Sabotage

"Sabotage" is the sixteenth episode in the first season of Stargate Universe.

Synopsis
One of Destiny's FTL drives explodes during its trip across the galactic void. Unless it's repaired, Destiny will be unable to reach the next galaxy. The expedition uses the communication stones to call a brilliant mind from Earth to help repair the drive. Meanwhile, the blueberry aliens capitalize on Destiny's unexpected problems and mount an invasion.

Prologue
A group of people are stuck on Destiny after an attack on Icarus Base, and are now trapped there, though Colonel Everett Young is determined they will make it back to Earth. During the time on Destiny, tensions rise between Nicholas Rush and Everett Young, eventually causing a mutiny between the civilians and military. After an alien attack, the two groups must work together to prepare themselves for the next attack, for the crew's sake. Jeremy Franklin has sat on the early repository of knowledge, and because of this, he becomes catatonic. A team of Chloe Armstrong, Ronald Greer, Matthew Scott and Eli Wallace end up stuck underground on a ruins planet after Destiny leaves without them. Greer is able to return, but the rest end up stranded for good after learning Destiny is leaving the galaxy.

Plot
Destiny is pulling away from the galaxy for good. Colonel Everett Young starts shaving, but is interrupted by a radio call from Lieutenant Tamara Johansen, who informs him everybody is waiting in the gate room. T.J. is now visibly pregnant. Once he arrives, he informs them that Nicholas Rush has confirmed Destiny is now flying across the void to the next galaxy. This means that Destiny won't make any Stargate connections any time soon, so Young is imposing strict food and water rationing. As he explains how they will be unable to rescue Chloe Armstrong, Matthew Scott and Eli Wallace, Rush radios him, telling him to join him in the control interface room. After he dismisses them, Young arrives at the control interface room, where Rush realises why Destiny is conserving power; they are going to fall short of the jump.

A team groups up in the room. Adam Brody has found that, according to the database, Destiny barely made the last few intergalactic jumps, and the recent damage sustained in the alien attack, as well as the expedition's presence, isn't going to help. When Camile Wray asks why Destiny is continuing, knowing it won't make it through, Rush answers that the ship is following a pre-determined path. Destiny will fall short of their new galaxy by 50,000 light years, but it will eventually drift there at sublight speeds. However, none of them will live to see it. Rush thinks of a possible solution; if they can increase the efficiency of the drives by even 5%, they can make it. Dale Volker believes doing so may make matters worse given their unfamiliarity with the technology, but he is overruled. Rush states he knows a few people on Earth who can help, and the best expert he can think of is Amanda Perry, a quadriplegic scientist working on Earth's next generation of hyperdrive technology.

Young gathers some of the female officers, asking them that whoever volunteers will have to be confined to a wheelchair for a few weeks, though there will be someone with the volunteer at all times to help with the day-to-day activities. Upon hearing she will meet her family again, Vanessa James volunteers to do it. Later, in Homeworld Command, Major Peterson stands over a woman in a wheelchair. James is sitting in it, having swapped consciousnesses with Perry. James finds this new experience overwhelming and can't even answer him. Meanwhile, Perry is in James' body. She is amazed to find herself on Destiny, and greets Rush. However, a moment later, the stones are deactivated. In shock, James admits she can't do it and runs off, knocking over the communication device in her haste. Wray volunteers to do it in James' place. Before they reactivate the stones, Wray tells Young to fix the ship. The stones reactivate, and Wray's consciousness ends up in Perry's body. Petersen gives her time to get used to the ventilator, and introduces her to Perry's helper, Mary. When he suggests she debrief with Doctor Strom, Wray declines; she wants to go home.

In the Mess Hall, James confides in T.J. that she believes she let Young down, though T.J. assures her otherwise. They then notice Perry arriving with Rush, who is giving her the tour of the ship. She comes to notice James, who quickly leaves the room. Perry then notices some fruit that the expedition picked up recently, and wants to try some, despite Rush's warnings. After Darren Becker hands one over to her, she surprisingly enjoys it; Becker notes that most spit them out. Rush later overhears Young radio T.J., telling her to find Rush, since he seemed to have deactivated his. Rush awkwardly decides to meet Young in the control interface room. Meanwhile, as James walks along a corridor, she halts, apparently confused.

