Remember the Cant story
Holden's broadcast triggers protests on Ceres, with the OPA quickly blaming Mars for the destruction of the Canterbury. While responding to the riots, Miller's partner Havelock is brutally attacked and a man with the handle "Nightbandit31", with whom Mao was in contact, is killed. On Earth, Avasarala leaks information to the Martian ambassador about the suspected trade of stealth technology between Mars and the OPA. She deduces from the panicked Martian reaction that Mars was not responsible – but that somebody else wants to start a war. Aboard the Donnager, the Canterbury's survivors are detained and questioned, with Nagata in particular being suspected as an OPA sleeper agent. Complicating matters further, an unidentified ship flies towards the Donnager, ignoring all requests to divert or identify itself.
8 total · 3 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| false flag operation | major | The attack on the Canterbury was so seemingly obviously a Martian perpetrated act that, when various people voiced skepticism, it becomes implied that it may have been a false flag operation intended to spark conflict between Earth and Mars. Towards the end, Avasarala explicitly concluded that someone was trying to start a war between Mars and Earth. |
| law enforcement | major | In one storyline, Detective Miller continued his investigation into the disappearance of the heiress Julie Mao. |
| mistrust | major | The crew of the Knight were made to wondered whether their trusted crewman Naomi was secretly an OPA agent. |
| diplomacy | minor | Avasarala leaked information to the Martian ambassador about the suspected trade of stealth technology between Mars and the OPA. |
| human enhancement technology | minor | The interrogator who questioned the Canterbury's survivors ingested a mysterious spherical object that apparently made him super-focused. |
| social activism | minor | On Ceres, a protest over Mars' alleged theft of air and water turned into a riot after Detective Muss ordered the demonstrators to skedaddle. |
| speculative stealth technology | minor | Earth suspected Mars of having developed politically stabilizing stealth technology. |
| terrorism | minor | Naomi was a accused of being an OPA terrorist by her interrogator. |