The shots go wide. No one is hit. Liam gets Da'an out of the line of fire, then reports the attack.

A security team heads toward the mystery man. He takes the rifle and runs down a nearby flight of stairs. One of the pursuing guards shoots at him.

Da'an asks, "How did this happen? Virtual glass [the substance from which the Taelons built the embassy] is impervious to all but a few weapons, weapons we guard closely."

The security team follows a trail of blood. They round a corner and discover that the hallway is empty. The attacker apparently disappeared into thin air.

Given the new danger, Sandoval has advised the Taelon Synod to cancel all activities "until the assassin is apprehended."

Liam questions the use of the word assassin, argues that the lack of casualties suggests that the attacker worked hard not to hit anyone.

Sandoval receives a report that the weapon used in the attack has been recovered.

He and Liam go to the recovery site, where Sandoval identifies the gun as a "Hammerlin CD-57." The serial number matches one from a shipment stolen several weeks back.

While the gun is a street-legal weapon that includes Taelon design elements but is ordinarily unable to pierce virtual glass, the addition of a transducer has increased its penetrative power.

Unfortunately, the shooter had a jamming device that distorted all the video images in the area. This lack of video surveillance data means that the search promises to difficult.

Sandoval tells Liam to keep any further news of the attack from the press. "The public thinks the Taelons are invulnerable. Let's keep it that way."

Shortly thereafter, Sandoval reports to Zo'or about information leaked to the press. Both the attack and the fact the weapon breached virtual glass are now public knowledge.

Upon hearing the news, Zo'or announces that "the operation has been a complete success. Everything has transpired exactly as planned."

Sandoval tells him they were fortunate and suggests that Zo'or should find "other, less dangerous means to accomplish your goals in the future." Zo'or tells him to mind his own business.

Renee shows Liam a report about a Taelon lawsuit against Hammerlin Guns and Ammo, the company that manufactured the weapon used in the attack on the embassy.

Their suit alleged that it was possible to modify Hammerlin's weapons to make them more powerful. The Companions lost the case, and the court records were sealed for reasons of national security.

Liam has Augur working on the surveillance video in the hope of identifying the gunman. The more pressing problem is finding out who provided the black-market transducer used in the attack.

In the mean time, Renee agrees that the loose ends in the case lead back to the Taelons, suggesting that the Companions were somehow involved in the assault on their own embassy.

Later, Renee meets Hubble Urick, President Thompson's chief of staff, for lunch.

He tells her that the president is worried about his legacy, wanting to be remembered as the leader who integrated Taelon culture into human society. To achieve this end, Urick is courting Renee, a powerful opinion maker.

Neither Renee nor Urick notice that they are being followed.

Augur tells Liam that the shooter's video jamming device was too effective for him to overcome. Fortunately Augur found a different solution to Liam's problem.

He tapped into the logs from all networked digital cameras in the area at the time until he found one that was outside the jamming range, but still near enough to capture an image of the gunman.

Not content to pull just one rabbit out of his hat, Augur also provides Liam with the gunman's identity. There's just one problem. According to records, the gunman, Scott Pierce, is a patient in a hospital that treats neurological disorders.

Zo'or is apparently also well aware of Pierce's existence, for the machiavellian alien is busy contemplating Pierce's body lying on a gurney.

Eventually, Zo'or goes to a control chair, sits down and transfers his energy into Pierce. Pierce's eyes open. Like a human puppet, he mimics Zo'or's body language and facial expression.

Sandoval enters and finds Zo'or's lifeless body. From behind him "Pierce" asks, "looking for someone?"

He tells Sandoval that without the guiding intellect of the comatose Pierce, humanity's animal instincts surge through the body, a sensation Zo'or seems to enjoy.

Sandoval reminds the Companion that the Commonality would object to Zo'or's experiment if they knew about it. Zo'or insists that he plans to proceed, noting sagely that "the pursuit of knowledge is not without its risks."

Liam questions Dr. Fields, the administrator of the hospital where Pierce is a patient. Fields cites the comatose Pierce's right to privacy and refuses Liam's request to see him.

Liam leaves, vowing to return. Fields calls Sandoval to report Liam's visit. Sandoval tells Fields to increase security and wait for his orders.

In another part of the hospital, Liam poses as a doctor and argues with a security guard, providing a distraction. Renee, cleverly disguised as a technician, breezes past the security desk and into the secured area.

Once inside, Renee hacks into the security system and manufactures a security clearance to get Liam past the guard.

Elsewhere, Zo'or -- still in Pierce's body -- enters a seedy bar.

Sandoval trails him. He makes a call on his global and tells the his contact -- Deegan -- to make sure his men understand that "absolutely no one gets killed."

Renee continues hacking the hospital system until she locates Pierce's room. She directs Liam there.

Inside he finds an empty bed. Pierce's wife enters. She tells Liam that the Taelons have been helping her husband. Believing Liam to be a doctor, she asks for his help in locating Pierce.