Wray has arrived at her home, where her partner Sharon Walker is waiting. Sharon tells her she is spending her vacation time to be with her. Wray quickly notices that Sharon has finally sold the ugly chair they tried to get rid of for several years. To greet her, Sharon kisses Wray on the forehead. When Wray tells her she could do better, Sharon hesitantly kisses her on the lips.

In the control interface room on Destiny, Perry is with Rush, Brody and Volker. Perry confirms that an increase efficiency of 5-6% should do what they need to do, but Rush notes it may be difficult to do so considering the lack of control they have over the ship. As Young enters to check on their progress, an explosion takes place at the rear of the ship. The force causes a violent shake on Destiny, which drops out of FTL and sends the crew flying all over the place. This causes a momentary interruption with the communication stones. For a few seconds, Wray returns to Destiny, before she ends up back in Perry's body on Earth, explaining to Mary and Sharon that the ship dropped out of FTL.

T.J. is performing triage in the infirmary. Ronald Greer walks in with an injured Marine. Before Greer leaves, he asks if T.J. is alright; she insists she is fine. Meanwhile, the scientists have confirmed they are not under attack; a malfunction caused this. Since it happened from the outside, they can't get access to it, since that section is unpressurized. Volker notes he can guide a Kino pretty well, and he is tasked with finding out what is wrong. Rush asks Perry if she's alright. She is, but wonders why she ended up in her body for a moment. Rush explains that, for some reason, the stones deactivate from interference when Destiny either enters or exits FTL.

James talks with T.J. concerning a memory lapse she experienced, and said it happened before the explosion. Just then, Lisa Park brings in Jeremy Franklin, who was found lying in the floor. Ever since sitting on the early repository of knowledge, he has been in a catatonic state, and although conscious, doesn't move or respond to anything. Meanwhile, Volker guides the Kino over the damaged section, and the footage is relayed back to the control interface room.

At Wray's house, Mary talks with Sharon concerning how to look after Camile in her condition. Sharon admits to have never done something like this before. Mary tells her she has been with Perry a long time and knows what to do, as well as assuring Sharon she will be fine.

Perry and Rush are working in the gate room, when the Stargate starts dialing in. Concerned, Rush radios Greer to send a team in. Quickly, Greer and other military personnel prepare themselves and run to the gate room. By the time they arrive, Greer tells the two to leave, but Rush assures him that they don't need to be concerned. To his surprise, Chloe, Eli and Scott make it through. When they lower their weapons, Greer and Scott joyfully reunite. Chloe notices that the team didn't seem to have helped them dial in. Eli walks over to Rush and presents him the pair of glasses he lost on the alien ship.

Mary feeds Wray some dinner while she and Sharon converse. It is revealed Sharon joined a book club since their last visit, which is supposedly exclusively to women, though there were some young men who faked interest in the subject. When she laughs, Wray chokes. Mary wants Wray to be concentrated on eating right now. When Sharon offers to take over, Mary gives her the bowl and instructs her to feed her one piece of pasta at a time. When Wray asks if this feels odd, Sharon merely says that she is home, and that is all that matters.

Onboard Destiny, Eli tells the tale on how they returned. They were resigned to the fact that they were stuck forever, but on their second night, he noticed Destiny's address on the Kino remote, and dialled, figuring the expedition must have found a way to find them. Young arrives to tell them one of the FTL engines explodes, and he is putting Eli back to work straight away, much to his chagrin.

Some time later, James is feeding Franklin, who is still unresponsive. Perry walks over to Eli and asks "Math Boy" if he completed the calculations yet. He has, but asks her to stop calling him "Math Boy". Perry reminisces that since she started working with Rush, he kept calling her "Little Miss Brilliant", and after his wife died, they kept having long talks about each other's work, as well as other topics like ascension. Eli seems very surprised to hear about the side of Rush's personality towards her, since he never knew Rush to be able to do such a thing.

More time passes. Young walks up to Eli, Rush and Perry, where they inform him that one of Destiny's 16 FTL modules overloaded. In the long term, this will be to their advantage since that module was the least efficient. If they can go into FTL, they will make it to the next galaxy. The only problem is repairing the system, which will take weeks due to their limited computer access. Eli suggests they use the robot they found to fix it from the outside. If this fails, there is one other option; the chair. Young feels that if there is no other choice, he will sit on the chair. After Perry programmes the robot, Scott is tasked with using the Ancient shuttle to send it to the damaged section. By the time they arrive, Scott, wearing a environmental suit, ejects the robot from the back of the ship, where it quickly starts to work.

