Svetlana is experiencing trouble on Mars as a result of her country’s political issues. Never discuss politics at work, people!

A physical fight breaks out with her and another guy, and the other guy’s suit is punctured. Whoopsies. Why don’t they have duct tape on their arms for this purpose??

Margo prepares to enter Star City. This time, she’s not led right back out the door. Irene is discussing things with President Korzhenko (it is hard discovering these names!), who has been demanding repercussions.

Vasily is still unconscious and has a case of the bends. He’s in the hyperbolic chamber and until he’s out they can’t know if he’s OK. Danielle decides to pull Svetlana’s wings, siding against her as the “victor” of the fight. Danielle, who was understanding about the overall crew is coming down hard on Svetlana, also choosing not to pay her for 60 days. She really has no idea how these people are managing to survive down below.

But then Danielle learns she’s being recalled to stand trial by the new regime, she reconsiders and cannot send her back under the circumstances. Will agrees, but Eli reminds them that the M7 charter gives any nation the right to recall a member. Irina is settling scores both on land and on Mars. Anyone who worked with Gorbachev is considered disloyal to the new regime. Eli thinks it will be as easy as negotiating with the UAW.

Miles delivers orders to Ilya, asking after the North Korean request to get Lee’s wife to Mars. Miles wonders how many years Ilya has been working with his on-earth partner. Apparently, Mars rock is quite the commodity. They’ll pay $5 grand a rock. Ilya thinks it’s a terrible idea. A larger operation relying on more people means more risk. It’s not worth it.

Eli finishes up a conversation with Irina. He plays it off as really no big deal that Commander Poole can handle on Mars. Eli leans on base disciplinary action. But this is about Soviet law. Irina is no UAW. Since the agreement was made with Gorbachev, Eli says, it’s not … but she interrupts him. When Gore became president, did all of Ellen Wilson’s treaties get discarded? The simple fact is that the US will not agree to this, and she says if they don’t, they’ll reconsider the participation in the M7.

Apparently, the injured guy was a nephew of a new politico. Another fellow says that if they hope to restart the asteroid program, Svetlana should remain in her position. Would he hand the dagger back to someone who just stabbed you?

At this meeting, Irina reads in Margo. She’s got a job now, apparently. A desk and everything. She doesn’t care who she’s working for. You can tell she’s totally excited to be working again.

The underground group disagrees about what will happen to Vasily since Svetlana is a cosmonaut. If it had been the other way around, there wouldn’t be any argument. Vasily would go down. Sam is disgusted about Mile’s thinking about making money when Vasily is fighting for his life. She’s not in.

Margo exits her office and heads to the cafeteria. There is one other person working. When she doesn’t have enough money for the machine, the other woman offers her money, turning over a chair to get a washer, which will make up the difference. Same diameter and weight. Margo should consider that if that’s how their food machines work, maybe their expertise in space isn’t much better.

Margo notices what she’s working on and lends a hand. They’re even. Her name is Tatyana. She says everyone knows who Margo is but it’s been made very clear that they should keep their distance.

Roscosmos hás changed all of the computers back to Cyrillic. They no longer recognize Danielle as base command. Danielle recommends they check all equipment to make sure nothing is sabotaged and is in good working order, and Ed orders a security sweep and to keep an eye on Svetlana.

Al Gore is not happy. The news talks about reignited tension of the Cold War. Dev is back in the spotlight, too, but has no qualms about Helios. He’s interested in building a private colony on mars for anyone who wants to make the journey.

When Miles finally gets his suit to explore, he’s not pleased with it. It doesn’t look like the others and it stinks. Still, off he goes with a bag like he’s trick-or-treating. He can’t find the red rocks as easily as he thought. He sees something glistening in the distance and walks on a very soft rock that looks like it can’t hold his weight. And surprise, it cannot. He’s on the move, sliding down the rocks and into a ravine. Is there a possibility that he could be gone forever because I wouldn’t miss him.

Sam visits with Danielle to say that some of those working for Helios are unhappy with Svetlana’s punishment. She’s full of emotion and anger and doesn’t understand the situation fully.

Vasily is still in the chamber. They have no way to know what comes next. The doctor says they’ve been through worse.

Rich wonders if Sam knows where Miles is. They take off in a rover to find him. They do find him, but he has no comms, so he has no idea they’re there. Sam throws a rock. He can’t talk about how much oxygen is left because they can’t communicate. She lowers a cord to get him out. He’s had quite the adventure.

She reconnects his comms port. She’s so angry that he did that, and she pushes him in anger in the exact same way that Svetlana pushed Vasily. Oh, the irony.

Irina calls Margo to a conversation with another fellow about the safety of the anchor bolts that malfunctioned causing the asteroid disasters. They were designed and manufactured by Roscosmos, and due to a manufacturing issue, they failed. Even if everything had gone according to plan, the anchor bolts still would have malfunctioned causing disaster.

He’s not happy about being told this from an American, but Margo isn’t done with the bad news. President Korzhenko could be embarrassed. Someone screwed up the conversion between measures. His team did the calculations and therefore, he’s ultimately responsible. The man’s name was Krill. Irina takes him from the room, giving Margo a chance to look at the papers on her desk. When Irina returns, she finds Margo reading a poem on the wall. Before she found Margo, Irina was in a dark place. She sees Margo as a beacon of light. She shows Margo a photo of an early team. Sergei was in the photo. They worked together. Irina says that the work she and Margo do together will take her far into the future. The Americans took her for granted, she will not.

Eli is riding a bike and screaming at it. His wife is like WTF. He tells her about the conversation with Al, who tore into him. He didn’t have to take this job, but he felt it was his duty. She gives him a pep talk, and they lament this wasn’t how their retirement was supposed to go. When she talks about India, a lightbulb goes on over his head. He just figured something out.

Eli has arranged to have Svetlana sent back to earth to stand trial in India. It will be a fair trial with an independent judge looking at all the evidence. Ed is appalled. Does anybody really think the Soviets will abide by the rules? Did his relationship with Svetlana progress after their pot experience?

Yep. She saw that they had grown close, and now, like always, he’s using his emotions to make decisions. She blames him for Danny’s death. Svetlana will be on Unity tonight. Her decision is made.

At lunch, Margo finds Tatyana crying with a bruise on her face. Krill has been taken. Margo says, no. He was just fired. Tatyana assures he was taken. How can Margo still be so naive?

At the next group meeting, Irina has good news. The Americans have folded and Svetlana will stand trial. Yay. Margo still doesn’t have a seat at the table, even though Krill’s seat is now empty.

Ed wants to escape with Svetlana. He can hide her and bring her supplies and food until this all blows over. She won’t let him destroy his career to protect hers. They kiss. It’s time for her to go. Despite the hordes of angry people down there, Ed wants to walk her down.