda is taking care of much of the relief effort organization herself. She asks Rommie to let her do something. Rommie suggests that she look into the fact that Tyr and the mercenaries are stealing from the relief supplies. Beka is surprised to hear this.

The Hajira are not afraid of Rev – in fact, they seem to be in awe of him, because he is of the same race as "The Annointed", the Magog that founded Wayism. It is clear that they have never seen a Magog before.

Dylan teaches the Hajira how to fight with quarterstaves, but Blake objects to teaching them violence.

Rev learns that the Hajira have genetic memory – they have all their parents' memories up to the time they are born. Therefore, if they are taught violence, and how to kill, then their descendents will always know what it is to kill. Blake maintains that this innocence is too precious to destroy. Dylan states that the choice belongs to the Hajira themselves. They choose to fight, but in the night, Blake destroys the forcelances that Dylan brought with him.

Beka confronts Tyr about the relief supplies. Tyr says that he is only making the mission worth the mercenaries' time, and they need their help. As compensation, he offers to cut Beka in for a share, and she seems agreeable.

Rev reminds Blake that he was the one that called for help from Dylan, and Dylan does things his own way. He states that taking the choice of whether to fight or not away from the Hajira was, in itself, violence.

Tiama, the leader of the Hajira, is concerned that if Dylan dies, he will not be remembered. She knows that her memory will live on through her cousins and others, but Dylan has no such guarantee. She offers to bear children for Dylan to guarantee his memory, but he declines, maintaining that he is not going to die.

The slavers attack the village, and are surprised to find defenses set up. Dylan confronts them, and the leader offers to cut him a deal, and only take a few villagers, even offering to let Dylan pick which ones. Dylan refuses, and it almost comes to a shootout, when Rev shows up. The presence of a Magog scares off the slavers.

Beka informs Tyr that she can order Andromeda to blind her internal sensors to specific areas of the ship, and tells him that he and the mercenaries can use cargo bay 11.

Dylan and Rev know that the slavers will be coming back for another round, and are preparing for this. Dylan says that the Long Night happened because he failed to act, and he will not make the same mistake again.

The slavers return, attacking with lethal force, not just to capture slaves. The Hajira are armed with spears and the village is fortified, but several of them are killed. Blake attempts to confront the slavers with words, but he is quickly shot and killed. Dylan, Rev, and the Hajira do manage to fight off the slavers again, but the leader sends a message to Dylan on the radio: "This isn't over."

The Hajira have a funeral for those killed in the battle. Afterwards, Tiama confronts Rev. She still wants to fight, and she wants to use Rev and the slavers' fear of Magog to their advantage. Rev protests the he is not their saviour, and Tiama tears off her Wayist medallion, throws it to the ground, and storms out.

Andromeda arrives at the planet to begin the relief mission, and finds there is an orbital habitat full of Than that they were not told about. There will be more work involved than they had expected, and Dylan will be left to fend for himself for longer than he planned.

Rev is praying in the woods when he is ambushed and captured by an unseen assailant.

Dylan finds out from Arun, Tiama's brother and the new spiritual leader of the Hajira, that both Rev and Tiama are missing, so he goes to look for them. He finds Rev in a cave in the woods, tied up. Tiama is also there, but she has infested herself with Rev's eggs – she intends to create an army of Magog to protect them. Dylan and Rev are shocked – although Tiama does not know what Magog are really like, they know that Magog are monsters that cannot be controlled. They realize they have one chance: When a Magog is born, it carries some of the genetic material from its host. If the Magog born from Tiama have the Hajira's genetic memory, there may be hope. Rev offers to oversee the "birth" of the Magog, to see if this is the case, and sends Dylan away.

The Magog are born, and Tiama dies. Rev feeds them with sheep from the area near the village, and they grow quickly.

At the village, Dylan prepares for another slaver assault.

Four weeks pass, and the relief mission is completed. Beka tells Tyr that they "need to have a discussion about the contents of bay 11."

The slavers return, and attack the village a third time. This time, Dylan has set a trap – a bomb in the center of the village. He kills some of them with this, and takes the Hajira to the cave where Rev is keeping the Magog. The Magog ambush and kill the slavers, but also begin to attack the Hajira. When Dylan and Rev try to stop them, one of the Magog speaks – it says that they are just trying to give the rest of the Hajira the "gift" that Tiama gave them. Arun is prepared to offer himself to be infested, but Rev stops him, saying that he can teach the new race of Magog to guard them.

Arriving at Cargo Bay 11, Tyr find that, in the course of the relief effort, Beka has used the supplies that the mercenaries had stolen – the bay is empty. He is shocked that she has double-crossed their mercenaries, but there is nothing he can do. She informs Tyr that she has also heard that he took his share in advance – he owes her.

Dylan returns to the Andromeda, somewhat shaken. Beka says that she is happy to turn command of the Andromeda back over to him, but he tells her that he is proud of what she did – Andromeda has told him all the details.

Tyr says that he is "intrigued" and "a little jealous" of the fact that Rev has become the father of an entire race of warrior-priests. Rev says the he can understand why Tyr, a Nietzschean, feels that way, but he is concerned that he "saved paradise by introducing the serpent."