T.J. visits Young at his quarters, requesting to be on the off-world team to scout Eli's planet. He tells her Scott is on the team. At this point, T.J. tells him she wants to go there out of "maternal instinct", believing if they are to be stuck out there for good, she'd like to raise her child on the planet. Young decides to grant her request. She later joins the team at the gate room. Eli seems baffled that the military are checking on the planet via Kino despite the fact Eli and the others just went there. Young insists that it's standard procedure; his caution is justified when the Kino footage sends back an image of two alien fighter hovering in front of the gate. They shoot the Kino down. Young orders the Stargate be shut down. The aliens can't dial in without a remote, but regardless, the expedition is stuck on Destiny, and they have to fix the ship.

Three weeks later, everybody is getting bored. Rush and Perry are still talking. James still tends to Franklin. Brody has made a still and taste tests his moonshine. He later allows James and Park to test some as well. Scott leads a run. Becker shaves Greer's head. Chloe and Scott are in bed together. The robot is still making repairs. Meanwhile, on Earth, Sharon and Mary help Wray lay down in bed so she can sleep. The next day, she asks Sharon to do a full grocery shopping, since they're out of everything. After she goes, Mary says she would've gone, but Wray just wants Sharon out of the house for at least an hour.

Perry is finally able to isolate the drive, and will start the bypass soon. In the meantime, Rush asks Perry to join him to Brody's new bar. Meanwhile, James talks with Chloe about what happened three weeks ago when she blacked out. She noticed she was in a room, but she wasn't herself. Rush and Perry arrive at the bar, and are given a glass of moonshine each. After recovering from the effects of downing them, Perry notices that Rush is coping fine without any coffee. Perry says she often had dreams about walking again, and thanks to the stones, her dreams can come true, but sooner or later, she'll have to return. James and Chloe walk over to Young's quarters. There, James admits she may be the one who sabotaged the ship.

Later, Rush walks Perry over to her quarters. En route, Perry wonders if he knew about how she felt about Rush after Gloria's death; he says he knew she felt sorry for him. When they arrive, she invites Rush in. There, due to the tension between them, they kiss, but after a moment, Rush puts a stop to it, and tells her he can't go through with it, not because of Wray's sexual orientation, but because recently, he went through an experiment where his wife died again. Perry accepts the explanation, but is glad to at least be able to actually give Rush a comforting hug this time around. At that moment, T.J. comes in to get them, surprised to see them hugging, since Young needs to see them in the communication room.

Wray becomes impatient, since Sharon has been gone for hours. When she finally arrives, Wray frantically wonders why she took so long. When Sharon tries to assure her she is back, Wray begins to struggle breathing. Sharon calls Mary over to see what is happening. Mary rushes in and responds by raising her legs above her heart so she can relax and calm herself. After recovering, Sharon apologises, but Wray tells her not to. Later, Major Peterson arrives, telling them that Young communicated with them, and Perry may return in a few hours. The two partners have to say their goodbyes before Wray can return to Homeworld Command.

In the communications lab, Young tells T.J., Eli, Rush and Perry about what James has done. When she returned from Earth and knocked over the stones, no one picked hers up and hence her imprint remained, giving the aliens an opportunity to use her to sabotage the ship. Because of this, the team also suspects the aliens may know how to find Destiny, since they knew how to sabotage it. Eli opens a communications terminal to allow Young to address the crew. He says that an attack may be imminent, and they can't evacuate, so they're stuck. He has appointed Scott to lead the ship's defenses, and Greer to co-ordinate a series of strike teams should they get boarded. He then goes to Rush and wants him to tell him how to use the chair.

James tells Franklin it was all her fault. At that moment, Franklin becomes somewhat lucid, and turns to her and weakly says "the chair." Two alien motherships then arrive. Rush starts instructing Young on what to do on the chair when James arrives, stating Franklin needs to use the chair. Rush agrees, since Franklin has been through this before. Young does not want to put Franklin through it again, but is convinced to give him a chance. The ship is under attack. With little time, Rush runs over to Franklin's quarters in an attempt to speak with him. He tells Franklin someone needs to sit on the chair to escape the aliens, or they'll all be taken. Using every ounce of strength, Franklin nods in agreement, signalling he is willing.

