Season 2

Complete listed story — includes the ending

S2E1 · Safe

The season opens with Martian Marine gunnery sergeant Bobbie Draper and her team undergoing combat training on Mars. They are deployed to Phoebe Research Station, which had been reported as being attacked. The United Nations debates blockading MCRN fleet deployments; Avasarala backs the measure but privately believes that she is being prepared by Errinwright as a scapegoat, and hires private security. An MCRN vessel fires on a UNN vessel; the UN elects not to fire back, figuring that the Martian missiles were saber-rattling. The missiles pass the UNN vessel and destroy Phoebe Station. Draper believes that war with Earth is good; her commanding officer, Sutton, believes war must be avoided. Holden and Miller recover from radiation sickness; Miller and Amos have a violent disagreement that is broken up by Naomi. The Rocinante crew finds a protomolecule sample in a cryogenic safe recovered from the Anubis and decide to hide it in a debris field. Naomi and Holden perform repairs to the Rocinante and their personal relationship deepens. Alex cooks lasagna for the crew of the Rocinante, and over dinner tensions are eased.

S2E2 · Doors & Corners

Avasarala hires freelance spy Cotyar Ghazi. The Rocinante arrives at Tycho Station and Johnson is unhappy with them, but the situation is defused by explaining what is happening on Eros and that the data from the Eros incident is being beamed to Thoth Station. Fred Johnson pulls together a strike team from rival Outer Planets Alliance factions, killing one of their leaders in the process. The Rocinante is assigned as the mission's muscle in the assault on Thoth Station, engaging the station's defenses and clearing a path for the boarding party. The station is not prepared to defend itself, and falls easily to the team. They capture the lead scientist on the project, Dresden, and an underling, Cortazar. Dresden is uninterested in who he answers to as long as he can continue his work. Dresden explains the source, dangers, and possibilities of the protomolecule and tries to convince Holden and Johnson to let him continue the project, but Miller shoots him in the head.

S2E3 · Static

Earth destroys Mars's moon Deimos as retaliation for the MCRN's nuking of Phoebe. This creates tension in Bobbie Draper's squad. Holden and his crew return to Tycho Station, angry at Miller for killing Dresden, the lead scientist on the protomolecule project. Fred Johnson tells Miller that he needs to leave, but Miller remains and visits the Mormon temple. Johnson, Holden and Amos figure out how to get the captured scientist Cortazar to talk. Miller realizes that Eros must be destroyed, and that Fred Johnson has the equipment necessary to do so: the Nauvoo.

S2E4 · Godspeed

Avasarala gathers information linking the protomolecule to Jules-Pierre Mao, Julie's father, and hatches a plan to leak this information. Miller's Nauvoo plan is put into action. After assembling a demolition team to seal Eros's docks, the Nauvoo is evacuated of its people, commandeered, and set on a collision course to knock Eros into the Sun. After flying to Eros, the Rocinante drops its cargo of bombs and the demolition team retrieves them for precise placement. A complication arises when a group of humanitarian doctors is found who will not follow Holden's orders, so he destroys their ship to prevent spreading the protomolecule infection. The debris damages one of Miller's bombs, and he chooses to stay with it on Eros, watching the Nauvoo approach, but no collision takes place. Holden and crew confirm that the Nauvoo did not miss – despite having no human-built propulsion system capable of doing so, Eros maneuvered to avoid the impact.

S2E5 · Home

Eros is speeding on collision course for Earth. Miller and the crew decide that Miller will bring the bomb into the heart of Eros to destroy it and then escape back to the Rocinante. On Earth, the United Nations decides to fire its planetary defense nuclear missiles at the incoming Eros, but the asteroid evades them by 'going stealth', ceasing to reflect radar. The Rocinante crew use their proximity to the asteroid to provide a target lock to Fred Johnson, who will guide the missiles to Eros. Eros reacts to this by accelerating still faster; to maintain visual contact, the Rocinante accelerates at the limits of human endurance and finally gives up the chase. Miller arrives with the bomb at the heart of Eros and discovers a transformed Julie Mao. While the protomolecule has infected her and Eros, she has in some way infected it back, and can influence Eros's trajectory. With a combination of words and affection, and after removing his protective spacesuit, Miller convinces her to redirect Eros away from Earth toward Venus, where it crashes in a planetary-scale event.

