Dan Nowak pens Force Projection which upon its end, will place us halfway through the final season of The Expanse. It first dropped on Prime on 24 December, 2021 and saw tensions rising up all over the system, as well as some interesting things happening on Laconia.

The family we’ve been checking in on has a tragedy strike, but the encounter with the ‘strange dog’ hints at possibilities.

In the Sol system Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is overseeing the co-operative work between the UNN and the Mars government in their pursuit of Inaros (Keon Alexander) who has left Ceres Station with barely enough supplies to survive longer than three weeks, but it may be baiting part of a trap.

On the Rocinante, Clarissa (Nadine Nicole) is settling into being referred to as part of the crew, and what is expected of her because of it. Holden (Steven Strait) and Naomi (Dominique Tipper) dig into the growing mystery of the disappearing ships that have vanished through a number of the ring-gates, looking for connective tissue, but they soon find themselves in trouble…

Inaros, with his and Naomi’s son, Filip (Jasai Chase-Owens) at his side, have found the Rocinante and is ready to blow it out of the stars. Inaros goes so far as to make his son fire twice on the vessel, but the crew of the Roci are able to outwit and outmaneuverInaros’ ship, the Pella. But Holden deactivates the torpedo that the Roci launches at them, allowing them to escape.

Things are happening faster and faster now, and I don’t know how much resolution we’re going to get with what is going on at Laconia, but there are bound to be a number of emotional payoffs in the remaining three episodes.

Redoubt was also written by Nowak and dropped on 31 December, 2021.

The crew of the Roci learn that Holden disarmed the torpedo before it hit the Pella, and it puts him at odds with most of the crew, including Naomi – he can’t be the person who kills her son. It causes some grief for everyone on the ship even as they figure out what their next move is.

On Ceres, Chrisjen is troubled by Monica’s (Anna Hopkins) approach to getting the story about the humanitarian issue on the station but Monica makes an argument for humanizing both sides, and that could be what’s needed to make the connection to resolve the escalating situation.

Filip is having some issues with where and who he is and is trying to deal with his involvement in the Ceres situation, but when Drummer (Cara Gee) and her team make their move against Inaros, he is quick to choose his side and is now ready to fight for his father.

The pieces are being moved into position for the final moments, and all of the characters are going to be put through the wringer, I’m sure. And will we ever learn what’s happening on Laconia (well if you’ve read the books the answer is yes)?

I can’t believe it’s almost over, but next week, we finish off The Expanse.