In the bar, Deegan begins harassing Zo'or. Another patron punches Zo'or into a handy nearby pool table.

He hurls the eight ball at his assailant and connects with his head. He then trades blows with another barfly. When Deegan attempts to intervene, Zo'or throws him down on the pool table and begins beating him with a broken pool cue.

Sandoval enters the bar and finds Zo'or kneeling over Deegan's body with blood on his hands and a triumphant expression on his face.

Aboard the mothership and back in his own body again, Zo'or marvels at the human survival instinct and the feeling of invincibility he experienced.

Sandoval reminds him that Zo'or's Taelon energy was the only thing that allowed Pierce's body to overcome its injuries. He insists that if they don't allow the body to heal, Zo'or might become trapped in that form and die along with Pierce.

Renee meets with one of Augur's contacts, a black market weapons dealer. He shows her a transducer, a slightly different model from the one used in the attack on the embassy.

Liam collars the dealer and asks him who produced the transducer the gunman used. Based on the design, the dealer tells them that it was made by either the government or the Taelons, "but then again, I guess they're pretty much the same thing these days, aren't they?"

Sandoval asks Da'an for help dealing with Zo'or's manic behavior. Da'an inquires whether Sandoval is more concerned with risk to Zo'or's life or the loss of his own power base.

Augur reports to Liam and Renee that he tracked Pierce's DNA signature through the portal system and located him on the mothership. He also discovered that Pierce used Taelon energy to jam the surveillance systems.

As it turns out, Zo'or rode Pierce into the "assassination attempt" in order to help get the potentially troublesome CD-57 energy weapons off the street.

"The Taelons can not mandate a ban on these weapons, so we must manipulate your species to ban them for us," he tells Sandoval.

When Sandoval muses that people need an image or symbol to catalyze their outrage, Zo'or helpfully indicates that a larger tragedy lies ahead.

Urick visits Renee's office to personally invite her to a fundraising event. He also tries to discover whether she shares his negative opinion of the Taelons.

Despite his personal feelings, he needs Renee's professional opinion about how to work successfully with the Companions. She agrees to attend the fundraiser and analyze the situation for him.

Liam searches the mothership's computer system, but can't find any record of Pierce.

He then runs a search on Zo'or's movements over the past 48 hours. After learning that Zo'or spent a lot of time in a restricted area, he hurries off to investigate.

A sharply coiffed and dressed Renee attends Urick's fundraiser. They discuss the political reality of working with the Taelons and the chief of staff's own political ambitions.

Zo'or transfers his energy into the body of a tuxedo-clad Pierce. He gets off the table and picks up the briefcase he used during the attack on the embassy.

Renee tells Urick to "Consider tonight the beginning of a relationship. If you ever need any help with our alien friends, you know where to find me." Urick picks up the hint about her ties to the Resistance and offers his thanks.

Having arrived just in time to see Pierce stepping via interdimensional portal off the ship, Liam calls and tells Renee that Zo'or is using Pierce's body. Renee has a pretty good idea where he'll show up.

Sure enough, Zo'or portals into the White House, knocks out a guard and begins mingling with the crowd at the fundraiser.

As Urick works the room, Zo'or lurks in the balcony, with the chief of staff in his sights.

Liam enters the room, sees Pierce and shouts "Sniper! Everyone down!"

He dives at Urick and knocks him to the ground.

Pierce's body collapses. On the mothership, Zo'or's body convulses. Sandoval takes Pierce into custody and orders his men to secure the building.

Sandoval takes Pierce's body back to the mothership. Liam notices them leaving and follows in the hope of saving Pierce before Zo'or can eliminate him as a loose end.

Zo'or's energy withdraws from Pierce.

An unexpected complication

To everyone's surprise, the real Scott Pierce regains consciousness. Zo'or orders Sandoval to kill Pierce and dispose of his body.

Liam arrives on the mothership and, tapping into the communications system, overhears Sandoval passing the order on to a Volunteer. As the Volunteer wheels the gurney to the disposal area, Liam triggers a security alert.

The Volunteer checks a nearby monitor, allowing Liam to switch Pierce's body out of the gurney.

Sandoval also investigates the false alarm. He supervises as the Volunteer commits the "body" to space.

In their usual post-episode debriefing, Da'an and Zo'or argue about the younger Taelon's recent exploits in human form.

Zo'or admits that his stated purpose of banning the energy weapons was a ruse. He actively sought to experience the human condition in order to better understand the survival instinct.

Da'an is offended, even telling Zo'or, "You are an abomination to the Commonality." Zo'or counters that the Taelons need to take an evolutionary step backward and regain their own survival instincts if they hope to defeat the Jaridians.

He challenges Da'an to feel what he felt. They link their minds, and images of Zo'or's experiences in Pierce's body flood into Da'an, who attempts to digest the new sensations.

At the hospital, Liam and Renee reunite Pierce with his wife. They embrace. Pierce's eyes glow momentarily with Taelon energy.