S2E6 · Paradigm Shift

Flashbacks show Martian colonist Solomon Epstein envisaging a future where Mars is freed from Earth's control by use of his fusion drive. In the present, Avasarala demands Errinwright bring Mao out of hiding by threatening Mao's family and business empire. On Tycho, Fred Johnson's idea to use the thirty missing nukes as a bargaining chip against Earth and Mars angers Holden. The Rocinante crew commiserate over Miller's death and agree to launch the protomolecule sample into the sun. Naomi fakes the launch; the others believe there is no sample left. On Ganymede, Bobbie Draper and her marines are sent to patrol the agricultural farms. They see UN marines running towards them, firing. Their comms are jammed. The UNN and MCRN fleets in orbit each think the jamming is part of an attack by the others. A full scale battle breaks out in orbit. This destroys several of the giant orbital mirrors. The crashing wreckage devastates the colony. The Scirocco comes under fire and Sutton is killed. After the battle, an injured Bobbie awakes to find her team massacred and an inhuman figure standing over her.

S2E7 · The Seventh Man

After the Ganymede battle, Bobbie is rescued by the MCRN and asked to report the events, which some of her superiors do not believe. On Earth, Avasarala demands a peace summit between Earth and Mars to prevent further escalation of the tension, in which both planets believed the other fired first on Ganymede. Over three thousand people were killed in the Ganymede Incident, and the massive damage to the colony destroyed the agricultural domes that the Belt depends on – leading to a starvation and refugee crisis. On Tycho Station, a recently arrived Anderson Dawes is asked to represent the Belt in negotiations for peace with Earth and Mars, but Dawes convinces the Belters that Earth and Mars will never respect the Belt. Bobbie is ordered to Earth to the peace summit, and to tell Earth that Mars fired first accidentally, despite Bobbie remembering the presence of an alien figure the UN marines were fleeing from. On Tycho, Dawes becomes aware of Cortazar's presence and knowledge. Cortazar is later found to be missing from his cell, leading Alex and Naomi to chase after an escaping ship, only to find Diogo aboard and Dawes and Cortazar gone.

S2E8 · Pyre

Aboard a Ganymede refugee ship, the botanist Praxideke Meng (Prax) and others are headed for safety as he privately mourns the loss of his daughter Mei, presumed dead when the mirrors fell from orbit. The ship's crew throws refugees from the inner planets, including Prax's friend, out of the airlock, reflecting the rising tension between the Belters and the Inners. The ship later arrives at Tycho Station, which is inundated with thousands of refugees from Ganymede. On Tycho, the Rocinante crew discovers that a protomolecule 'shout' (signal) came from Ganymede at the time of the battle and that a pediatrician, Dr. Strickland, who used to work for Protogen, was also on Ganymede. They connect to Prax after they discover the footage showing Strickland leaving the pediatric clinic with Prax's daughter one hour before the battle. Meanwhile, Dawes's supporters on Tycho storm the bridge and take Fred Johnson and his subordinate Camina Drummer hostage, wanting to launch the missiles back to Earth in order to provoke a fight, but are unsuccessful when the Rocinante crew intervenes. Prax, with the Rocinante crew, set off for Ganymede with renewed hope his daughter is still alive.

S2E9 · The Weeping Somnambulist

Approaching Jupiter, the crew of the Rocinante realize that their ship is too obvious, so they commandeer the Weeping Somnambulist, unable to convince that crew they mean no harm. The Mars delegation arrives on Earth for peace negotiations, and Bobbie Draper gives testimony that makes it look like Mars started the battle of Ganymede by accident. Alex takes the Rocinante to hide behind Cyllene, awaiting a call from the crew for pickup or rescue, and Prax is unimpressed with the crew's planning abilities. Upon arrival, Holden and Amos realize something is wrong on the Somnambulist and, while attempting to intervene, one of the Somnambulist ' s crew is killed. A research vessel in orbit around Venus, the Arboghast, discovers that the Eros impact zone is teeming with unexplained activity, information that Avasarala matches with Bobbie Draper's additional testimony to realize that the solar system is still in danger.