Scott instructs Eli to concentrate the fire on the fighters trying to board them. Rush and Young aid Franklin to the chair. When he is connected, a mist starts descending down. Rush discovers the room's temperature is dropping rapidly. Franklin tells the two to go, and they do. After closing the door, the mist starts to fill in the room. Young instructs Hunter Riley to guard the room. Scott discovers that a fighter is about to board the ship in Greer's section; his team is prepared to engage them. When Rush and Young arrive at the control interface room, Perry notices that the FTL drives are charging up. The jump countdown quickly counts down ten seconds. When it runs out, the FTL engines power up, and they are able to escape the ships. Because several of the fighters are very close to Destiny when it enters FTL, the fighters are destroyed. This causes another momentary interference with the stones. Wray realises the ship has been repaired. When Perry returns, Rush confirms the drives have increased in efficiency, and believes they will make it to the next galaxy. Feeling her work is done, Perry believes it is now time to go.

Sometime later, Rush and Perry say their goodbyes. Then, the stones are deactivated. Wray is back in her own body again for good, relieved she can walk around again. Rush welcomes her back. Meanwhile, Young and James approach Riley about the chair room. Riley informs them he has been guarding the door the entire time, and hasn't seen inside. They enter the room to see that the clamps and restraints are still online, but Franklin has mysteriously vanished.

Notable quotes
Amanda Perry notices some food in the Mess Hall

Perry: What are those?

Rush: They're a kind of fruit we collected from a planet we visited recently.

Perry: May I try one?

Rush: I warn you, most people find these rather bitter. (Perry tries one, but seems to enjoy it)

Becker: (in amazement) Most people spit them right back out.

Perry: This is the first food I've been able to feed myself since I was nine.

Sharon: I joined a book club.

Wray: Oh.

Sharon: Yeah, it's supposed to be all women but there are a few enlightened young men who stop by, claiming to have an interest in nineteenth century chic lit.

Scott: I didn't think it was possible to miss this bucket.

Young: Really, Eli. I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to put you straight back to work. Welcome back.

Perry: How are you managing without your coffee?!

Rush: Well, I must admit, that's been one of the most difficult things about being stuck up here.

Perry: Oh, well, the hardships.

Rush: I think "insanity" is the proper word, there and back again. I've even had dreams about the stuff.

Perry: Well, for years after my accident I had dreams that I could walk.

Rush: Yeah, I remember you telling me that.

Perry: Mmm. And then I get to do this, and it's... it's all happening. God, it's like a dream come true.

Background notes

 * The beginning of the episode took place around two days after the end of "Lost". Since three weeks passed by the end of the episode, it would indicate that 25 weeks (about five and a half months) have passed since the expedition arrived on Destiny
 * This episode seems to indicate that the FTL drives may make Destiny travel faster during trans-galactic flights, considering the void between galaxies are vast, and it took Destiny several weeks to traverse through the galaxy (not considering the brief stops when near a cluster of stargates).
 * Nicholas Rush refers to Amanda Perry as "Little Miss Brilliant", while Perry refers to Rush as "Mr. Brilliant". These may be references to the characters. All characters in those books are given titles of "Mr" for males, and "Little Miss" for females.
 * The song played during the montage is "Only If You Run" by.

International airdates

 * Canada: May 7, 2010 (Space)
 * Australia: May 14, 2010 (Sci Fi Australia)
 * United Kingdom: May 18, 2010 (Sky1)

Production

 * When Joseph Mallozzi pitched out clues for the title of this episode, they were that the title shares the title of a song by The Beastie Boys, and is the name of a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
 * Catherine Lough Haggquist (Mary) previously played TSgt. Birkel in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Prometheus".

Ratings

 * United States: 1.391 million viewers, equals a 0.9/2 Household rating/share (0.6/2 18-49 rating/share).
 * United Kingdom: 618,000 viewers, the tenth most viewed programme for Sky1 the week it aired.

Controversy
The direction towards the character, Amanda Perry, garnered controversy on two fronts. Some were critical of the character's rather insensitive description, particularly that the disabled character "is physically useless" as well as insinuating that disabled peoples are not able to have an intimate relationship. In addition, LGBT rights criticized the use of Camile Wray's body for heterosexual sex. The actual sex was cut from the episode.

Producers of SGU have since apologized and clarified that Perry's character description was not their own, but that of an external casting agency and was never meant to be made public. They have also emphasized the equal role Wray's relationship has in the series, to that of heterosexual relationships.