After several months of cooling our heels in Earth Orbit, not doing anything, and after several weeks of randomly moving the scrabble tiles back and forth along the tabletop, but not actually progressing the story, suddenly we get moving again.

This episode was something of a format-breaker, divided somewhat randomly between the present and the past with an extended series of flashbacks.

I gotta' tell you, these friday nights are wearing me down. Three shows bing-bing-bing is borderline too much, borderline over-stimulation. Then writing up the post-game show is kind of time consuming and grueling. I mean, I can do it, it's not like having a real job, but it's a lot to hold a play by play of all three of these shows in my feeble brain for the five hours or so it takes to watch 'em and write 'em up. If my writing is suffering as a result, I apologize. It'll get 30% easier in just a couple more weeks.

Echo is programmed to be an ass-kicking backup singer for a Riana-like singer that someone is trying to kill. Sierra, the blonde Japanese girl, is assigned as her backup. They infiltrate the singer's agency separately and with no real difficulties, until it becomes apparent that Rianna *Wants* to die, and is encouraging her stalker/executioner. Said whackjob kidnaps Sierra, and so Echo endangers the singer to rescue the other active, and save the day. This they then do.

Meanwhile, in the Helo plot, Paul the FBI guy gets set up by his Russian Mob informant, and is shot and hospitalized.