S2E10 · Cascade

Despite confinement by her commanding officer, Bobbie sneaks out of the Martian embassy to see the ocean. She passes through an enclave of street people under some overpasses along the way. Errinwright confesses to Avasarala his role in helping Jules-Pierre Mao with the Eros incident. Avasarala approaches Bobbie with images of the inhuman figure from Ganymede, now believing Mao created it as a weapon which could wind up in Mars' possession. On Ganymede, Amos beats an information dealer for footage of Dr. Strickland taking Mei to the oldest part of Ganymede station. Prax realizes too much damage has been done to Ganymede's ecosystem to ever repair it. Alone on the Rocinante, Alex receives the MCRN alert declaring Ganymede a no-fly zone.

S2E11 · Here There Be Dragons

Bobbie forces Captain Martens to reveal Jules-Pierre Mao's protomolecule technology project. A demonstration of it caused the Ganymede Incident and triggered the battle in orbit. The technology is now for sale. Bobbie takes the information to Avasarala at the UN and requests political asylum. Mao offers to explain everything to Avasarala if she meets with him outside of UN control. She accepts over Cotyar's objections. The research team aboard the UNS Arboghast lands a probe on Venus. They see a massive protomolecule structure before the probe fails. Alex uses a Gravity slingshot to sneak the Rocinante past the MCRN blockade of Ganymede. Holden and crew explore the old part of the station. They find guards and scientists having a pizza party. After Prax starts a gun fight, the survivors barricade themselves in a back room. Holden and Prax realize the protomolecule monsters are actually Belter children with genetic peculiarities and deliberately infected with protomolecule. The fate of Mei is unclear. Most of the enemy is killed by a protomolecule monster, but a dying scientist says there are plenty more out there. The party splits. Naomi and Amos evacuate people off Ganymede, while Holden, Prax, and Alex hunt the protomolecule monster on the surface.

S2E12 · The Monster and the Rocket

Errinwright expresses remorse to Avasarala as she departs to Mao's ship with Bobbie and Cotyar. Mao claims he will give both Earth and Mars access to the protomolecule while he sits comfortably in the middle, preventing war. Errinwright meets with Martian Defense Minister Korshunov, poisoning him with a banned toxin for Martians that makes it look as if he died from a heart attack while also ordering the destruction of the Martian black-ops ship MCRN Karakum that was dispatched to collect the protomolecule monster on Ganymede. Errinwright subtly orders Mao to kill Avasarala and tie up loose ends. Holden becomes increasingly aggressive while hunting the protomolecule monster. Naomi and Amos repair the Somnambulist and though it can carry up to 300 people, there is only enough oxygen in the air tanks for 52 people, while over 100 refugees riot at the door. Naomi, with the help of a Belter who gives up his spot to her, manages to evacuate all the children and some young adults. When the Somnambulist is fired upon for violating the MCRN blockade, Alex convinces Holden to save them, threatening the MCRN ships with the Rocinante ' s arsenal. The protomolecule monster is shown to have stowed away aboard the Rocinante.

S2E13 · Caliban's War

The protomolecule monster is found in the cargo bay on the Rocinante. It attacks Holden, crushing his leg and pinning him to the wall. It tears out panels to get to the reactor core for its radiation. Amos says the only way to get rid of it is to use the air on the ship as a pressurized blast to force it into space, which would also kill Holden. Prax sees the monster craves radiation and suggests the nuclear core in a ship's missile could lure it out. Naomi and Prax expose a core; Prax throws it into space. The monster jumps after it and is incinerated by the main engine. Cotyar is wounded in a shootout with Mao's men. Bobbie manages to sneak away to get her power armor and saves him and Avasarala. As the science team on the Arboghast begins a descent to the surface of Venus to examine the protomolecule structure, the ship is stopped and disassembled in an increasing spherical pattern. Naomi confesses to Holden that she never destroyed their protomolecule sample; with Earth and Mars already fighting over it, the Belt needed it too, so she gave it to Fred Johnson. On Io, Mei and other children are shown to be kept in stasis by Dr. Strickland.